Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Memorial Day. Show all posts

Saturday, May 23, 2020

This is for those who choose to honor and remember them!

Memorial Day: Time to remember and honor sacrifice

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 23, 2020

Memorial Day, may be considered as the kick off of summer and a time to enjoy our lives to some, but for others, it is a day to remember members of our families and friends no longer here physically. The memory of them remains.

My husband and I are both second generation Americans. Our grandparents came here from Greece, Italy, and Canada. They raised their children to value this county enough they would pay any price to defend it.

My husband's Dad and Uncles fought in WWII. He lost one of his uncles, who was a 19 year old Marine. Another uncle was a Merchant Marine and he was rescued when his ship was hit. He never really recovered but was able to live out his life along with other "shell shock" veterans on a farm. My husband and his nephew fought in Vietnam.

For my Dad, it was Korea and my uncles it was WWII.

Memorial Day means a lot more to us, while for others, a three day weekend to enjoy, or go shopping. It is not a time to think about what we want to do, but is a time to honor what they did, and what so many others did for the sake of all of us.

Today we are being asked to stay home as much as possible and in public, practice being distant from others while wearing a mask. We are asked to do this to protect others from what we may pass onto them with COVID-19 pandemic claiming so many lives. Fast approaching 100,000 deaths, it seems the least we can do.
Coronavirus live updates: New York eases restrictions on gatherings in time for Memorial Day weekend; US nears 100,000 deaths
Some people protest about their rights to do what they want to do, without considering anyone else, even as the numbers continue to grow. Sad when considering all other generations were asked to do for the sake of others.

There will always be selfish people in this country and, God willing, there will always be those who put the lives of others above their own. This is for those who choose to honor and remember them!
This report provides war casualty statistics. It includes data tables containing the number of fatalities and the number of wounded among American military personnel who served in principal wars and combat actions from 1775 to the present. It also includes information such as race and ethnicity, gender, branch of service, and, in some cases, detailed information on types of casualties and causes of death. (read the report here)

Vietnam war deaths 1956-1975
The First and the Last
The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956. His name was added to the Wall on Memorial Day 1999.

First battlefield fatality was Specialist 4 James T. Davis who was killed on December 22, 1961.

The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.
Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.
http://thewall-usa.com/names.asp
This is from 2010. The numbers are higher now and the debt we owe them has still not been paid yet.
John 15:13 King James Version (KJV) 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

MOH MSG Gary Gordon's grave vandalized in Maine

“American Hero” veteran’s grave vandalized. Police need our help in finding out who did it.


Law Enforcement Today
by: Kyle S. Reyes
May 23, 2020

LINCOLN, MAINE – It’s exactly the kind of story we don’t want to be reporting on Memorial Day Weekend.
Police are looking for help in finding whoever is responsible for desecrating the grave of an “American hero”.

They put up a Facebook post about the damage this week:

“MSG Gary Gordon is not only a hometown hero for Lincoln, he’s an American Hero!!” they said.

The vandalism to his gravestone is believed to have occurred sometime within the last 2 weeks.

“There has been talk that this may have been done as an additional honor, where Medal of Honor recipients have gold, inlaid to the engravings and that this is still a work in progress,” they said.

But if that’s the case, they said the family was never notified that this was happening.
read it here

Medal of Honor Monday: Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon


Department of Defense
BY KATIE LANGE
JULY 1, 2019

If you've ever seen the movie "Black Hawk Down," then you know the story of Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon. Gordon and his comrade, Army Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart, made the most difficult decision service members could ever make — to give their lives for their brothers in arms. This Medal of Honor Monday, we honor Gordon's life and sacrifice during a 1993 humanitarian crisis in Somalia.
Gary Gordon was born Aug. 30, 1960, and grew up in Lincoln, Maine. At the age of 18, he joined the Army and was a combat engineer for many years before being selected for the elite Special Forces group known as Delta Force.
read it here

Monday, September 23, 2019

AMVETS taking over rolling the thunder in Washington

It's Official: AMVETS Will Hold Memorial Day Rally in D.C. to Replace 'Rolling Thunder'


Military.com
By Richard Sisk
21 Sep 2019
The 2020 events will be held to "to make the nation, especially our voters, aware of what is happening, what isn't happening and what needs to happen to address our POWs, our MIAs, and our veterans and active-duty service members who are dying by suicide," Chenelly said in a statement.
Ray Weaver, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, supports Rolling Thunder 2017. (Joshua L. DeMotts/U.S. Air Force)
AMVETS made it official Friday: A "Rolling Thunder"-style motorcycle rally will take place next Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C., to honor the nation's veterans, POWs and missing-in-action.

