Pepper's Purple Heart: A Veterans Day Story

After General Jones rescues her puppy, Claire gets an important lesson in being responsible while also learning the significance of Veterans Day with regard to the sacrifice and service of veterans from generations past and present.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: "We thank you for what you’re doing. We must not rest until we have done everything we possibly can to bring the veterans back into the society they so willingly defended." President Bill Clinton.

Heather French Henry not only achieved the title of Miss America but became a national veterans advocate. As Miss America, she embarked upon a national speaking tour encompassing three phases: "Our Forgotten Heroes: Honoring Our Nations Homeless Veterans," "Homes For Heroes," and "Fighting The Silent Enemy: Hepatitis C." Recognized for her outstanding contributions, she received many awards including: Ten Outstanding Young Americans by the American Jr. Chamber of Commerce and the Americanism Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Watching her father, a disabled Vietnam veteran, struggle with the nightmares of war, and then her uncle becoming a homeless veteran, strengthened Henry’s desire to champion the veteran’s cause. Henry was the first in her family to go to college. She continued her education achieving a Masters of Design and Illustration from the University of Cincinnati.

Henry is Executive Director of the Heather French Foundation for Veterans, and has recently been appointed to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs National Homeless Veterans Advisory Council. In 2001, the Heather French Henry Homeless Veterans Assistance Act, was passed. She is married to Stephen L. Henry, MD, former Lt. Governor of Kentucky, where they reside with her two daughters.

"She dedicated her tenure to raising the nation’s awareness of the plight of homeless veterans. Her work on their behalf didn’t stop at the end of her reign, but has continued on." Senator Jay Rockefeller, West Virginia