Hearse Drivers Carrying Veteran's Body Get Lesson in Respect

Hearse Stops at Dunkin' Donuts with Veteran's Flag-Draped Coffin in Parking Lot 
NBC Miami
May 13, 2015

A hearse driver was fired after stopping at Dunkin Donuts as he left a veteran's flag-draped casket visible in the hearse outside. (Published Wednesday, May 13, 2015)

Two former funeral home employees are out of a job after they stopped for coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts, leaving a hearse carrying the flag-draped coffin of an Army veteran in the parking lot.

NBC affiliate WFLA reports that the body of Lt. Col. Jesse Coleman was on its way from Veterans Funeral Care in Clearwater to a funeral service Tuesday morning.

The two employees stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts in New Port Richey around 8:50 a.m. Rob Carpenter, who was headed into the Dunkin' Donuts that morning, did a double take when he saw the hearse. Carpenter's own father served in the military, so he decided to confront the drivers.

He says Coleman's family, however, was surprisingly forgiving and didn't want the men to lose their jobs, even praising their work at the funeral.

The family says Coleman, who died at age 84, served one tour in Korea, two in Vietnam, and was the recipient of numerous medals from the military, including two Bronze Star Medals and two Army Commendation Medals.
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Older Veterans Worried They're Taking UP Space?

Gee wonder where they got that idea? After all, since most charities claiming to be helping veterans seem to have forgotten about them. They are not interested in the fact that older veterans came home with the same exact wounds but waiting longer for help or that all the trouble with the VA today has been going on for decades yet Congress just forgets it was their responsibility to make it work,,,,oh don't get me started!

Expert warns about combat trauma and older veterans at Wyckoff event
North Jersey.com
BY TODD SOUTH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
MAY 5, 2015

Keane said many older veterans, especially of the World War II and Korean War generation, brush off treatment, worried they’re “taking up space” for veterans who need it more.

WYCKOFF – When Joseph Mariniello returned from a year of infantry combat in Vietnam a tight-knit group of neighborhood friends and family surrounded him and encouraged him to talk about the experience over and again.

Looking back, nearly 50 years later, the 74-year-old who lives now in Mahwah, credits that amateur talk therapy as a “cathartic” experience that helped him re-enter the civilian world and avoid the isolation and post-traumatic stress disorder that many fellow combat veterans faced.

What the people close to him could not have known at the time was that their welcoming, engaged care for their friend was a prescription researchers would spend decades studying to help treat PTSD. 

That kind of close attention is exactly what’s needed now, said Terence M. Keane, head of post-traumatic stress disorder behavior research for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

He spoke before a crowd of nearly 400 local veterans at Tuesday’s annual veteran’s breakfast at the Wyckoff YMCA.

Despite increased funding and programs to treat combat trauma among veterans over the past 30 years, connecting a veteran with help often comes down to the people they know. 

“It’s people, the men and women of the community who need to take up the cause of reintegrating veterans into the community,” Keane said. “Everybody is affected by exposure to war.”
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Thugs Kidnapped Korean War Veteran Couple

POLICE: 2 ARRESTED IN KIDNAPPING OF VETERAN, GIRLFRIEND
ABC 6 News
Saturday, April 25, 2015

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Authorities say two people have been arrested in the kidnapping case of an 86-year-old veteran and his girlfriend in Southwest Philadelphia.

25-year-old Damon Cornish of the 5900 block of 21st Street and 23-year-old Vashti Williams of the 500 block of South 56th Street were taken into custody.

Cornish has been charged with theft and unauthorized use of an auto. Williams is charged with robbery, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping and related offenses.

More arrests are expected.

Authorities say three women kidnapped the veteran and his girlfriend in Southwest Philadelphia then opened a bank account and rented cars in the victim's name.

55-year-old Priscilla Jones doesn't know the trio of women who had a small child with them.

The suspects allegedly abducted her and her 86-year-old boyfriend George Saunders.

Saunders is a Korean War veteran with a double knee replacement.

