Teenager charged with murder of 70 year old Vietnam veteran

Teen arrested for murder of 70-year-old Vietnam veteran

FOX 2 News
Jun 30 2019

(FOX 2) - The teen who was charged with shooting and killing an elderly man after his granddaughter snuck him into her house has been arrested.

David Kentrell Williams was arraigned June 27. He's been charged with one count of 2nd Degree murder and the one count of a felony weapon possession.

According to police, the 17-year-old came over to the victim's house after his girlfriend snuck him inside. That's when Williams got in an argument with Jamie Mintz, a 70-year-old Vietnam veteran. Mintz asked Williams to leave.

Detroit police said the two fought over a gun, and Mintz wound being shot and killed. Police said Williams then left the home with the gun.
read it here

Vietnam veteran shared decades of PTSD pain so others may find hope to heal too!

Vietnam veteran shares PTSD struggle to help others

KSTP ABC 5 news
June 27, 2019

Hanson got help from doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Thursday, was able to proudly wear his uniform and hear his name and details of his service announced to a stadium full of people.

It may seem strange to talk about a serious subject like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at a baseball game, but Vietnam War Veteran David Hanson, of Shorewood, knows that's a little like what living with PTSD is like — outside you make everything seem ok, but inside there's tremendous pain.

"It's still a little tough to understand why a lot of the public had such hatred for the Vietnam vets," Hanson said.

June 27 is PTSD Awareness Day – a day meant to bring attention to the mental condition thousands of veterans live with as they are haunted by tragic experiences from war. It can affect anyone who has experienced trauma.

For Hanson, who was a sergeant in the Air Force, the flashbacks and nightmares came decades after his time in combat during Vietnam. He said he became obsessed with safety and security at his home, checking locks multiple times and hiding weapons in several places.

"I started having flashbacks, more vivid dreams, couldn't sleep at night that drove me to three attempts at suicide," Hanson said.

"His breaking point brought our family to our knees," said Cori Hintzman, who said her family had no idea. "I was so shocked with how much pain he had inside and what he lived with everyday. I had no idea, and I lived with him my whole life."
read more here

PTSD Awareness is watching them fall

Raising PTSD Awareness, hardly working

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 30, 2019

While it seems as if there are more people "raising awareness" on PTSD and suicides, than ever before, we need to recognize that it is hardly working. Once we accept that fact, then maybe we can change the outcome. Until we stop settling for something that is not working, nothing will change.

Back in 2008, I was at an event with the VA. I talked with a couple of mental health professionals, I once admired, until I asked them what they thought of "Battlemind." 

It was a program the DOD was using to get servicemembers to "train their brain" to become mentally tough. The results we astonishingly abysmal.

When they gave me the usual talking points as to why they were spreading the program out as much as possible following the DOD as a guide, I pointed out the results.

The reply from the "professionals" was "it is better than nothing."

Thirty-seven years ago, that answer may have been acceptable, since few knew what was going on with researchers working very hard on finding the best treatments. 

I know because I read their books with a dictionary at the local library month after month with as much free time as I could spend there. It was 1982 and we did not even have computers in our homes.

Now we have cellphones, putting the world in the palms of our hands, but as oblivious as most were back then, it seems to be accepted as trendy now.

I read stuff being shared all over social media and wonder if anyone has really given any of it any thought at all. Do they ever wonder how large the chain of domino knockdown is?

Sure, it is cool to watch stunts like this, but the result is, something that stood up...fell down.

This article sums it all up very well.

Statistics on PTSD in Veterans

U.S. News and World Report
By Elaine K. Howley, Contributor 
June 28, 2019

This article is based on reporting that features expert sources including Freda C. Lewis-Hall, MD, DFAPA; Janina Scarlet, PhD; Rand McClain, DO; Ken Yeager, PhD, LISW

AS GENERAL WILLIAM Tecumseh Sherman famously noted during the Civil War, “War is hell.” It’s hell for civilians caught in the cross-fire and can be hell for the political powers that petition for it. But most especially war can become an exceptionally cruel and lasting hell for the soldiers tasked with waging it.

Once called shell-shock, then Vietnam Veteran’s Disorder, a condition now referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder is common among military personnel who have served, and it, too, is considered a hellish condition by many people who have it. Though PTSD occurs at higher rates among military personnel than the general population, we now understand that it can develop in anyone who has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event.

How Common Is PTSD Among Veterans?
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among veteran varies depending on which conflict a service member was involved with.

