Domestic Violence: Two Fort Campbell Soldiers Killed

2 Fort Campbell Soldiers Killed, Suspect in Custody
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAK GROVE, Ky.
Feb 3, 2017

Fort Campbell said in a statement Friday night that East and Hoch were both specialists and that Hoch was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.

East, of Missouri City, Texas, was a health care specialist who joined the Army in 2011 and began serving at Fort Campbell in 2014.

Hoch, of Ferndale, Michigan, was an infantryman who joined the Army in 2013 and arrived at Fort Campbell later that year.

A domestic dispute near Fort Campbell has left two soldiers dead and a juvenile wounded, authorities said Friday.

Jeremy Demar, 35, of Clarksville, Tennessee, forced his way into a house in Oak Grove, Kentucky, where he had tracked down his estranged wife, 32-year-old Priscilla Ann East, on Thursday night and fatally shot her and 28-year-old Christopher Ryan Hoch, Kentucky State Police said in a statement. East and Hoch were soldiers at the Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee line, the statement said.

Demar was charged Friday with murder, murder-domestic violence, burglary and assault. He is being held at the Montgomery County Jail. Records don't indicate whether he has an attorney.
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Man Shot in Alabama Possible Suicide By Cop?

Knox man killed in Alabama officer-involved shooting
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Hayes Hickman
Jan. 26, 2017

Partridge added that Oxford police were notified by the Heflin, Ala., Police Department, which initiated the pursuit, that the suspect was armed, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and had made suicidal threats in the past. He could not confirm whether Lambert was a military veteran.

Micah R. Lambert

(Photo: Knox County Detention Facility)

A Knoxville man who fled the state after an alleged assault on a Knox County sheriff's deputy was fatally shot by police in Alabama following a pursuit Wednesday, authorities said.

Micah R. Lambert, 37, was killed when he attempted to charge officers with his SUV, according to Oxford, Ala. Police Chief Bill Partridge.

The chief said Lambert was wanted on a charge of aggravated assault on police officers in connection with an incident earlier this week in Knox County.

"Lambert had been reported missing and had left a friend's house with a loaded handgun after making threats to harm himself, according to the report.

"Mr. Lambert had left his dog with his friend and signed over the title to his vehicle before leaving," the report states.
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Fort Campbell Wife Celebrated Birth of Quads...Battling Cancer

AWESOME UPDATE
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A GoFundMe campaign for a Fort Campbell soldier and wife with newborn quadruplets has now topped $1 million dollars.



Fort Campbell woman gives birth to quadruplets while battling cancer
WKRN News
Josh Breslow
Published: January 2, 2017

“We know that He’s gotta have a different plan up there for us, and surely everything’s gonna work out in the end,” said Kayla Gaytan.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A Fort Campbell soldier and his wife have four tiny reasons to celebrate 2017.

Kayla and Sgt. Charles Gaytan are the proud parents of quadruplets born Friday afternoon at Vanderbilt University Medical Center without fertility treatment of any kind.

“It was exciting. It was nerve-wracking. But to see them when they all came out and to hear them crying, that was really exciting,” Kayla told News 2.

Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last January, Kayla had just finished five months of chemotherapy and was in remission when she learned she was pregnant.

Already a mother-of-two, the 29-year-old was excited to tell her husband Charles, a Fort Campbell soldier.

“She called me on the phone, and we’re in a Humvee and I kinda couldn’t really hear her,” recalled Charles. “It was truly some of the best news I’ve ever gotten in my life.”
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Santa Claus grants final wish to a dying child

Looks like a reporter picked up the story from social media and it was not verified. WOW


Story of Santa Claus with dying child can't be verified

Since publication, the News Sentinel has done additional investigation in an attempt to independently verify Schmitt-Matzen’s account. This has proven unsuccessful.

'I cried all the way home': Santa Claus grants final wish to a dying child
WHAS 11 News
Sam Venable, (Knoxville, Tenn.) News Sentinel , KING
December 11, 2016

“I spent four years in the Army with the 75th Rangers, and I’ve seen my share of (stuff). But I ran by the nurses’ station bawling my head off. I know nurses and doctors see things like that every day, but I don’t know how they can take it.’”