Both victims use canes and walkers and are new to their Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood.
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Boston VA Error Delayed Florida Veteran's Burial

VA error delays Palmetto veteran’s funeral, angers family
Tampa Tribune
Howard Altman
Tribune Staff
February 11, 2015

When the family of Korean War veteran Willie Mitchell Jr, went to bury the Palmetto man, who died Jan. 25 at age 81, their sorrow was compounded by shocking news.

Mitchell could not be laid to rest at Sarasota National Cemetery as planned, because when the family tried to schedule a burial they were told he died more than six years ago.

The error, it turned out, was the result of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee at the Boston regional office inputting the wrong Social Security number, giving a man who died in 2008 the same number as Mitchell, according to Michael Nacincik, spokesman for the VA’s National Cemetery Administration, which oversees burials at national cemeteries.

Mitchell, who served in the Army, is now scheduled to be buried at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Sarasota cemetery, but his family is upset over the ordeal.

“We are angry that we have to go through this all over again,” Brian Mitchell, of Tampa, said about having to rearrange his father’s funeral. The family is also upset that it took a call from a reporter to get a straight answer.

“No one contacted us to tell us what happened,” Brian Mitchell said.

Nacincik, in an email to The Tampa Tribune, apologized “for the inconvenience and additional stress to the family caused by extended time it took for us to determine burial eligibility. We are thankful for Mr. Mitchell’s service to our nation and are honored to provide him the burial he deserves this Friday at Sarasota National Cemetery in Florida.”
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“What the VA did to me 60 years ago is they tore up the Bill of Rights”

If you missed this story, Vegas Navy Cross recipient shot down by VA benefits office I strongly suggest you read it.

In this one you'll read about the story of a Korean War Veteran being denied benefits and his 60 years battle for justice. Charles Mahoney was treated to electroshock wiping out his memory for days much like 2,000 WWII veterans.

Besieged by psychologically damaged troops returning from the battlefields of North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, the Veterans Administration performed the brain-altering operation on former servicemen it diagnosed as depressives, psychotics and schizophrenics, and occasionally on people identified as homosexuals, according to the report.

The VA’s use of lobotomy, in which doctors severed connections between parts of the brain then thought to control emotions, was known in medical circles in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and is occasionally cited in medical texts. But the VA’s practice, never widely publicized, long ago slipped from public view. Even the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it possesses no records detailing the creation and breadth of its lobotomy program.

If you are still under the impression that any of this is new, then please make sure you are not expressing your imbecilic opinions publicly. Lack of knowledge, refusing to do basic research and actually learn the truth are reasons why it has been this bad this long for our veterans. We've doomed them to history repeated over and over again.

Veterans say legitimate claims routinely denied or ignored
Las Vegas Review
By KEITH ROGERS
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
December 13, 2014

Vietnam War Navy Cross recipient Steve Lowery isn’t alone in his battle to convince the Veterans Benefits Administration that his wounds are linked to his military service.

Lowery, a retired Marine major from Las Vegas, took a long-awaited physical examination Thursday at the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center to show a doctor that scars from shrapnel in his knee and those on his thighs from an AK-47 resulted from a 1969 firefight in Vietnam.

In 1994, the VA benefits office in Reno told him those wounds weren’t related to his military service, and he’s been fighting with the agency ever since.

The VA apparently disallowed his initial claim because the government’s archive agency failed to send his records to Reno. Bewildered by the decision, Lowery provided a copy of his personal medical file in 2010. Two years later, his claim was rejected again.

Since the Review-Journal wrote about Lowery’s case last week, other veterans have come forward with complaints about tactics employed by the agency, which demands that veterans prove their injuries were service-related but can deny claims without proving anything.

They include Phil Cushman, a Vietnam War Marine veteran from Oregon who beat the VA system there by winning a “due process” challenge in a federal appeals court that netted $400,000 in compensation. Now, through his nationally recognized nonprofit veterans rights advocacy group, Cushman is helping disabled Korean War soldier Charles P. Mahoney, of Las Vegas, with his appeal for more compensation.

Screen capture from Las Vegas Review Journal

“I’m not filing claims for the money. I want justice,” Mahoney, 82, told the newspaper. “What the VA did to me 60 years ago is they tore up the Bill of Rights.”