About 11 to 20 out of every 100 veterans (or between 11 and 20%) who served in operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have PTSD in a given year.

About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans (or 12%) have PTSD in a given year.

About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam veterans (15%) were currently diagnosed with PTSD when the most recent study of them (the National Vietnam Veteran Readjustment Study) was conducted in the late 1980s. It’s believed that 30% of Vietnam veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.

The article also had this.

These troubling statistics point to another complication of life after war for veterans – a lack of support and connection to others, Yeager says. “The whole idea of the band of brothers is a very real neurophysiological situation. You never feel more alive or more connected with people than you do when you’re in that combat field and I think for many vets combing back who’ve had their neurotransmitters firing at a very high rate, they struggle with ‘how do I find this again? Where can I get this kind of feeling alive?’”

read the rest of the article here

Should you wonder if it is worth it the next time you see something you want to share? Yes! Share what works. Share what is offering hope to those who have lost theirs. Share facts. Share real support. Then maybe we can run the knockdown of dominos in reverse and watch them all stand up. 

Veteran of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq running for President

Joe’s In: Former Congressman, 3-Star Admiral Sestak announces campaign for President.

JUNE 22, 2019

Thank you for taking the time to see why I am declaring my candidacy for President of the United States of America.

What Americans most want today is someone who is accountable to them, above self, above party, above any special interest … a President who has the depth of global experience to restore America’s leadership in the world to protect our American Dream at home … and one who is trusted to restructure policies where too many see only the growth of inequity not of the economy.

I want to be that President who serves the American people the way they deserve to be served.

And while my announcement may be later than others for the honor of seeking the Presidency, the decision to delay was so I would be there with Alex, our daughter, as the brain cancer she had courageously beaten at four years old returned this past year. But with her same team of medical heroes, she has again overcome the single digit odds.

I had worn the cloth of our nation for over 31 years in peace and war, but after Alex’s first high-grade brain tumor, I needed to answer to you, the American people, who provided the military healthcare coverage that saved our daughter’s life. I served our nation as a U.S. Congressman for two terms from a Republican District in order to work for all Americans to have the healthcare coverage we fortunately had had for Alex.

Now, the hour has become late to restore U.S. global leadership that convenes the world for two primary objectives that serve our collective well-being here at home: putting a brake on climate change and putting an end to an illiberal world order’s injustices, from China’s control of the 5G network to Russian interference in democratic elections.

However, we cannot meet the defining challenges of our time without a united America. This is our Hobson’s Choice: not just to win this Presidential election, but to heal our nation’s soul by regaining the trust of Americans – all Americans – by a President who the people know will remain accountable to them alone, no matter the cost to him.

I ask that you would take a moment and watch the video(s) below. The first is my announcement summarizing why our next President must have a unique understanding of all the elements of our nation’s power: our economy and diplomacy, our military – including its limitations – and the power of our ideals. The other videos describe the foreign and domestic challenges we face, and the policies I will pursue as President, particularly accountability to America.
go here for more

Sen. Martha McSally bought uniform for Ret. Air Force Colonel

Sen. Martha McSally buys retired Air Force colonel a new uniform so he can swear son into Navy

Arizona Republic
Jeannette Hinkle
June 20, 2019

Luse said he hopes to one day thank McSally in person for her gift. He might get the chance at Arturo’s swearing-in, which likely will happen in Phoenix this August. McSally told The Republic she’ll attend if her schedule allows.

Retired Air Force Col. Charlie Luse, a Casa Grande resident, needed a new uniform for his son's swearing-in to the Navy. Sen. Martha McSally bought him one. Jeannette Hinkle, Arizona Republic

A button had popped off retired Air Force Col. Charlie Luse’s dress uniform.

The material was outdated, a shade lighter than the uniforms of today. The shoes he needed were long gone.

Luse, 85, never thought its condition would matter, until a Navy recruiter knocked on his son Arturo Luse’s door.

When Luse learned Arturo, 19, had decided to enlist, he filled out a form requesting to conduct his son’s swearing-in ceremony and was approved. But Luse couldn’t read the oath in civilian clothes. He needed a new uniform.

Luse posted on the neighborhood-based social network Nextdoor from his home in Casa Grande, hoping a fellow Air Force officer could lend or sell him the Class A dress uniform he needed.

Seamstresses responded, offering to alter his old uniform, but Luse told them, jokingly, that the uniform had shrunk beyond alteration. He’d gained some weight since retiring from the Air Force in 1982.

