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Veterans Resources: Serving Those Who Serve


Welcome to the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System’s Veterans Resource Page. Explore virtual programs, films, short stories, poems, print and digital resources, and engage in the rich history, diverse stories, and important contributions of our service members. The Library invites you to reflect on, celebrate, and honor the 362,000 Veterans that call Maryland home.

Brainfuse VetNow

Resources designed to help veterans navigate the Department of Veterans Affairs, prepare for college, and brush up on job skills.

  • US Department of Veterans Affairs - The US Department of Veterans Affairs provides veterans the world-class benefits and services they have earned - and to do so by adhering to the highest standards of compassion, commitment, excellence, professionalism, integrity, accountability, and stewardship.
  • Federal Benefits Guide for Veterans - The 2019 version of the Federal Benefits for Veterans Dependents and Survivors.
  • Veteran Service Organization Directory - A comprehensive directory of organizations that provide various services to the Veteran community.
  • Maryland Department of Veteran's Affairs - The Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs assists veterans, active duty service members, their families and dependents, in securing benefits earned through military service.
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Cohen Veterans Network - Helping Veterans and Their Families Make it Back to Better.
    Post-9/11 veteran and family therapy
    High-quality mental health care
    Regardless of discharge status
    94% get in when they want
  • Commission for Veterans - The mission of the Commission for Veterans is to elevate, develop and promote new and existing programs and services for Veterans and their families within Prince George’s County. It’s our vision that Prince George’s County offers our Veterans quality services and programs to ensure the enrichment and enhancement of life for our men and women and their families.
  • Make the Connection - Watch Veterans and their family members share real stories of strength and recovery, find useful information and local mental health resources, and explore ways to show your support.
  • Office of Veterans Affairs - Our mission is to assist honorably discharged veterans of the armed forces of the United States:
    Pursue benefits for which they may be eligible
    Provide employment outreach and preparation assistance
    Provide referral services concerning healthcare, education, homelessness and family needs, and more.
  • Prince George's County Vet Center
    7905 Malcolm Road, Suite 101
    Clinton, MD 207351734
    Phone: 301-856-7173
  • Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing - The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program combines Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA provides these services for participating Veterans at VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics. The VA screens and makes referrals to the Housing Authority.?
Prince George's Proud
Veterans Assistance and Nutrition Program

Local Veteran's Programs

Reader's Advisory for Veterans

Fiction

Nonfiction

Documentaries

Available Through PGCMLS

  • Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 - 2013: Counsellors provide support, guidance and hope to despondent servicemen dealing with emotional, physical and financial troubles.
  • Served Like a Girl - 2017: Five female veterans who have endured unimaginable trauma in service create a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of homeless female veterans.
  • The Good Soldier - 2009: Following the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they discuss their conflicting feelings on what they did in the name of duty.
  • Shoah - 1985: Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories -- survivors, bystanders and perpetrators -- Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka. 

Movies

Available Through PGCMLS

  • Saving Private Ryan - 1998: Captain John Miller takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal realities of war, while searching for Ryan, each man embarks upon a personal journey and discovers their own strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.
  • 1917 - 2019: During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receives seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades -- including Blake's own brother.
  • The Cranes are Flying - 1957: Veronika and Boris come together in Moscow shortly before World War II. Walking along the river, they watch cranes fly overhead, and promise to rendezvous before Boris leaves to fight. Boris misses the meeting and is off to the front lines, while Veronika waits patiently, sending letters faithfully. After her house is bombed, Veronika moves in with Boris' family, into the company of a cousin with his own intentions.
  • Lincoln - 2012: With the nation embroiled in still another year with the high death count of Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln brings the full measure of his passion, humanity and political skill to what would become his defining legacy: to end the war and permanently abolish slavery through the 13th Amendment. Having great courage, acumen and moral fortitude, Lincoln pushes forward to compel the nation, and those in government who oppose him, to aim toward a greater good for all mankind.
  • Courage Under Fire - 1996: Already dejected about a crucial mistake from the Desert Storm incident, a US Army officer has to run a scan on a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.
  • Full Metal Jacket - 1987: Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis, quickly christened "Joker" by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant, and pudgy Private Lawrence, nicknamed "Gomer Pyle," as they endure the rigors of basic training. Though Pyle takes a frightening detour, Joker graduates to the Marine Corps and is sent to Vietnam as a journalist, covering -- and eventually participating in -- the bloody Battle of Hué.
  • Platoon - 1986: Chris Taylor leaves his university studies to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Once he's on the ground in the middle of battle, his idealism fades. Infighting in his unit between Staff Sergeant Barnes, who believes nearby villagers are harboring Viet Cong soldiers, and Sergeant Elias, who has a more sympathetic view of the locals, ends up pitting the soldiers against each other as well as against the enemy.
  • The Hurt Locker - 2008: Following the death of their well-respected Staff Sergeant in Iraq, Sergeant JT Stanborn and Specialist Owen Eldridge find their Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit saddled with a very different team leader. Staff Sergeant William James is an inveterate risk-taker who seems to thrive on war, but there's no denying his gift for defusing bombs.