Mahoney, who served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea in 1950, suffered wounds and mental problems from a mortar blast that heaved him 15 feet into the air. After a hospital stint in Japan, he was taken to Fort Hood, Texas, where he underwent a series of electro­shock treatments in 1951 that “blotted out my memory for nine months.”

Two Army evaluation boards determined he was 100 percent disabled, but a third said he was only 10 percent disabled. The Army then told him he was cured and discharged him in 1952.
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There used to be excuses for all of this happening. When? After the Revolutionary War when the Colonies had no basic understanding of the necessity to care for those who put their lives on the line. It isn't as if that generation was totally off the hook either because they did little to take care of any of them or their widows.

After 1946 when the House Veterans Affairs Committee took their seats there should have been no acceptable excuses.

Houston Citizens Join Forces to Get Korean War Veteran Home

When you read about younger families being helped by Congress because they are caring for their disabled veterans, remember this story. That help does not include older veterans and their families.

Local 2 viewers help disabled Korean War veteran get home for Thanksgiving
Click2 Houston
Author: Bill Spencer
Investigative Reporter
Published On: Nov 27 2014

HOUSTON
The Korean War -- it's been called America's forgotten war, but for 75-year-old Robert Taylor it's impossible to forget. As an Army foot soldier, Taylor suffered a near fatal head injury when he got into a brutal fight for survival with a soldier from the other side, getting his head smashed in with the butt of a rifle, an injury that has caused Taylor painful seizures his entire life.

Now, five decades later, after suffering a massive stroke last November, Robert and his wife, Linda, have been trapped in Houston for more than a year, unable to return to their home and family in Bristol, Tennessee -- all because they couldn't afford a $10,000 medical transport in an ambulance to get Robert back home.

"It sounds like an old cliché, but it's been like hell for us here," Linda said. "I have no help here to care for my husband and all our family is back home in Bristol."

With nowhere else to turn, Linda Taylor called Local 2 News for help to get her husband back home.

That's when Local 2's Bill Spencer went to work trying to find an ambulance service willing to help this brave veteran. It took more than a month and too many phone calls to count, but Spencer finally found the folks at Abingdon Ambulance Service in Abingdon, Virginia.

Through an incredible act of generosity, they agreed to transport Robert Taylor all the way from Houston back to Bristol -- an 18-hour ride with three trained paramedics by his side the entire time -- and absolutely free.

"We can be a blessing to this family, we have the ability, we have the resources, and it's the right thing to do for any veteran who has served this country," said Keith Martin, of Abingdon Ambulance Service.

In addition to the medical transport, a special GoFundMe account was set up to raise money for the Taylors.

After Local 2 News called loyal viewers to donate, you did just that. In fact, through those donations Local 2 raised more than $14,000 in a matter of weeks for the Taylor family.
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Georgia Korean War Veteran Had to Prove He's Not Dead Yet

VA declares living Korean War veteran dead, stops benefits: report
William Maroney, of Henry County, Ga., needed his medical insurance more than ever after his wife of 65 years died and his health took a turn for the worse. But Veterans Affairs declared the 82-year-old grandfather dead instead, which reportedly halted the benefits until his family brought their woes to the media.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
BY MICHAEL WALSH
September 26, 2014

A Korean War veteran's much-need disability benefits and medical insurance were cut off when he was inexplicably declared dead, his family said.

William Maroney, 82, is still alive but not doing well and needs coverage while he is bound to his bed at a nursing home in Henry County, Ga., WSB-TV reported.

His health deteriorated after his wife of 65 years passed away on June 9 but the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs thought he died, according to his granddaughter Bridgett Maroney.

"They think he's dead. They told me this man is deceased," Maroney told the local ABC affiliate. "I said,

'No ma'am, he is not deceased, he is sitting right here in front of me.'"

"I called a hundred different numbers, (and) everybody rerouted me to other numbers and stuff," she said.