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Eric Schmitt-Matzen looks every bit like Santa Claus.

His 6-foot frame carries 310 pounds, leaving “just enough of a lap for the kids to sit on,” he says with a gentle Kringley chuckle right out of Central Casting.

No fake facial fuzz for this guy. Schmitt-Matzen’s snowy beard is the real thing, albeit regularly bleached to maintain its whiteness. His shag is so spectacular, in fact, it won first place in the “natural full beard, styled moustache” division of a 2016 national contest sponsored by the Just For Men hair products company.

He’s professionally trained. Custom-tailored in red. Was born on Dec. 6 (that’s Saint Nicholas Day — are you surprised?) Works approximately 80 gigs annually. Wife Sharon plays an authentic Mrs. Claus. His cellphone, with a Jingle Bells ringtone, continually counts down the days until Christmas. Even his civilian attire always includes Santa suspenders.

The whole shtick is designed to spread joy and have fun.

Which it does – except for the role he played several weeks ago at a local hospital.

“I cried all the way home,” Schmitt-Matzen told me. “I was crying so hard, I had a tough time seeing good enough to drive.
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Veteran Forced Out of PTSD-Rehab Committed Suicide At Alvin York VA

Friends: Soldier who took his life outside VA is tragic example of vets desperate for help
FOX 17 News
BY ERIKA LATHON FRIDAY
NOVEMBER 25TH 2016

"My only three options now or go back to jail, be homeless or check myself into the psych ward they knew the extent of my problems with PTSD depression,” Toombs says in the video.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WZTV) -- Friends say a soldier who took his life before Thanksgiving is a tragic example of veterans desperate for help.

Authorities found the soldier's body on the Alvin York campus in Murfreesboro where he'd been recently discharged from a drug treatment program.

Veterans helping veterans as the Military Vets Motorcycle Club is camping for 48 hours.
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From YouTube
My friend John Toombs last testament before he committed suicide after the VA refused to help him. Justice For Toombs

Iraq Veteran: Combat Wounded to Combat Medic

Veteran Injured In Iraq Became Medic, Nurse
News Channel 5 Nashville
Steve Hayslip
Nov 17, 2016

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - For Veterans Day, we met with and honored one veteran who nearly paid the ultimate price.

TriStar Southern Hills nurse Justin Laferty was injured in Iraq nearly 13 years ago when his Humvee flipped.

A medic saved his life, which also changed his life. Laferty became an Army medic to thank the medic who was there for him.
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Vietnam Veteran, Retired Lt. Col. James Walker, Discovers Roots Go Back to Civil War

Vietnam veteran finds ancestor who escaped slavery, joined Union Army
Decatur Daily News
By Evan Belanger Staff Writer
October 16, 2016

Retired Lt. Col. James Walker didn’t know his military heritage when he was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

But Walker, an Austin High School teacher who has a passion for history and has written six books, knows how to look back in time and find the stories that matter.

"If you don't know where you're going, you don't know where you've been," he said in a recent interview at Austin, where he is the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor.

Walker served 11 months and 28 days in Vietnam and was well into his 24-year career with the Army before he ever heard the name Thomas Lane.

In fact, he was 39 when his elderly aunt casually mentioned an ancestor of his fought in “the war.” Unsure of which war she meant, he quickly ran through the list: the Korean War, World War II, World I, the Spanish-American War.

“Now I’m getting interested,” Walker recalled when his aunt confirmed it was the Civil War.

On Christmas Eve, Lane ran away from the plantation and walked the 25 miles to Pulaski, Tennessee, where he joined the 111th U.S. Colored Infantry for the Union Army.

Walker speculates today that his ancestor’s sale to a man named Green accounts for the name change in military records.