Available Through Kanopy

Kanopy is an online video streaming platform with 26,000 movies, documentaries, and indie and foreign films from over hundreds of producers including The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Kino Lorber, PBS, and thousands of independent filmmakers. Users are limited to 10 videos streamed every month.

  • Thank You For Your Service - 2017: Sgt. Adam Schumann tries to readjust to civilian life after returning home from the war in Iraq. Fellow soldier Tausolo Aeiti must deal with the aftermath of a bombing that left him with a traumatic brain injury. Will Waller searches for normalcy after surviving several explosions, while Michael Emory must deal with the effects of a sniper's bullet to the head. With memories of the battlefield still lingering, the soldiers soon begin their long journey to physical and emotional rehabilitation.
  • Almost Sunrise - 2016: Two retired soldiers who are battling the moral injuries of war and the temptations of suicide walk across America to confront their demons and discover the power of spiritual healing.
  • All Quiet on the Western Front - 1930: The film follows a group of German schoolboys, talked into enlisting at the beginning of World War I by their jingoistic teacher. The story is told entirely through the experiences of the young German recruits and highlights the tragedy of war through the eyes of individuals.
  • Of Men and War - 2014: A dozen combat veterans come home from the war and cannot put their traumatic memories aside. They turn to The Pathway Home, a PTSD therapy centre, to end their ongoing mental torment.

Available Through Hoopla

Hoopla offers thousands of movies, television shows, music albums. Borrow up to 6 titles per month for free with your PGCMLS library card.