So she contacted WSB-TV who ran a story on the mix-up Thursday night. Afterward, the Veterans Affairs' Atlanta regional office sent a statement to the station saying that the issue has been resolved.
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Grateful shopper picks up tab for VIetnam veteran's computer

Stranger’s generosity stuns Ohio veteran
Grateful shopper picks up tab for vet's computer
CNHI News Service
July 28, 2014

KINGSVILLE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Vietnam War veteran David A. Tobias was overwhelmed recently when a fellow customer at an OfficeMax store near Ashtabula, Ohio paid for a computer he was purchasing.

The man, who would identify himself only as “Daniel,” insisted on paying for the machine.

“This has never happened to me before,” said Tobias, who fought his emotions as he recalled the incident. “People have come up and said thanks. But this? I was totally shocked.”

Tobias, of Kingsville Township, was at the store’s service counter when a salesman approached and asked him if he was the owner of a vehicle in the lot with Vietnam service stickers. When Tobias said yes, the salesman said he was told by another man to deliver a message: “Buy anything you want in the store.”
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Korean War Veteran Gets Justice from VA

VA comes through with funding to prevent local veteran from being evicted
Daily Commercial
Theresa Campbell
Staff Writer
Posted: Monday, June 23, 2014

After a year and a half of issues with the Veterans Administration and concerns about being evicted, Korean War veteran Harold Wulf, 81, can now unpack his belongings and stay at his assisted living facility.

“It is excellent news for me. I am pleased by it and in knowing that I am going to be living here,” said Wulf, who was featured in a Daily Commercial story on June 9 about his struggles with the VA. The next day, the veteran received official approval, via a phone call from a VA representative in St. Petersburg, that his funds were forthcoming.

Wulf had been waiting for an “aid and attendance” pension benefit of $1,758 for assistance in his everyday living needs at Grand Court in Tavares, while incurring debt as he waited for the funds.

“We were led to believe that it was a slam dunk case and that it would be no time at all that it would be approved,” Wulf said of the paperwork filed in January 2013. A few months after he applied, some of the program guidelines were changed.

“I fell through the cracks,” Wulf said, which forced him to reapply and go through more paperwork and a doctor’s approval in order to qualify.

Wulf received three months’ back pay from the VA last week, and he was even more pleased to work out financial arrangements with Grand Court’s management that will allow him to stay at the assisted living facility.

“They are just going all out to help. I’m really happy,” he said.

Paul Wulf is glad that his father doesn’t have to worry about being evicted, yet he believes the VA gave his father a bum deal. He said his father had to move into an assisted living facility before he could apply for the VA aid and attendance benefit.

“The unfortunate part to this whole thing is the fact that the VA just washed its hands and says, ‘Here’s three months (back pay),’” Paul said. “He only got the three months out of 16 months. In dollars, Dad is in the hole. He got a little over $5,000, so he is left $23,000 in debt.”
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Korean Vet held by North Korea visited by Swedish Ambassador

MERRILL NEWMAN, AMERICAN DETAINED IN NORTH KOREA, REPORTEDLY IN GOOD HEALTH
Fahima Haque
Dec 2nd 2013

Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Eun-Young Jeong, and Eric Talmadge in Tokyo contributed to this report.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The family of an elderly U.S. tourist detained for more than a month in North Korea said Saturday the Swedish ambassador has seen the man and found him to be in good health.

Merrill Newman's family in California said in a statement that the State Department told them that the Swedish ambassador to North Korea had visited the 85-year-old at a Pyongyang hotel.

"We were very pleased to hear that the Ambassador was allowed to pay this first visit to Merrill," the statement said. "As a result of the visit, we know that Merrill is in good health. ... Merrill reports that he is being well treated and that the food is good."

An Obama administration official called for his release, urging North Korea to consider his age and health conditions.

Sweden handles consular issues for Americans in North Korea as the U.S. and North Korea have no diplomatic relations.

Newman's family said the ambassador's visit eased their concerns about his health, and pleaded with North Korean authorities to take his health and age into account and let him go as an act of humanitarian compassion.
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Did North Korea Detain the Wrong US Korean War Vet?

Did North Korea Detain the Wrong US Korean War Vet?
ABC News
By COLLEEN CURRY
Nov. 22, 2013

North Korean authorities pulled a visiting tourist U.S. citizen off a plane last month and have been detaining him in the country ever since, but may have mistaken the man for another American of the same name.