“When he joined the Union, his last name was Green,” he said. “After the war, you could pick your own name, so he went back to Lane, which was probably also a slave name, but it was his first.”
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Vietnam Veteran Restored Faith Helping Others

Vietnam veteran uses faith to help other veterans
WVLT News
By David Ball
Oct 12, 2016

Owens is no longer on the battle field, but is still in service at his church. He helps with parking and security. He also helped put together a Vietnam honor ceremony at East Tennessee Veteran's Memorial set for Thursday.

The ceremony expects hundred of veterans and their families to show up to say thank you to the Vietnam veterans. Each vet or their family will receive a bronze pin.

For Owens, it took him several years after the war to have peace with his faith.

"None of us really knew what war was about, so as I lost individuals it became a battle for me on the inside. I went there as a Christian and came back as someone who didn't really believe in the almighty. You take me to battle and you take all of my friends... and you send me back here to an empty world what am I supposed to do?" said Owens.

However God kept calling and as more veterans needed help, Owens found a new front line, his faith. Owens says Thursday's ceremony will give veterans the opportunity to feel welcomed when they didn't decades ago.
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Fort Campbell Soldiers Charged With Selling Equipment on eBay?

Soldiers at Fort Campbell Army base allegedly sold military equipment to foreign nations on eBay
New York Daily News
Jason Silverstein
October 6, 2016

A soldier (not connected to the case) holds an M249 machine gun, one of the weapons whose parts were allegedly sold on eBay by soldiers from Fort Campbell.
(JULIE JACOBSON/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Soldiers at Fort Campbell sold more than $1 million worth of military gear and weapons parts to buyers worldwide through eBay, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.

The soldiers allegedly hawked parts of a grenade launcher and machine guns that were stolen from warehouses near the Army base in Clarksville, Tenn.

"These are extraordinarily and inherently dangerous in the wrong hands and outside of the military or police tactical use," U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee David Rivera said at a press conference.
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Tennessee Family Struggles to Bring Son's Body Home After Suicide

Tennessee family raising money to fly deceased veteran’s body from Springfield to Memphis
The Register-Guard
By Elon Glucklich
SEPT. 22, 2016

SPRINGFIELD — A mother in Tennessee hopes the public can help raise money to fly her military veteran son’s body home, after he committed suicide in Springfield last weekend.

Taylor Lee Odom

Pfc. Taylor Lee Odom, 23, hanged himself Saturday, his mother, Jenniffer Palazola-Herrin, said. After being injured during training in the U.S. Army, he was medically retired from the military in July 2015. He moved to Springfield five months ago to study automotive technology at Lane Community College under the GI Bill.

Odom had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder for four years, Palazola-Herrin said, stemming from a traumatic brain injury he received in a training accident at Fort Carson in Colorado.

In the 2012 accident, Odom was thrown from a Humvee and partly crushed as it rolled on him, local news reports said at the time.

Even as he slowly recovered, Odom suffered from symptoms related to his PTSD, Palazola-Herrin said, speaking from her home in Memphis.

He attempted suicide before, she said, and care was subpar at the Memphis-area Veterans Affairs hospitals where they sought help.
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Lack of Support Forced Firefighter Into Retirement Because of PTSD

Longtime Johnson City firefighter retires early, cites workplace conditions
WJHL 11 News
By Nate Morabito
Published: September 19, 2016

JOHNSON CITY, TN (WJHL) – A Johnson City firefighter who is battling mental illness has decided to call it quits and retire early, citing the ongoing working conditions as his reason. 25-year veteran Sergeant. Mike Sagers retired earlier this month after spending an extended period of time on medical leave.

Sgt. Sagers says it was a difficult decision, but one he had to make for his mental health. Sagers suffers from stress, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to medical records.

Back in May, Sgt. Sagers provided us with select medical records that documented his concerns of bullying, belittling and workplace violence by longtime administrator and current Fire Chief Mark Scott. His medical provider documented words like “abusive fire chief,” “harassment” and “concern of retaliation.”

Johnson City Professional Firefighters Association President Charlie Ihle shared his disappointment.