Then Luse opened his email inbox to a message informing him that Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., had seen an article about his predicament in the Casa Grande Dispatch and wanted to buy the fellow retired Air Force colonel a new uniform.

McSally, a retired Air Force combat pilot, told The Arizona Republic she was happy to dip into the money she sets aside for good causes to buy the uniform, which cost about $450. The connection between service members transcends period or place of service, she added.

“It’s difficult to describe, but we know it on a deep and personal level,” McSally said.

Luse said he was thankful for McSally’s gesture as a member of what he calls the greatest fraternity in the world.

“We're both retired colonels. We're both pilots. We both went to the Air War College. We both had very similar Air Force careers, except she's in politics and I'm not,” said Luse, whose Air Force career stretched from 1956 to 1982 and took him everywhere from Greece to Thailand, where, as an officer, he scheduled bombings during the Vietnam War.
read more here

Veteran behind Blue Water case sees its resolution after 13 years

A bittersweet victory: Veteran behind Blue Water case sees its resolution after 13 years

STARS AND STRIPES
By NIKKI WENTLING
Published: June 20, 2019

The name “Procopio” now represents a major victory for tens of thousands of Vietnam War veterans thanks to the case, Procopio v. Wilkie.

WASHINGTON – Alfred Procopio Jr. said he learned perseverance from his parents, who “never took no for an answer.”

“He was very tenacious,” Procopio said of his father. “He didn’t give up. My mother, she was a fighter, too. I was raised that way — to stand up for what you believe.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signs the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, during a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. At right looking on are Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the committee's Ranking Member Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn.CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

It’s that spirit that kept Procopio pursuing his case, through years of rejection, to prove to the federal government that his chronic illnesses were caused by exposure to Agent Orange during his service in the Vietnam War. Procopio, a so-called Blue Water Navy veteran, worked aboard the USS Intrepid, an aircraft carrier that went into the territorial seas off the coast of Vietnam.

Blue Water veterans — who served on open sea ships off the shore of Vietnam but did not step foot on land — have been blocked for decades from the same Department of Veterans Affairs benefits afforded those who served in Vietnam or its inland waterways. The government argued there wasn’t enough evidence that poisonous herbicides contaminated the water used on their ships.

That changed in January, when Procopio won his case.

The Department of Justice decided in May to not challenge the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Blue Water veterans. Congress approved legislation last week clarifying that those veterans are eligible for VA disability benefits. Lawmakers sent the bill to the White House on Tuesday, where it’s awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature.

The name “Procopio” now represents a major victory for tens of thousands of Vietnam War veterans thanks to the case, Procopio v. Wilkie.

The man himself is happy about the court decision but unsure whether he’ll be around long enough to witness much of its payoff. He was 61 when this process began. Next month, he’ll be 74.

“They appealed it so many times, I thought, ‘How long are they going to deny it? Until we’re all gone?’” Procopio said. “There were a lot of guys who I served with who were older than me, and I know they’re not around.”
read more here

"NAPALM GIRL" alive and well...and author

NAPALM GIRL: VIETNAM VETERANS EMBRACE KIM PHÚC AND HER MESSAGE OF LOVE DURING MILWAUKEE VISIT

Milwaukee Independent
Posted by Lee Matz
Jun 14, 2019

“Faith is what helped me learn how to move on, and rediscover joy in my life. I had to let go of my suffering since I was that 9 year old girl and forgive those who caused it.” Phúc added. “So, now my focus is on those children who were like me. I can use my life to give them hope. I am still alive, so I have to use my voice to speak for them, and all those who can’t. Children are suffering right now, and I want them to know, never give up.”

One of the most unforgettable images from the Vietnam War was of a little girl running naked, after surviving an accidental napalm attack on the village of Trảng Bàng. The composition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph “The Terror of War,” taken by Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut, captured the shattered innocence and tragedy of the American conflict there.

No longer that 9-year-old little girl, Phan Thị Kim Phúc commemorated the 47th anniversary of that bombing during a visit in Wisconsin on June 8, with a powerful message of hope. Known as the “Napalm Girl,” Kim Phúc still carries the physical and emotional scars from that day in 1972.
> “In history, there have always been stories of resistance and fighting back. But now, my weapon is love and forgiveness,” said Phúc. “It all comes from that little girl in the napalm photo, and her life in Vietnam means a lot to me.”