In a release and at a news conference, leaders of the veterans service organization American Veterans, better known as AMVETS, said they would continue the tradition of the annual three-day rally of thousands of motorcyclists in the nation's capital for the 2020 Memorial Day.

Last year, Artie Muller, long-time leader of the Rolling Thunder rallies that rumbled through Washington for 32 years, cited escalating costs, stating that the 2019 rally would be the last, although local chapters around the country might sponsor their own events.
read it here

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Vietnam veterans step up after fire wiped out a "brother" on Memorial Day

SW Arkansas veteran gets help from fellow veterans after fire


ArkLaTex
By: Heather Wright
Posted: Jun 04, 2019

HEMPSTEAD COUNTY, Ark. (KTAL/KMSS) - A Vietnam Veteran whose home was destroyed by a fire on Memorial Day weekend received some assistance on Tuesday from some fellow veterans.

Vietnam Veteran Wendell Murry said he's grateful for the outpouring of support from his community and his fellow veterans. Tuesday, he was given a $2,000 check from the Texarkana chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "I got on one man's shirt and another man's britches, but I'm here," said Murry, smiling.

Vietnam Veterans of America #278 Chapter President Greg Beck said, "That's to get them by until the insurance company comes. You know, you need clothes, you need food, they lost everything."

Murry and his family lost their home and most of their possessions on May 24. He said the fire started in a bedroom. "Before anybody could do anything, well, that room was enveloped in fire."
read more here

Saturday, June 1, 2019

Vietnam veteran's proud grandson needs help finding lost dog tags

Vietnam Veteran's family is asking for helping finding lost military dog tags


KTNV News
Carla Wade
Jun 01, 2019

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Vietnam Veteran’s family is asking for your help after an important memento was lost over the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

A picture of her father and an American flag are the centerpiece of Lynann McGee's kitchen. And her 14-year-old son Cameron has fond memories of his grandfather who passed away from Alzheimer’s less than a year ago.

"It was a lot of fun spending time with him,” Cameron said. “He was a lot of fun. He was always grateful of every little thing you do."

So, it meant a lot to Cameron when his mother allowed him to wear his grandfather's military dog tags to a Memorial Day observance Sunday. Proud to wear them, Cameron kept them on when he went to run errands at this Walgreens near Craig and Decatur. But later when he got home he realized the tags were missing.

"I know that he was panicking and that he was scared that he had lost something very significant to the family,” said McGee.
read more here

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Vietnam veteran survived Memorial Day attempted carjacking caught on video

‘Not my day to go:’ Shots fired as group attempted to carjack Vietnam veteran on Memorial Day

FOX6 NEWS
BY SUZANNE SPENCER
MAY 27, 2019

MILWAUKEE -- A 66-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War going to check on his garden in Milwaukee Monday morning, May 27 when an armed gunman attempted to take his car.

The attempted carjacking on Saylee Vang happened around 9 a.m. near 60th and Carmen on the city's northwest side -- and it was caught on camera. It had the Vietnam veteran using instincts from his days at war at his own home in Milwaukee.