Merrill E. Newman, an 85-year-old grandfather from Palo Alto, Calif., traveled to North Korea last month with a tour group out of Beijing.

Authorities have kept Newman's situation quiet for weeks, but former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former ambassador to the U.N., confirmed to ABC News today he has been in touch with his North Korean contacts working on the situation. The State Department has declined to release details about Newman's status.

Newman was a Korean War veteran, one of many that has gone back to visit North Korea in the decades after their service.

But another North Korean veteran named Merrill H. Newman, age 84, was, until recently, the better-known Merrill Newman. He received a Silver Star for his time in the Korean War.

"The thought entered my head," said Merrill H. Newman, reached at his home in Beaverton, Ore. "The name is the same and there's always that possibility, but I have no way of knowing."

"The thing that has been kicked around by media people, not me, is that I received a Silver Star for 60 years ago in Korea and I have the same name, so the question has come up, could it be that in the process of maybe Googling, like anybody can, and finding that perhaps they thought there was a connection there? I don't know. I have no way of knowing," he said.
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Patriot Guard Riders escorting MOH Colonel George Everette “Bud” Day last ride

Colonel George Everette “Bud” Day, 88
USMC, USAR, USAF
WW II, Korea, Vietnam
Fort Walton Beach, FL
1 August 2013

The Patriot Guard Riders have been asked to stand in honor of, and escort Colonel George Everette “Bud” Day, a true American hero. We will stand a flag line for visitation at the Emerald Coast Convention Center, 1250 Miracle Strip Pkwy., Ft. Walton Beach, FL (Okaloosa Island). Visitation is scheduled from 0900 – 1100 hours on 1 August 2013. Escort (LEO led) to Barrancas National Cemetery will commence at or around 1230 hours. Travis Watkins Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.

Day was born in Sioux City Iowa, on February 24, 1925. In 1942, he dropped out of Central High School and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He served 30 months in the North Pacific during World War II as a member of a 5 in (130 mm) gun battery with the 3rd Defense Battalion on Johnston Island but he never saw combat. Following his service in World War II, Day joined the Army Reserve and received a direct commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Iowa Air National Guard in 1950, and was called to active duty in 1951 for Undergraduate Pilot Training in the U.S. Air Force. He served two tours as a fighter-bomber pilot during the Korean War flying the Republic F-84 Thunderjet. Promoted to captain, he decided to make the Air Force a career and was augmented into the Regular Air Force. He then transitioned to the F-100 Super Sabre in 1957 while stationed at RAF Wethersfield in the United Kingdom.

Anticipating retirement in 1968 and now a major, Day volunteered for a tour in Vietnam and was assigned to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Tuy Hoa Air Base in April 1967. At that time, he had more than 5,000 flying hours, with 4,500 of them in fighters. On June 25, 1967, with extensive previous service flying two tours in F-100s, Major Day was made the first commander of Detachment 1, 416th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 37th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Phu Cat Air Base.Under the project name "Commando Sabre", twin-seat USAF F-100Fs were evaluated as a Fast Forward Air Control ("Fast FAC") aircraft in high threat areas, given that F-4 Phantom II aircraft were in high demand for strike and Combat Air Patrol (CAP) roles. Using the call sign Misty, the name of Day's favorite song, his detachment of four two-seat F-100Fs and 16 pilots became pioneer "Fast FACs" (Forward Air Controllers) over Laos and North Vietnam. All Misty FAC crews were volunteers with at least 100 combat missions in Vietnam and 1,000 minimum flight hours. Tours in Commando Sabre were temporary and normally limited to four months or about 50-60 missions.

On August 26, 1967, Major Day was flying F-100F-15-NA, AF Serial No. 56-3954, call sign "Misty 01", on his 26th Fast FAC sortie, directing a flight of F-105 Thunderchiefs in an air strike against a surface-to-air missile (SAM) site north of Thon Cam Son and west of Dong Hoi, 20 mi (32 km) north of the DMZ in North Vietnam. Day was on his 65th mission into North Vietnam and acting as check pilot for Captain Corwin M. "Kipp" Kippenhan, who was upgrading to aircraft commander. 37 mm antiaircraft fire crippled the aircraft, forcing the crew to eject. In the ejection, Day's right arm was broken in three places when he struck the side of the cockpit, and he also experienced eye and back injuries.