Phúc traveled from her home in Canada to several cities across Wisconsin, giving keynote presentations and signing copies of her 2017 book Fire Road: The Napalm Girl’s Journey through the Horrors of War to Faith, Forgiveness and Peace.

Nick Ut, the Associated Press photographer who captured the iconic war image of her pain and desperation, joined Phúc for her visit to Madison. The events were designed to help raise funds to build a Peace Library in the Vietnamese province where she was born and raised. Children’s Library International has more than such 30 libraries in Vietnam and Cambodia, and number 35 will be in Trảng Bàng, 30 minutes north of what was then Saigon.

Chuck Theusch, a Wisconsin native and veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969-70, started the foundation in 1999 after his first return trip to the country. He had originally only intended to sponsor an orphan, like other veterans were doing at the time.
read more here

Vietnam Vet Wes Studi has 5 must see movies

5 Must-See Movies Starring Native American Vietnam Vet Wes Studi

Military.com
By James Barber

Wes Studi stars in "Hostiles." (Entertainment Studios)

Vietnam veteran Wes Studi, a hardworking actor with almost 100 film and TV credits, will become the first Native American to be awarded an Oscar when he receives an Honorary Award this fall at an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ceremony.

Studi didn't begin his acting career until he was in his thirties and has become one of Hollywood's go-to performers for Native American roles in modern westerns.
read more here

Under the Radar Military.com

Studi got on the phone to talk about movie but we ended up talking about his own service in Vietnam and why Native Americans commit themselves to military service just as much as we mentioned "Hostiles." It's a great movie about coming to terms with your enemies after the war is over.

Blue Water Veterans urged to get claims in ASAP

Senate Passes Blue Water Navy Bill, Cementing Victory for Ill Vietnam Veterans

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
13 Jun 2019

"If they get their claim in, it may be grandfathered," Wells said. "If you were on a ship, especially a carrier that served on the fringe of the territorial sea, it's imperative that they get their claim in now."

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Intrepid (CVS-11) steams in the South China Sea on Sept. 13, 1966, with aircraft of Attack Carrier Air Wing 10 (CVW-10) parked on the flight deck. CVW-10 was assigned to the Intrepid for a deployment to Vietnam from April 4 to Nov. 21, 1966. V.O. McColley/Navy

The Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to extend disability benefits to veterans who served on Navy ships off the coast of Vietnam, signaling the end of a decades-long fight for these former sailors and Marines to receive compensation for diseases presumed to be caused by exposure to Agent Orange and other defoliants used during the Vietnam War.

Following similar approval by the House last month, the Senate vote sends the bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The legislation could affect up to 90,000 veterans, although Retired Navy Cmdr. John Wells, an attorney with Military Veterans Advocacy who represented Alfred Procopio Jr., the plaintiff in the case decided in January, said the way the bill is written may limit awards, excluding as many as 55,000 service members, including many assigned to aircraft carriers that operated farther out to sea.
read more here

Fighting for veterans begins at home!

Fighting for the love of Jack...and everyone else

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 15, 2019

Last week I sat down with Sgt. Dave Matthews of Remember the Fallen radio show on KLRN.

Dave wanted to talk about my book, For the Love of Jack, His War My Battle.

The copyright was issued in 2002. It was republished on Amazon in 2012 for the 10th anniversary. Republishing it was extremely hard on me. 

Our lives are so much different than what they were back then. That was the point of writing this in the first place. All lives can change.

PTSD is change. It comes from being a victim of circumstance and changing into a survivor of something that tried to killed you. No shame in that but it is very telling that too many still want to cling to the thoughts they have something to be ashamed of.

What's up with that? I survived 10 times as just a civilian and there is no shame in me at all. I beat what tired to kill me and was not about to allow any of those times to define any part of my future.

It was the same with fighting PTSD in my home. I was not going to allow it to define my family.

You need to remember that when I wrote the book, no one was doing any "awareness" other than families like mine while we were America's secret war.

Listen to what families like mine have been talking about for decades and then ask yourself why have you been ignoring what is necessary to change the outcome?

Remember the Fallen on KLRN Wounded Times

Vietnam veteran Robert Earl Hanson life remembered after Agent Orange

Winter Park Vietnam War veteran, who died from Agent Orange effects, to be honored in Washington, D.C.