  • Let There Be Light - 1980: Directed by renowned filmmaker John Huston, this documentary depicts the effects of war by focusing on American soldiers who are suffering from mental trauma after their tours of duty. The movie follows numerous hospitalized veterans as they receive psychiatric care for their various symptoms, which include depression, phobias and antisocial behavior. As the soldiers undergo treatment, many of them make progress and slowly begin to reclaim their lives
  • The Invisible War: From Oscar and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick (This Film Is Not Yet Rated; Twist of Faith) comes THE INVISIBLE WAR, a groundbreaking investigative documentary about one of America's most shameful and best-kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem - today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
  • High Ground - 2012: Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan join an expedition to climb the 20,000 foot Himalayan giant Mount Lobuche.
  • The Conscientious Objector - 2004: Filmmaker Terry Benedict interviews Desmond Doss, a World War II veteran who refused to bear arms or take a human life.
  • Surviving Home - 2017: American military veterans from four generations must connect to survive and thrive back home.
  • To Be of Service - 2019: Service dogs bring happiness and a feeling of safety to veterans with PTSD.
  • They Shall Not Grow Old - 2018: Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be told by the men who were there. Life on the front is explored through the voices of the soldiers, who discuss their feelings about the conflict, the food they ate, the friends they made and their dreams of the future.
  • The Manchurian Candidate - 1962/2004: Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and, together with fellow soldier Allen Melvin, races to uncover a terrible plot. (2004 Version) Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond Shaw, now a vice-presidential candidate, is the hero he remembers him being. As Marco's doubts deepen, Shaw's political power grows, and, when Marco finds a mysterious implant embedded in his back, the memory of what really happened begins to return.
  • Grand Illusion - 1937: A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai - 1957: British POWs are ordered by their Japanese captors to construct a bridge of strategic importance and are happy to sabotage and delay the progress until their commanding officers orders them to continue the work unhindered to its completion, but are his actions tantamount to collaborating with the enemy?
  • The Seventh Seal - 1957: When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof  and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
  • Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 1964: A film about what could happen if the wrong person pushed the wrong button -- and it played the situation for laughs. U.S. Air Force General Jack Ripper goes completely insane, and sends his bomber wing to destroy the U.S.S.R. He thinks that the communists are conspiring to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people.
  • Closely Watched Trains - 1966: In a small town still occupied by the Germans as World War II's tide is turning toward the Allies, apprentice train-watcher Milos is oblivious to the war. Instead, he is obsessed with having his first sexual experience. Despite the favors of train conductor Masa, Milos has no luck. His quest leads him to a female Resistance fighter who, in passing, recruits him to the cause. As Milos finally finds love, danger draws closer.
  • A Very Long Engagement - 2004: Mathilde is told that her fiancé has been killed in World War I. She refuses to believe this, however, and begins trying to find out what actually happened on the battlefield the night he was supposedly killed, enlisting the help of a private investigator. During her search, she stumbles across evidence of the inhumane and morally bankrupt system used by the French to deal with deserters, and hears from other men who were sentenced to extreme punishment.
  • Paths of Glory - 1957: During World War I, commanding officer General Broulard orders his subordinate, General Mireau, to attack a German trench position, offering a promotion as an incentive. Though the mission is foolhardy to the point of suicide, Mireau commands his own subordinate, Colonel Dax, to plan the attack. When it ends in disaster, General Mireau demands the court-martial of three random soldiers in order to save face.
  • Atonement - 2007: This sweeping English drama, based on the book by Ian McEwan, follows the lives of young lovers Cecilia Tallis and Robbie Turner. When the couple are torn apart by a lie constructed by Cecilia's jealous younger sister, Briony, all three of them must deal with the consequences. Robbie is the hardest hit, since Briony's deception results in his imprisonment, but hope for Cecilia and her beau increases when their paths cross during World War II.
  • Come and See - 1985: The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.
  • Born on the Fourth of July - 1989: In the mid 1960s, suburban New York teenager Ron Kovic enlists in the Marines, fulfilling what he sees as his patriotic duty. During his second tour in Vietnam, he accidentally kills a fellow soldier during a retreat and later becomes permanently paralyzed in battle. Returning home to an uncaring Veterans Administration bureaucracy and to people on both sides of the political divide who don't understand what he went through, Kovic becomes an impassioned critic of the war.
  • Dead Presidents - 1995: Soldier Anthony Curtis  returns to his Bronx home after a nightmarish tour of duty in Vietnam. But the nightmare continues for Anthony and his friends as they suffer the indignities of trying to find steady work and provide for their families in a flagging economy. As desperation takes hold, Anthony teams up with Skip, a drug addict, and Kirby, a small-time crook, to pull off a bank heist that will give them all a chance for a better life.
  • Black Hawk Down - 2001: The film takes place in 1993 when the U.S. sent special forces into Somalia to destabilize the government and bring food and humanitarian aid to the starving population. Using Black Hawk helicopters to lower the soldiers onto the ground, an unexpected attack by Somalian forces brings two of the helicopters down immediately. From there, the U.S. soldiers must struggle to regain their balance while enduring heavy gunfire.
  • A Soldier’s Story - 1984: A black Army investigator travels to a remote military base in the heart of the Louisiana backwoods to look into the mysterious murder of a black sergeant toward the tail end of World War II. Once he arrives, the investigator discovers an Army regiment and an entire community that, despite the beginnings of integration, is still torn apart by race and segregation. He soon learns that on this base, trust is sparse and secrets are a currency all their own.
  • M*A*S*H- 1970: Irreverent black comedy following the exploits of a host of offbeat characters at a medical unit during the Korean war, including surgeons Hawkeye Pierce and Trapper John McIntyre who create havoc with their martini parties and practical jokes while the war rages around them.