Kippenhan was rescued by a USAF HH-3E, but Day was unable to contact the rescue helicopter by survival radio and was quickly captured by North Vietnamese local militia. On his fifth night, when he was still within 20 mi (32 km) of the DMZ, Day escaped from his initial captors despite his serious injuries. Although stripped of both his boots and flight suit, Day crossed the Demilitarized Zone back into South Vietnam, becoming the only U.S. prisoner of war to escape from North Vietnam. Within 2 mi (3 km) of the U.S. Marine firebase at Con Thien and after 12–15 days of evading, he was captured again, this time by a Viet Cong patrol that wounded him in the leg and hand with gunfire.

Taken back to his original camp, Day was tortured for escaping, breaking his right arm again. He then was moved to several prison camps near Hanoi, where he was periodically beaten, starved, and tortured. In December 1967, Day shared a cell with Navy Lieutenant Commander and future Senator and presidential candidate John McCain. Air Force Major Norris Overly nursed both back to health, and McCain later devised a makeshift splint of bamboo and rags that helped heal Day's seriously atrophied arm.

On March 14, 1973, Day was released after five years and seven months as a North Vietnamese prisoner. Within three days Day was reunited with his wife, Doris Sorensen Day, and four children at March Air Force Base, California. On March 4, 1976, President Gerald Ford awarded Day the Medal of Honor for his personal bravery while a captive in North Vietnam.

Day had been promoted to Colonel while a prisoner, and decided to remain in the Air Force in hopes of being promoted to Brigadier General. Although initially too weak to resume operational flying, he spent a year in physical rehabilitation and with 13 separate medical waivers, was returned to active flying status. He underwent conversion training to the F-4 Phantom II and was appointed vice commander of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

After being passed over for nomination to brigadier general, Day retired from active duty in 1977 to resume practicing law in Florida. At his retirement he had nearly 8,000 total flying hours, 4,900 in single engine jets, and had flown the F-80 Shooting Star, F-84 Thunderjet, F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo, F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief, F-106 Delta Dart, F-4 Phantom II, A-4 Skyhawk, A-7 Corsair II, CF-5 Tiger and F-15 Eagle jet fighters.ppointed vice commander of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Following his retirement, Day wrote an autobiographical account of his experiences as a prisoner of war, Return with Honor, followed by Duty, Honor, Country, which updated his autobiography to include his post-Air Force years.

Colonel Day’s awards and decorations include the Congressional Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Start with Valor Device and three bronze oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with silver and four bronze oak leaf clusters, Presidential Unit Citation with three bronze oak leaf clusters, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor device and three bronze oak leaf clusters, Prisoner of War Medal, Combat Readiness Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal with bronze service star, Korean Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with two silver and three bronze service stars, Air Force Longevity Service Award with silver oak leaf cluster, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, National Order of Vietnam Commander Badge, Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Award, United Nations Service Medal for Korea and the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Decorated veteran of three wars talks about PTSD

Decorated veteran served in three wars
OCALA.com
By Andy Fillmore
Correspondent
Published: Sunday, June 9, 2013

Donald Lesch, a veteran of three wars, said his wife knew to wake him carefully, and only by shaking his left foot.

“It was the method we had in World War II to wake each other safely when changing sentry guard duty,” Lesch said.

Lesch, 91, was awarded the U.S. Army Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star, a number of battle stars, and decorations from the Vietnamese and Korean governments for his service in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

“I have post-traumatic stress disorder mainly from WWII, but actually from all the wars, and I was exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. I have a 100 percent service-connected disability,” Lesch said.

He said he may have survived three wars, but he still keeps the curtains drawn at his northeast Ocala home because of a deep-seated fear of sniper fire.
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Veteran gets diploma six decades later

Veteran gets diploma six decades later
WISH TV
Published : Sunday, 09 Jun 2013

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - LeRoy Blessing is not your typical graduate.