Vang told FOX6 News three young men approached him and demanded the keys to his car. He said no -- and they took off. Vang told FOX6 News he attempted to chase them before returning to his car and going after them. He said the suspects fired four shots at his vehicle. One shot struck a neighbor's car.
read more here

Storm did not stop soldiers from honoring fallen with flags

Soldier Seen Placing Flag at Tomb of Unknown Soldier During Torrential Rain


FOX News
By Robert Gearty
26 May 2019

Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) place U.S. flags at headstones as part of Flags-In at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, May 23, 2019. For more than 55 years, soldiers from the Old Guard have honored our nation’s fallen heroes by placing U.S. flags at gravesites for service members buried at both Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Home National Cemetery just prior to the Memorial Day weekend. Within four hours, more than 1,000 soldiers place 245,000 flags in front of every headstone and Columbarium and niche wall column. (Elizabeth Fraser/U.S. Army)

An “Old Guard” soldier who was photographed placing a small American flag at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a severe thunderstorm is drawing notice ahead of Memorial Day.

Flags In is an annual military operation carried out by The Old Guard before Memorial Day weekend in which soldiers plant over 245,000 U.S. flags at the graves of Arlington National Cemetery. (Maryam Treece/U.S. Army) The storm hit Thursday in D.C. as members of the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, better known as “The Old Guard,” were planting flags at each grave at the cemetery as they do each year at this time.

“During the storm, one of the most extraordinary displays of discipline and dedication to duty ever to be witnessed at Arlington National Cemetery was taking place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,” the Old Guard’s Facebook page said in a post.

“With only a few watching from cover, a Tomb Sentinel approached the Unknowns with U.S. flags in hand. As thunder shook the ground and rains washed down without abandon, the Tomb Sentinel pierced through the elements with breath-taking precision.

“He knelt and placed the flags in honor of the Unknowns. For the select few who saw this moment, it was jaw-dropping. Humans have their limits, but The Old Guard has yet to meet theirs.”
read more here

Monday, May 27, 2019

Remembering the fallen on Memorial Day

The fallen were remembered in Casselberry and Oviedo Florida

Sgt. Dave Matthews of Never Forgotten Memorials put on his uniform to remember two local heroes even though it was 100 degrees!
Staff Sgt. Robert Miller's Dad


These are from Rock and Brews

140 veterans are lost to suicide each week is just news to some

Number of veterans committing suicide far greater than we'll ever know


Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 27, 2019

The big lie "22 veterans a day commit suicide was a post I put up in 2016. I put the number at about 73 a day, which is a rough, educated guess. The truth is, we will never really know, because far too many are not counted. 

(Read it for yourself)

Now it looks like everyone is freaking out because of a speech given with 140 veterans a week, instead of "20" a day. Wonder how shocked they would be if they knew how many were never counted?

Wonder how they'll feel knowing how many were actually forgotten?
Matt Naylor on 140 Veteran Suicides per Week: Don’t Let Them Be ‘Forgotten Soldiers’
This guy is shocked!

This is the speech he was talking about

140 veterans are lost to suicide each week

KMBC 9 News May 24, 2019 

140 U.S. flags on display at Liberty Memorial for veteran suicide awareness over Memorial Day weekend
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Visitors to the National WWI Museum and Liberty Memorial will be greeted by 140 U.S. flags installed near the entrance for Memorial Day weekend.

The installation is called Flags of the Forgotten Soldiers.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says every 72 minutes, a United States service member or veteran takes his or her own life.

The 140 flags are meant to bring attention and awareness to the fact that 140 veterans are lost to suicide each week.

In addition, the National WWI Museum is offering free general admission for veterans and active duty military, along with half-price general admission for the public over the long weekend.

read more here

Lawmakers and administration officials remember fallen on Memorial Day

Remembering the fallen: 12 former service members to honor this Memorial Day


Military Times
Leo Shane III
May 26, 2019

Soldiers from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) march off after supporting military funeral honors in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on May 8, 2019. ((Elizabeth Fraser/Army)


In honor of Memorial Day, Military Times asked several lawmakers and administration officials to talk about who they will be remembering on the holiday. Here are their reflections:

** Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie, a Navy Reserve and Air Force Reserve veteran

“On Memorial Day we often forget Americans who gave the last full measure offering a helping hand to those whose own world had disappeared.

“On panel 1W Line 121 of the Vietnam Wall is the name of just such a man: Master Sgt. Denning Cicero Johnson. He was 36, a husband, father, medic. He was one of the last Americans to fall in Vietnam, on April 4, 1975.