ORLANDO SENTINEL
By MARTIN E. COMAS
JUN 13, 2019

Just months after Robert Earl Hanson graduated from Colonial High School in 1966, the outgoing young man known as “Bobby” found himself thrust into the jungles of Vietnam as an Army private carrying a teletype machine and a rifle.

Patricia Hanson holds an old photo of her and her late husband, Robert Earl Hanson, who died in June 2018 of cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange. (Martin E. Comas / Orlando Sentinel)

At the time, U.S. military planes were spraying millions of gallons of the defoliant Agent Orange across the Vietnamese countryside to expose enemy soldiers during the Vietnam War.

Hanson, like millions of other American and Vietnamese soldiers, was exposed to the dangerous herbicide. It led to Hanson’s malignant lung cancer decades later and ultimately caused his death on June 29, 2018, at the age of 69, according to doctors.

On Saturday, Hanson will be among 536 deceased veterans — including 13 from Florida — who will be inducted into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s “In Memory Program” as part of an annual three-day ceremony held every June in Washington, D.C.
read more here

Petty Officer James Miske died on May 26 in Columbia, South Carolina.

SC funeral home asks community to serve as family after Vietnam veteran dies alone

FOX 8 News
June 10, 2019

CHAPIN, S.C. — A Vietnam veteran died with no family to take care of his final salute, so a funeral home will take up the duty.

“It is my honor to use the Dignity Memorial Homeless Veterans Program to give this Veteran that final salute. I am reaching out once again asking that you help us serve as family for this previously Unclaimed Veteran,” Caughman-Harman Funeral Home said in a Facebook post Thursday.

Petty Officer James Miske died on May 26 in Columbia, South Carolina.

He was born in 1944 in Chicago and served in the U.S. Navy from 1965 to 1967.

He was assigned to Aviation Administration Maintenance before transferring to Naval Reserves.

“Petty Officer Third Class Miske served his Nation honorably in the Vietnam War receiving a National Defense Service Medal and a Vietnam Service Medal with Bronze Star,” the funeral home wrote.
read more here

PTSD Patrol For The Love of Jack

PTSD Patrol post went up late today because I was being interviewed for my book, For The Love of Jack.

If someone you love needs you to fight for them, this is the way to start being able to do it!

When your battle begins after their battle was supposed to end

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 9, 2019

The PTSD Patrol video is late today because I was doing an interview with Sgt. Dave Matthews for KLRN Radio show Remember the Fallen. It is heard on Thursdays at 8:00 pm eastern time.

For The Love of Jack by Kathie Costos on Amazon

We were talking about my book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK. This is part of the interview. If you want to hear the rest, you'll have to wait until  Thursday.

Next week, I'll have more of this.
go here to see the video

Iraq Veteran David Bellavia to receive Medal of Honor

update:Medal of Honor recipient calls military honor life-changing

Associated Press

June 11, 2019

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia won’t officially receive his Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump for another two weeks but already, he says, everything’s changed.

The radio talk show host and one-time Republican congressional candidate says his focus now isn't his own opinions but the fellow Iraq veterans he represents, as well as families of soldiers who've lost their lives.

read more here

15 years after Fallujah, Bellavia destined for Medal of Honor and White House ceremony

Buffalo News
By Robert J. McCarthy
Published June 8, 2019

David Bellavia will travel from his Albion home to the White House sometime late this month, where President Trump is scheduled to drape around the Army veteran’s neck a gold medallion suspended by a blue ribbon — the Medal of Honor.

David Bellavia ran for Congress in 2012. (John Hickey/News file photo)

But his journey really began on Nov. 10, 2004, in the dusty streets of Fallujah, Iraq. That’s where the Army staff sergeant, on his 29th birthday, found himself in deadly hand-to-hand combat with some of the enemy’s toughest fighters.

In the end, five of them died. He prevailed.

Now a nation will say thank you.

Veterans’ advocate, author, former congressional candidate and current talk radio co-host, Bellavia will become the 3,469th American awarded the nation’s highest military decoration — and the first living recipient from the War in Iraq.
read more here
Iraq Veteran David Bellavia Honors Vietnam Veterans

Vietnam veterans remember those who gave their lives at the Wall

Central Illinois veterans honor squad members who saved their lives during Vietnam War

Central Illinois Proud
By: Matt Sheehan
Posted: Jun 04, 2019

WASHINGTON D.C.--The Greater Peoria Honor Flight can be seen as the trip of a lifetime.

A time where veterans are able to see the memorials in Washington D.C. and reminisce on their times serving in the military.