“I don’t like it one bit,” Ihle said. “To lose somebody like Mike Sagers is awful. It’s just awful. Mike Sagers was passionate about the fire department and the city. Nobody knows more about the fire department and the city than Mike Sagers, so for him to be forced out is just awful.”
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Low Turn Out For PTSD Town Hall?

Big information at PTSD event, but a small crowd
Cleveland Daily Banner
By LARRY C. BOWERS Banner Staff Writer
August 17, 2016

The speakers also stressed that PTSD is not a recent malady, but was documented 3,000 years before Christ by horrific experiences in war. Smith said there were 159,000 who suffered out of World War I, and 500,000 from World War II. In the second World War the problem was called “shell shocked.”

In spite of the sparse gathering at Tuesday evening’s Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Townhall Meeting at Keith Street Ministries, the array of speakers delivered a wealth of information.

GUEST SPEAKERS WAIT their turn at the podium Tuesday evening at Keith Street Ministries. The speakers at the PTSD townhall meeting included, from left, Bradley County Veterans Officer Larry McDaris, B. Yvonne Hubbard of the Veterans Center in Chattanooga, Centerstone Military Service’s Executive Director Kent Crossley, veteran LaWanda Jenkins and retired Lt. Gen. Hugh Smith.
BANNER PHOTO, LARRY C. BOWERS

The group was led by Tennessee State Council President Barry Rice of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Bradley County Veterans Officer Larry McDaris, retired Lt. Gen. Hugh Smith of Clarksville, Centerstone Military Services Executive Director Kent Crossley, veteran LaWanda Jenkins, and B. Yvonne Hubbard of the Veterans Center in Chattanooga.

Rice, a PTSD survivor, served as the meeting’s moderator. He spoke of his battles with the affliction following combat in Vietnam.

Other than the speakers, there were a few local veteran officials, members of the Edward G. Sharpe Chapter 596 of Vietnam Veterans which organized the meeting, and family members.

Chapter President James Dean said he didn’t understand the low turnout.

“We placed fliers throughout the community, including the Bradley County Justice Center and Cleveland Police Department,” he said.
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Navy Recruiters Will Be Armed

Navy will put armed sailors at recruiting centers after July 16 attack
Times Free Press
Shelly Bradbury
July 15th, 2016

The U.S. Navy will put armed sailors at recruiting centers across the nation in the wake of the July 16 attack in Chattanooga, a Navy spokesman confirmed Friday.

An FBI investigator investigates the scene of a shooting outside a military recruiting center on Friday, July 17, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez of Hixson, Tenn., attacked two military facilities on Thursday, in a shooting rampage that killed four Marines.

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The personnel will be armed with both lethal and non-lethal weapons and will be stationed at recruiting centers across the nation in the coming months, Capt. Jack Hanzlik said.

The move is one of several changes the Navy has made to security and policy after the attack a year ago, when a 24-year-old gunman opened fire on a recruiting center on Lee Highway — injuring one Marine — before driving to the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway, where the shooter killed four Marines and mortally wounded a Navy sailor.

"The arming of personnel at these facilities provides both a deterrent value and a defensive capability against potential attacks," Capt. Ray Benedict wrote in a Navy statement.
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HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21 Filled With Vietnam Veterans

Service and Sacrifice
WBIR News
June 24, 2016

Throughout the month, we are sharing the stories of four veterans we followed aboard HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21. It was the first flight devoted to all Vietnam veterans. A total of 149 troops made the all-expenses paid trip up and back in the same day to Washington to see the war memorials.

After sneaking in his first solo flight at 13-years-old, Joel Pressburg was leading aerial missions in the Vietnam war by age 22.

He would skirt trees in the flight deck of a U-10 Helio Courier, going so low that on one mission he found bolts from an enemy crossbow stuck in the top of his small plane. Pressburg continues to remain humble about his service, though.

"I had it a lot easier than the guys who were down on the ground," Pressburg said. "They have my undying respect."