“He was rescuing orphans whose lives were in danger as the North Vietnamese approached Saigon. Operation Baby Lift rescued 2,000 children on the orders of President Gerald Ford. While Johnson was tending to the children in his care, the C-5 he was on crashed into a rice paddy outside of Saigon.

** Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., an Army veteran and ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee

“There are many incredible men and women that come to mind when I think of our fallen servicemembers, but this Memorial Day I want to especially recognize the life and service of 1st Sgt Thomas E. Thayer from Louisville, Ky.

“Sgt Thayer was a tremendous man that I knew growing up in the Boy Scouts. He was my scoutmaster and taught me so much about leadership and responsibility. Sgt. Thayer died while serving with the Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star in 1965. I will never forget his courage and bravery. Rest in peace, scoutmaster.”
read more here

Veteran explains what Memorial Day is supposed to be about

VIDEO: Veteran reminds crowd of Memorial Day meaning


New Castle News
Dan Irwin
May 27, 2019

Many regard it as the unofficial start of summer.

However, Ruth Fairchild reminded listeners at Saturday’s annual Memorial Day program at the Lawrence County courthouse monument that the holiday means so much more.

“Sadly, traditional observances of Memorial Day have been diminishing over the years,” said Fairchild, an Army veteran of both Desert Shield and Desert Storm who also is National Surgeon General of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored or neglected.”

Noting that some look upon Memorial Day as a day to honor all veterans, or a day to honor all dead, or even just as a day off work, Fairchild emphasized that the holiday is a time to honor servicemen and servicewomen who paid the ultimate price for their country.

“President Kennedy once said, ‘A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces, but also by the men it honors; the men it remembers,’ ” Fairchild said. “So today, let us remember why we are off of work, out of school. Today, let us honor all those who have fallen. Today, let us remember names.”

She provided some of those names by listing a handful of the county’s war dead from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq-Afghanistan.

“Let us make this Monday — this Memorial Day — a true remembrance to celebrate their courage, their deeds,” Fairchild said. “They have rightfully earned our gratitude, our respect and a place of honor among us.
read more here

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Rolling Thunder took over Washington for last ride

Rolling Thunder takes its final ride in Washington


The Washington Post
By Jessica Contrera
May 26 at 4:26 PM
There was a line to see the man in charge.

“Artie,” people called.

“Artie, did you see?”

“Artie,” they said. “You gotta do something.”

It was the Sunday before Memorial Day, and in Washington, that has long meant that one of the world’s largest motorcycle rallies was in town. Every year since 1988, riders have roared into the District for “Rolling Thunder,” a demonstration in support of veterans, prisoners of war and service members who went missing in action. But this year, the organization’s leader, Artie Muller, had announced that the financial and logistical burden of making the rally happen had become too much; after 2019, the event in the nation’s capital would be no more.

The news inspired hundreds of thousands of bikers, likely a record-breaking number, to flock to the Pentagon parking lot Sunday morning, ready for their final ride into the city and around the National Mall.
read more here

Suicide Awareness...no requirement to carry anything!

Remember military lives lost we failed to honor

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 26, 2019

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. There are graves that will be visited, ceremonies held to honor lives lost after military service by some citizens, while others are just enjoying the day off from work.

Repulsive when you think about it, but that is the problem. Too many did not think enough about their lives. They did not think about the fact that these men and women, were willing to risk their lives for the sake of others, but we were all too willing to not think about what they needed. We were too busy feeling good spending a couple of hours enjoying ourselves at a suicide awareness event, having fun because veterans are  committing suicide

This is for one of those events last year. Notice "come out and enjoy festivities" and this part really gets my blood boiling, "have a great time while raising awareness to the tragic epidemic of 22 suicides per day due to PTSD and lost hope."
This other part sums it all up. "No requirement to carry anything..."

Just goes to show you that what the average citizen thinks is helping, is actually hurting them. You cannot restore hope with stunts intended to give people a good time because someone read a headline!

These are some of the lives lost since last Memorial Day.