Sixty-two years ago, Blessing dropped out of high school his junior year to join the Marines. For 20 years, he served our country. He served in the Korean War, Okinawa and had two tours in Vietnam.

He retired from the Marine Corps as a Captain, our sister station WANE reports.

Although he is a decorated war veteran, he always felt something was missing. He learned about a bill passed by an Indiana lawmaker that allows veterans who dropped out of school to join the military to get their high school diploma, so he knew it was an opportunity he couldn't let pass.

"I better go ahead and get it because I don't know how long I'm going to be here," Blessing said.

Blessing got his diploma tonight along with more than 400 other Carroll High School graduates.
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Veteran gets diploma six decades later

The Storyteller, new film on Korean War veteran with PTSD

Actor Christopher Atkins discusses his film 'The Storyteller' and post-war PTSD
(Photos)
Examiner
MAY 29, 2013
BY: RENE THURSTON

Fans probably best remember actor Christopher Atkins as a curly-locked boy, running around the beach with a teenage Brooke Shields in the 1980 film "The Blue Lagoon." Or perhaps soap fans remember him in the original run of series "Dallas" as Peter, a college student and camp counselor who has an affair with a much-older Sue Ellen Ewing.

With those images in mind, fans will no doubt have no idea they are looking at that blonde, blue-eyed actor in a loin cloth when they see the character of Walter, an elderly man suffering from the ravages of his time in the Korean War, in Atkins' new film "The Storyteller."

The 52-year-old actor sat down with Riverside Soaps on May 28 to talk about the making of this emotional new film.

Atkins plays Walter, a once-revered children's book writer who regresses to the world of a child after the ravages of the Korean war, and the loss of his wife and youngest daughter to a car accident, leave him reeling from grief and agony.

Walter's remaining daughter, Susan, in a poignant performance by Gabrielle Carteris, is a bitter and lost soul, left to care for her shell-shocked father, now in his 70's. With hope fading for ever reaching her father, Susan makes the decision to put him in a home; however, she is forced through tragedy to experience a miracle that will change her life forever.
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Finally healing from ‘the forgotten war’

This is a great example of many things. One is that we didn't take care of older veterans properly and they suffered but above that, they survived. Some of them took their own lives many years ago. Some are still doing it. We don't know how many but then again, we still don't know how many take their own lives today. There are too many unknowable with questions left behind. No suicides notes. Drug overdoses are not always known to be accidental or on purpose. Vehicle accidents are another puzzle because there have been reports that the driver was suffering. We will never really know for sure.

Another lesson is that it is never too late to get help to heal.

My Dad was a Korean War veteran and he was 100% disabled. We knew he was an alcoholic but he very well could have had a mild case of PTSD. He passed away when he was only 58. We know that PTSD comes with a long list of health issues and one of them is damage to the heart. The VA took care of his physical health but back then, mental healthcare was not so great.

He went to AA.

Finally healing from ‘the forgotten war’
Montgomery Herald
May 22, 2013
By Linda Beaulieu

It used to be called shell shock or battle fatigue. Today, the term is post traumatic stress disorder – PTSD. And while it can affect the life of anyone who goes through some horrific event, it’s most closely connected to members of the armed forces who have survived physical battle only to face a mental and emotional battle that can go on for the rest of their lives.

Today, the military provides help for soldiers and veterans with PTSD. But in 1954, when young men returned from the horrors of what is often called “the forgotten war” in Korea, they were on their own.

One of those young men was James McQueen, of Star.

McQueen grew up in Okeweemee, left school in ninth grade and went to work driving a delivery truck for FCX farm supply.
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Boston Marathon wounds raise anxiety for war veterans

It is not just the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, but all veterans. Bombs have been planted in the earth for generations. For the OEF and OIF veterans, it is pretty raw emotionally. WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War veterans have been thru September 11th so they saw their anxiety level rise back then. This is yet one more reminder of lives on the line doing what this country asked of them. All of them need help right now.