Pressburg is one of the veterans who received a free one-day trip to Washington D.C. to see the memorials built in their honor. HonorAir Knoxville Flight 21 said it was the first ever trip devoted solely to Vietnam veterans.
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First all Vietnam Honor Air flight back from DC
WBIR news
KNOXVILLE - To hearty cheers and waving flags, some 150 Vietnam veterans returned Wednesday night from their all-day trip to the Nation's Capitol to see monuments erected in their honor.

Wednesday's HonorAir flight was unique in that it was exclusively for Vietnam veterans, and it is the third of 21 HonorAir flights that have included Vietnam veterans.

At least 10 Purple Heart recipients were aboard Wednesday’s flight.

It returned about 8:30 p.m. to dozens of greeters at McGhee Tyson Airport.
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Some 150 Vietnam vets flew back into Knoxville on Wednesday night. It was the first trip that featured only Vietnam-era veterans.

Unclaimed Veterans Buried With Honor in Tennessee

Veterans unclaimed at life’s end given peace, dignity, rest
Knoxville News Sentinel
June 19, 2016

"We know so precious little about these veterans, their lives, their hopes, their struggles. How sad it is for us that we know so little of them." Cesar Correa

The service at the East Tennessee Veterans Cemetery on the 72nd anniversary of the Normandy invasion drew about 200. They came to give six people who had served their country a proper and decent burial and to ensure something more — an honorable and lasting remembrance.

The services were part of a national program to give a final and peaceful rest to members of the armed forces who died earlier this year but whose bodies were never claimed. All served at various times during the 20th century.

Servicemen and servicewomen on active duty from each branch of the armed services escorted the remains of their deceased comrades.

The dead are:

Sgt. Deborah Elaine Easler, Air Force; 

Fireman Robert Lowell Burke, Navy; 

Seaman Recruit Michael Lee McRill, Navy; 

Pvt. Calvin Coolidge Cherry Jr., Army; 

Spec. 4 Leonard David Fairchild Jr., Army; 

Pvt. Richard Eugene Traxler, Army.

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Veteran Survived 2 Tours in Iraq, Stabbed to Death In Tennessee

UPDATE: Bar fight takes deadly turn
WRCB News
April 5, 2016

UPDATE: Chattanooga police have identified the stabbing victim as 36-year-old Shawn Russell.

According to the bartender, a fight broke out around 1;15 a.m. between Russell and another man. Danielle Harvey said that unidentified man stabbed Russell in the torso and then left with his friend in a black SUV.

"These two guys got in a fight and things went sour. The next thing I know, he's stabbed and he didn't even know he was stabbed. He came around the bar and collapsed," the bartender said. "I got some bar towels, put them over the wound and called 911."
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From The Chattanoogan

Shawn Russell, a 36-year-old veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq.

Fort Campbell Soldier Died After Wife Found Dead

UPDATE: Soldier did U-turn on Interstate before hitting semi
Leaf Chronicle
Stephanie Ingersoll
March 3, 2016

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Clarksville Police say an 18-year-old woman found dead near the state line Wednesday had been assaulted by her husband, who then drove the wrong way on Interstate 24 and died before colliding with a semi.

At about 9:26 a.m., Wednesday officers of the Clarksville Police Department were called for a welfare check at 160 State Line Road, Apartment 13. Arriving officers found 18-year-old Katelyn Thomas (Baldoni) dead inside the apartment.

Investigators say she had been assaulted by her 21-year-old husband, Deashawn Thomas, a soldier at Fort Campbell. Investigators did not say how she was assaulted or whether that led to her death.
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Linked from Lexington Herald Leader

Chicago Marine 7 Marathons for Chattanooga Slain Servicemembers

CHICAGO MARINE FINISHES 7 MARATHONS IN 7 DAYS ON 7 CONTINENTS - WITH RECORD TIME
ABC News Chicago
By Ravi Baichwal
Wednesday, February 03, 2016

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A U.S. Marine from Chicago is back home after a whirlwind global tour with an athletic twist that might take a moment or two to sink in.

Daniel Cartica added more than 180 miles to his trip in one of the hardest ways you could imagine: seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.