Airman at Cannon Air Force Base found dead in Ned Houk Park


Vietnam Veteran

The veteran, who was identified as Michael Douglas, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at about 4 p.m. Wednesday in the emergency department parking lot of the Eisenhower VA Medical Center, according to a statement issued by Joseph Burks, public affairs officer for VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System.
Fort Knox 
21 year old Private committed public suicide at Clarksville High School after he stole a gun.


Colorado Springs
Hours after being discharged from a mental health treatment facility, 38-year-old disabled veteran Lee Cole hiked into a wilderness area in southwest Colorado Springs with a backpack and the cellphone on which he planned to record his final message.

Georgia
Navy Veteran set himself on fire in front of Georgia Capitol protesting the VA system. 


Not first time this happened. It also happened in New Jersey last year.


Norfolk Navy Yard
Sailor walked into helicopter blade, death ruled suicide.

Alabama
Air Force veteran shot family, and himself after setting house on fire.

Chicago Police Officer and Marine veteran committed suicide in parking lot of police station.

Phoenix AZ
Veteran shot himself inside the VA Hospital Chapel 


Not the first times since it happened last year when a 33 year old veteran shot himself at the VA.




Employee found dead inside Topeka VA Medical Center office
A Veterans Affairs employee died Tuesday morning inside an administrative office at Topeka’s Colmery O’Neil VA Medical Center. Joe Burks, spokesman for the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System, said the employee died of an apparent suicide.
Suicide in Mishawaka VA parking lot puts spotlight on veteran mental health crisis
A veteran shot himself yesterday in the parking lot of the VA Health Care Center in Mishawaka -- dead from an apparent suicide.


Gunshot in lobby of Nashville VA Medical Center




Bay Pines VA Hospital Parking Lot
On Dec. 10, retired Marine Col. Jim Turner put on his dress uniform and medals and drove to the Bay Pines Department of Veterans Affairs complex. He got out of his truck, sat down on top of his military records and took his own life with a rifle.
Brieux Dash...on March 14, the 33-year-old hanged himself, according to the VA and the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner. He left behind his wife of 13 years and three children. 

Georgia VA hospitals 28-year-old Gary Pressley is now searching for answers after he took his own life in the parking lot of the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center 

The second occurred Saturday outside the main entrance to the Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur on Clairmont Road. 

And in Austin McLennan County Veteran’s Service Officer Steve Hernandez said the veteran was a patient who had been enrolled in the Phoenix program at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Medical Center in Temple and was discharged, but somehow his case was transferred to the Austin facility. 

And in Cleveland
Randy Stidham, died by apparent suicide. It happened after the 59-year-old held officers in a daylong stand off at his Adrian home. Police say Stidham fired shots from inside the house and even took aim at law enforcement. 

Greg Holeman Holeman, an Army veteran who served as a mechanic, fatally shot himself inside his pickup truck on the night of February 25, a Platte County Sheriff's Office lieutenant told KETV NewsWatch 7. The 48-year-old was parked outside of the Columbus Community Hospital's emergency department. And the not so public suicides
JARED JOHNS, A 24-YEAR-OLD ARMY VETERAN WHO SERVED IN AFGHANISTAN, KILLED HIMSELF ON SEPT. 11, THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY THAT CALLED HIM TO SERVE.
Michael Wargo's battle was long and extremely well hidden.He spent 10 months in Afghanistan, then eight years battling PTSD, then four and a half hours explaining his life-altering decision in a video his parents received when it was too late to change anything. 

FORT MYERS, Fla. - This month, Air Force senior leaders issued a memo, calling for a culture change in that military branch. They were concerned after 11 airmen and Air Force civilians committed suicide in just the first four weeks of 2019. 

SAN ANSELMO (CBS SF) — A man is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being in a tense standoff with crisis negotiators and police at a San Anselmo home that forced an entire neighborhood to evacuate 

Krysten Mischelle Gonzalez sat in an Oklahoma County jail cell while public defenders searched for an inpatient mental health treatment facility that would agree to accept her, the county's chief public defender says. Gonzalez, 29, was found unresponsive in her cell about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

If you are a veteran and think you do not matter because of the stunts you see, think again, because you do matter to a lot more people doing the work and willing to help you carry whatever load you have, and show you how to be able to help someone else down the road.