Boston Marathon wounds raise anxiety for Iraq, Afghanistan war veterans
Long Island Newsday
April 21, 2013
By MARTIN C. EVANS

The horrific wounds on the legs of some Boston Marathon spectators were all too similar to those witnessed and experienced by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Timothy Strobel of Shirley, a former Army medic, who rushed to aid the wounded when a Baghdad suicide bomber injured 38 Iraqi civilians at a crowded gas station in 2007, had to turn away from television images streaming out of Boston.

Christopher Levi of Holbrook, a former soldier with the 10th Mountain Division, who during a 2008 roadside bombing in Iraq lost both legs, felt vulnerable as he heard accounts of amputations in Boston.

They are among veterans who said the images from the Boston bombings, which killed three and wounded more than 170, inflamed their own anxieties about their experiences in war.

"It brought me right back there," said Strobel, 30, who served during one of the bloodiest periods of the Iraq War, and who now counsels veterans coping with war-related anxieties. "I had to turn the television off."

Strobel is a program coordinator for the Suffolk County-based PFC Joseph Dwyer Veterans PTSD Peer-to-Peer Program, which works with veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder. After the group's Facebook page urged veterans who were experiencing anxieties related to the Boston bombings to contact the program, more than a half dozen replied.
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Iraq Veteran Robbery Suspect Received Poor Care from Atlanta VA

Mother: Robbery Suspect Received Poor Care from Atlanta VA
Sy Smith was charged this week with assaulting an elderly man and stealing his car.
By Jonathan Cribbs

The mother of an Iraq war veteran accused of beating and robbing an elderly man said she believes the Atlanta VA Medical Center did not properly treat her son's post-war mental disorder.

Sy Smith was charged this week with assaulting a Korean War veteran and stealing his car. He was treated at the medical center for post-traumatic stress disorder following a suicide attempt, according to wsbtv.com.
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Veteran Gets Dying Wish To Walk Deck Of Old Ship

Veteran Gets Dying Wish To Walk Deck Of Old Ship
CBS Charlotte
March 1, 2013

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) — Korean War veteran Gerald Bowman gamely walked up the gangplank to board the ship he had not seen in almost six decades. The 82-year-old is suffering from congestive heart failure with only about a year to live and his dying wish was to walk the decks of the USS Laffey on which he served four years, including three tours off Korea.

Wearing a USS Laffey hat, he led reporters through the ship at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum on Charleston Harbor Friday, stopping by his old bunk and then into the engine room where as a machinist mate he worked, sometimes in sweltering temperatures of more than 120 degrees.

He choked up and paused when asked how it felt to be back.

“I just wanted to come back and see actually what happened to me in my early 20s,” the Elkins, Ark., man said. “I think the bottom line was the four years changed me. I was a different person when I left.”
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VA overpaid disabled vets by up to $1.1B

If you have a VA claim for something that will not get better, like an amputation, then you'll receive a "permanent and total" disability rating.

VA overpaid disabled vets by up to $1.1B
Army Times
By Rick Maze
Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 5, 2013

In a reversal of normal complaints about the Veterans Affairs Department being too slow to pay disabled veterans, a House subcommittee is investigating overpayments to veterans who were temporarily rated 100 percent disabled but were not reevaluated to see if their conditions improved.

The loss to the government could be as much as $1.1 billion, according to VA auditors, who estimate the 27,500 veterans were not properly re-evaluated.

Rep. Jon Runyan, R-N.J., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee’s disability assistance panel, said the “unacceptable” problem needs to be fixed — especially now, when federal spending is tight.

VA policies allow 100 percent disability ratings to be assigned to veterans undergoing surgery or some other treatment that prohibits them from working, making them eligible for disability compensation. When their treatment or recovery period ends, a follow-up medical examination is supposed to be requested to determine if they still have any disability for which they should continue to receive compensation.

Disability pay can be up to $3,214 a month at current rates for a veteran with a 100 percent rating.

The IG found no regional office within VA that fully followed established policies requiring reevaluations. Error rates were as high as 100 percent in Wyoming. The “best” regional offices, in Lincoln, Neb., and Des Moines, had an error rate of 27 percent.
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