Starting Saturday, January 23, day one was at Union Pass, Antarctica. From the icy course there, he hop-scotched the world to six other continents, finally finishing his amazing feat in Australia last Friday - and Cartica won the World Marathon Challenge in record time.

His trip around the world started at its bottom, Antarctica, then it was on to the Americas, over to Europe, down to Africa, across to the Middle East, then Down Under. Leading the pack in Antarctica was Cartica, a Marine who teaches at Northwestern University.

"I am always a guy who is trying to get out of his comfort zone," Cartica said.

That meant paying $23,000 for the chance to join a club more exclusive than Mount Everest climbers or the astronaut corps. After finishing, it was back into the group's Russian transport, where what little rest was to be gotten before the next marathon - in Punta Arenas, Chile.

"I wanted to do something for those family members of the servicemen that were killed," he said.

They were the five men who died in Chattanooga, Tenn., last July when they were ambushed by an armed gunman motivated, according to the FBI, by "foreign terrorist organization propaganda."
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PTSD Veteran Takes 1,000 Walk to Help 11 Year Old Child With Cancer

Man makes pit stop in Brevard on 1,000-mile trek 
FLORIDA TODAY
Michelle Mulak
January 19, 2016

"I was lost in my own head," said Mayer, who passed through Brevard late last week. "All I was thinking about was myself, and how bad things were. It was all about me. I knew what I needed was to find a reason to focus outward, to help others."

Seth Mayer, 39, is walking 1,000 miles to raise money for an 11 year old with brain cancer.

(Photo: Michelle Mulak/FLORIDA TODAY)

Seth Mayer is a man on a mission. His mission: Walking 1,000 miles from Tennessee to Miami in an effort raise money to help an 11-year old with brain cancer. Mayer passed through Brevard last week.

Mayer is walking 1,000 miles from his home in Clarksville, Tennessee, to Miami, Florida in an effort to raise money for an 11-year old boy from his hometown with brain and spinal cancer. For the past 52 nights, he's slept in a tent behind churches in the towns he passes through. He's walked through snow, ice, rain, thunderstorms, sand storms, blazing sun and numbing cold. He's suffered from dehydration, debilitating foot cramps, and chafing so bad that it bled.

And he couldn't be happier about it.

Just a few short years ago Mayer, 39, was in a dark place. This disabled veteran was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was deeply depressed.

Mayer heard about the family and their needs, wanted to help, and decided to do something bold. He enlisted the support of the community and several local businesses, and set off on foot on a thousand-mile journey in an effort to raise money for the Burgess family. The move gained momentum and people began to take notice, and A Thousand Miles Ministry was born. read more here

High School Students Raise $23,000 for Afghanistan Veteran

Hersey students raise $23,000 to help injured veteran build home 
Chicago Tribune
By Karen Ann Cullotta
December 31, 2015 (their date)

Students at John Hersey High School in 
Arlington Heights presented a $23,000 check
this month to Marine Lance Corporal Cody Evans
who lost both his legs in 2011 while on patrol in
Afghanistan. Evans, pictured here with his dog,
Willie, tossed T-shirts to students at
a recent holiday assembly.
(Karen Ann Cullotta / Chicago Tribune)

U.S. Army Sgt. Jason Smith, 30, who also lost both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan, was awarded a $23,000 check last year at Hersey to help make his home in Tennessee handicapped accessible.

When 1,800 John Hersey High School students welcomed a visiting Marine with a rousing standing ovation this month, Vietnam veteran William Dussling was taken by the teens' respect and patriotism.

"When I came back from Vietnam in 1968, the whole country was confused, and it was a difficult time for returning veterans," said Dussling, a Township High School District 214 school board member.

"There's nothing more important to a returning vet than appreciation and support from the community," Dussling said.

Dussling joined forces with Hersey students and staff this month in presenting a $23,000 check to Lance Cpl. Cody Evans, 31, who lost both his legs while on patrol in Afghanistan, and who will use the funds toward the cost of building a handicapped-accessible house in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn.

"This is amazing…it just blew all my expectations," said Evans, who was honored at the Arlington Heights high school's holiday assembly earlier this month.
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