You do matter! It is time for you to #BreakTheSilence and stand up to all this nonsense! 

Too many veterans cannot find the help you need, when you need it. 

It is time to stop spreading these stunts on social media. Invest the time you take for their sake and spend it on your own sake to find the help you need.  

It is time to #TakeBackYourLife and live a better life! Oh, sorry with all the suicide awareness they have been spreading, they forgot to tell you that part too! You can heal!

Vietnam veteran's son discovers the soldier he never knew

The Big Story: Son 'meets' Vietnam veteran dad through another soldier's outreach


Quad City Times
Linda Cook
May 25, 2019
“I read somewhere that enduring a tour of duty in Vietnam was truly a test of character and a test of courage. Denny Wardlow passed the tests — he and all the guys from D Company 27th Combat Engineers passed those tests many times.”

Young soldiers Gerald Goetsch and Denny Wardlow huddled in the fox hole together for days while mortar bombs raged around them.

It was the mid-1960s when they entrusted their lives to each other in the Vietnam War. Now, though it’s too late for Goetsch, of Ortonville, Minnesota, to reconnect with Wardlow, he has connected with Denny’s son, Mike Wardlow, of Bettendorf, who has a new perspective of his father as a combat veteran.

Now, whenever Goetsch and Mike Wardlow speak, regardless of the date on the calendar, it's a "memorial day" for Goetsch, who shared so many war-time experiences with the late Denny Wardlow. Goetsch, who never reconnected with his old war-time friend, has a captive audience in his friend's son for reliving the war. And it's introduced Mike Wardlow to a father he never knew: A parent who never shared the horrors of war with his son.
When his mom died, Goetsch “wanted to talk to Wardlow and find out how he was doing and how his life had gone.”

He had tried to find his friend previously, long before internet searches were common, but had no luck. This time around, he found Denny’s obituary instead. He saw that Denny Wardlow, 54, died in 2000 and was laid to rest at the National Cemetery on Rock Island Arsenal, with military services conducted by Vietnam Veterans of America Quad-Cities Chapter 299.
read more here

Saturday, May 25, 2019

What did you forget to prepare for Memorial Day?

Where were you while they lived?


Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 25, 2019


While commercials flood our favorite TV shows for products we can buy cheaper than normal...because it is Memorial Day, stores advertise products for cookouts with the unofficial kick off of summer, and they are having a sales, all of us need to remember what this is actually all about. 

It is Memorial Day weekend. It is the one time of the year that the dead are supposed to be honored and remembered. The question is, where were you when they lived?

The news is pretty bleak for them, but we do not seem too willing to do anything about any of it.

Suicides are up in all the services. The headlines say "at a ten year high" because it was about 10 years ago they started to track them.

The first yearly suicide report was for 2008.

There were a total of 268 Service Member suicides in CY 2008, including cases pending final determination but strongly suspected to be suicides (Army = 140; Air Force = 45; Navy = 41; Marine Corps = 42).
While the number of enlisted went down, the number of suicides went up. As of the third quarter of 2018, the Department of Defense reports that  231 active duty and 144 Reserve Components (National Guard and Reservists) committed suicide....but we do not force anyone to account for any of this or change what they are doing, instead of pushing failed programs.

Suicides in the veterans community also went up. Sure, on the surface it may seem as if it has all remained simply steady since 1999, but when you look at the percentages, you see a rise because the population of veterans has declined.
Some people I know seem to care more about POTUS getting his wall than they care about military families living in squalor

How can we as a Nation, supposedly valuing those provide the defense of this nation, remain oblivious to everything that is happening to them?

Every night I go to bed knowing I did the best I could to help veterans. Every night I also know what it is like to do something for the right reason, and find little...or no support. After the last time I asked for help, received less than ten people willing to help me, I gave up asking. I am not asking now, and will probably never ask again. 

As much as I understand about PTSD, I also know what it is like for veterans to spend their days wondering when they will finally get the help they need to stay alive!