For Kenneth Klein and Donald Lewis, the Vietnam Memorial Wall reminded them how blessed they are, to be alive today.

"Just the memory of those lost in my platoon. Like I said, Corporal Maxim won the Medal of Honor. If it weren't for Corporal Maxim, Don Lewis wouldn't be here," said Donald Lewis who served in the Vietnam War in the Marine Corps.

"I know too many names on that wall. Some from high school, but four of them that I indicated was from a squad that I was in. They had a big part of my life when I was in country," said Kenneth Klein who served in the Navy as a builder during the Vietnam War.

Klein fought in the Vietnam War a little less than two years.

"I shipped out and joined them in Vietnam in May of 1967, and they were killed in August," Klein said.

And while he only knew his squad members for a short period of time, they changed his life forever.

"Richard Wager shared Christ with me, told me I need to be saved and know The Lord. It gave me a lot of hope, because when there was incoming, I'd pray. I mean, what do you do? You'd call out to God," said Klein.
read more here

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

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

Vietnam veteran with name on The Wall had to prove he was still alive

Missing and memorialized, a Vietnam veteran was found

The Augusta Chronicle
By Bill Kirby
Posted May 26, 2019

The former master sergeant went back to Hawaii and lived quietly until his death in 2007.

His name remains on the Vietnam memorial with 32 others that have been “mistakenly engraved,” a spokesman said last week in an e-mail. However, they no longer qualify for the honor, nor are they officially acknowledged.

A Vietnam soldier presumed dead and mourned by his family turned up in 1996.

As Memorial Day 1993 approached, engravers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington prepared to add the name of Master Sgt. Mateo Sabog to the wall.

A 24-year Army veteran with a spotless record, Sabog had disappeared in February 1970 while assigned to the 507th Transportation Group in Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, and was presumed dead.

For a quarter century his family in Hawaii pressed the Army for answers. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye got involved, as did U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink. Sabog’s mother wrote the president of North Vietnam asking help. President Jimmy Carter was also asked.

Nothing happened, however, and in 1993 Sabog’s name joined thousands who had died in the war. The government of Vietnam even returned remains it believed to be him.

But he wasn’t dead.

Three years after his name was placed on the memorial, the frail 73-year-old sat in Fort Gordon’s Eisenhower Army Medical Center struggling to tell both the Army and his family what he had been doing the past 26 years.
read more here

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

Fred Franks, a retired U.S. Army general, reflects on his more than 35 years in service

Naples veteran committed to service after decades in the military

WINK
Reporter: Teri Evans
Writer: Jack Lowenstein
May 28, 2019

A four-star army general with a storied military career from Vietnam and beyond lives right here in Southwest Florida. Twenty-five years into retirement, he remains committed to fulfilling the trust that’s owed to all who serve.

Fred Franks, a retired U.S. Army general, reflects on his more than 35 years in service.

In 1970, Franks was wounded in Cambodia. His leg was amputated from below the knee, but it was not long before he went back to active duty in the combat unit.

“I really wanted to stay in the Army,” Franks said. “I didn’t want to do anything other than be a soldier.”

But when soldiers returned from Vietnam, there were no parades, only protests against an unpopular war like at the 1967 national rally in Washington D.C. Soldiers got caught in the crossfire of blame, and their trust in military officials and the American people were broken.

“Duty, honor, country, didn’t it mean anything?” Franks said. “These young people went, did what our country asked. So that lit a hot blue flame in me. That for the rest of my service, for the rest of my life, I would devote myself to seeing to it that trust was never fractured again.”

Gen. Franks is best known for serving in Operation Desert Storm during the Gulf War and leading the VII Corps of the U.S. in a famous maneuver that forced the retreat of the Iraqi Army.

“What we call the left-hook attack,” Franks said. “There wasn’t a day on Desert Storm that I didn’t remember my fellow veterans.”

Through he retired in 1994, Franks never stopped thinking about the troops, especially those returning from war with both visible and invisible wounds.
read more here

REMINDER
Vietnam is still the longest war to anyone paying attention! 

Vietnam War, (1954–75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Called the “American War” in Vietnam (or, in full, the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation”), the war was also part of a larger regional conflict (see Indochina wars) and a manifestation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies.

The last deaths came in 1975 and here is the first name added.

Vietnam Memorial Wall Page
THE FIRST KNOWN CASUALTY

Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.
His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who has a casualty date of Sept. 7, 1965.