This is what happens to veterans all over the country. They are the last ones to ask for help from anyone. When they finally understand they deserve the help and bring themselves to seek it, all too often, they do not find any.

Ever wonder what it is like for them to read about another veteran, just like them, taking their own lives? First family and friends probably let them down. Then the government. Then the people getting the most attention marketing their own best interests while publicizing suicides...having fun with stunts.

Still they try until they ask for help for the last time, and then decide it is time for them to raise awareness the only way they can think of. They go to a public place, usually a VA facility and put themselves to death so that no one can ignore it.

Why? They gave up on themselves but wanted to make sure that they did what they could so that no other veteran would feel the way they did...abandoned.

Missing in America Project spends their days going to funeral homes search for the remains of veterans to make sure they get a proper military funeral and laid to rest with honor. We did not help them live their lives with honor and dignity. We abandoned them.

Everyone feels terrible when it happens, but it is too late to do the veteran any justice. Too late to help them find the healing they sought, the understanding they needed to support them, or the compassion they needed to give them back hope.

The only way we can do something that will actually honor them is to do whatever we can, everyday, to make sure they are treated as honored members of this Nation.

Stop falling for the noise! Politicians say that sending disabled veterans into the same healthcare system citizens suffer with is a good thing. Make them fix the VA so that it works for those who prepaid the price of their healthcare WHEN THEY BECAME DISABLED VETERANS.

They write bills that are repeats of what failed because they ask the same questions, to the same people and get the same answers. We see funerals that did not need to happen and families fall apart.

Want to know that you did something while they lived? Then make sure you spend the time to actually do it. 

Friday, May 24, 2019

Vietnam War Memorial vandalized in Massachusetts days before Memorial Day

A Vietnam veterans memorial was vandalized with a swastika. Police want to find out who did it


CNN
May 24, 2019

(CNN)Several days before Memorial Day, a Vietnam War memorial in Massachusetts has been vandalized with "hate-related" graffiti.
Police are canvassing the area near the memorial in Dorchester, about six miles from Boston. Early Thursday, flags were ripped down and tossed; dozens of plants were torn from the ground; and stone monuments were marked with hateful graffiti -- including a swastika -- according to a press release from the Massachusetts State Police.

In addition to graffiti, police say flags were torn down and plants were ripped from the ground. In addition to graffiti, police say flags were torn down and plants were ripped from the ground. The memorial is on a space owned by The University of Massachusetts Boston and includes the names of 80 Vietnam War veterans, according to the university.

"The University of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts State Police condemn this despicable act and are conducting a thorough and coordinated investigation to determine who is responsible and to hold that person or persons accountable," the release said.
read more here

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Memorial Day, Lt. Dan and Why He's a Grateful American

A Visit with Gary Sinise: Memorial Day, Lt. Dan and Why He's a Grateful American


Military.com
By James Barber
21 May 2019
In many ways, and not only the career. I had done only two or three movies before I did "Forrest Gump." That was certainly a career changer, for sure. It also led to a long, 25-year relationship with the Disabled American Veterans organization because, within weeks of the movie coming out, they invited me to come to their national convention.
Gary Sinise as Vietnam veteran Lt. Dan Taylor in "Forrest Gump" (Paramount)
Gary Sinise spoke with us when he was scheduled to co-host the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C. He's had to cancel, but the show will go on, airing at 8 p.m. Eastern on May 26 on PBS stations. Mary McCormack will fill in for Gary as co-host with Joe Mantegna.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the National Memorial Day Concert, and Sinise has been involved with the event since 2005. We had a great conversation and decided to share the interview even though he won't be able to attend the event.

Sinise spoke to us about his experiences with the concert, what the role of Lt. Dan Taylor has meant to his career and his life, and his recent memoir "Grateful American."

I brought up his father Robert's own movie career, which he started as editor for the drive-in gore schlockmaster Herschell Gordon Lewis in the early 1960s. Gary enthusiastically displayed his own knowledge of deep cuts from one of the trashiest filmographies of all time. He truly is a renaissance man.
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NATIONAL MEMORIAL DAY CONCERT | Charles Durning | PBS