Will Antioch California force Vietnam veteran to become homeless again?

Formerly drug-addicted, homeless veteran finds stability in Antioch RV park; now faces eviction

KTVU
By Rob Roth
Posted Sep 10 2019

ANTIOCH, Calif. (KTVU) - Jimmy Gordon is a Vietnam veteran still living with battle scars from shrapnel.

"It's still right here. It's lodged right here," he said pointing to his leg.

Once homeless and drug addicted, Gordon says he's found stability in this informal RV community on private property in northeast Antioch.

"I've got serenity here. It feels like I am living," he says.

But it appears that paradise is about to be lost. Gordon and the rest of the 16 people living here are about to be evicted.

Not because the property owner, Joe Bosman wants to, but because the city of Antioch says he has to.

Code enforcement is requiring all my RV tenants to leave the property by October 1st," says Bosman, who has owned the almost three-acre lot for 19 years.

He's allowed people with RVs to settle here. Many are veterans, disabled seniors and mothers.

"It's close to our work. The tenants are nice and it is affordable," says Veronica Lewis-Ayers who lives in an RV with her husband and nine-month old baby boy.

Rent is $625 a month. The RVs have plumbing and electricity.

Bosman says the city told him his property doesn't meet the standards of a state-licensed RV park.
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Vietnam veteran has PTSD battle buddy with wet nose

'I feel alive inside again': Vietnam veteran gets service dog

KGW8
Author: Ashley Korslien
September 10, 2019

Northwest Battle Buddies is pairing its 100th veteran with a service dog.

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. — The Battle Ground-based nonprofit Northwest Battle Buddies started seven years ago, training dogs to get partnered with veterans. This month it hit a huge milestone: pairing its 100th veteran with a service dog.

“It’s not just 100 service dogs that we’ve provided, we are talking about 100 lives, 100 families, fathers, sons, brothers,” said NWBB President Shannon Walker. "The impact to the community and to the individual is so significant. I’m super excited, it’s a big accomplishment."

The 100th team consists of Vietnam veteran Jim Koch, of Everett, Washington, and his service dog Bomber, an 18-month-old English Cream Golden Retriever.

“Everything feels pretty cool to be honest. I’m just on fire,” Koch said about being the 100th team.

Koch learned about Northwest Battle Buddies through his psychiatrist at the Seattle V.A. hospital, who told him a service animal could greatly help with his PTSD.
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Who put the stigma on PTSD? Ignorant jerks!

Stupid stigma of PTSD is missing link

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 9, 2019

When I first began to research PTSD, it was for very selfish reasons. I was falling in love with a Vietnam veteran. The more I learned about PTSD, the more I loved him. Simple as that.

That was 37 years ago, and we are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary this month. Anyone who still suggests that having PTSD is something to be ashamed of, remind them there is no shame in being a survivor.

Researchers in Colorado found that most veterans did not seek help for PTSD because of the stigma attached to it.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new study released by the Colorado Health Institute last week focused on veterans and suicide, and why the rate in Colorado is higher than the nation's. The study found that nearly seven out of 10 veterans in Colorado who did not receive the mental health care they needed reported stigma-related reasons as a barrier. That's nearly double the percentage compared to non-veterans.

Who put the stigma there? Who gave it such great power that it can prevent veterans from asking for help?

The thing is, what works would work a lot better, if what failed was no longer allowed to get in the way.

While the Veterans Crisis Line has helped reduce the number of veterans completing suicide, it is an example of how bad it actually is for veterans.

Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered more than 3.9 million calls and initiated the dispatch of emergency services to callers in crisis more than 119,000 times. The Veterans Crisis Line anonymous online chat service, added in 2009, has engaged in nearly 467,000 chats. In November 2011, the Veterans Crisis Line introduced a text messaging service to provide another way for Veterans to connect with confidential, round-the-clock support and since then has responded to nearly 123,000 texts.

If the VA Crisis Line was not there, the numbers we are seeing would be even higher. A lot of the programs the VA has work great, but the majority of veterans in this country do not use the VA for anything. Again, there is a stigma attached to that too. (see below) 

We know that suicide awareness does not work. 

Letting veterans know they are killing themselves makes no sense at all. If the goal is to educate the civilian community, again, it makes no sense since the number of civilians committing suicide has also increased. It seems to only benefit those doing the events to raise money and gain fame. How? Because according to the VA, the known number of veterans committing suicide has remained between 20 and 22 since 1999...when no one was making citizens aware it was happening and there were over 5 million more veterans alive at the time.

This stuff also gets in the way.


While we are trying to #breakthesilence to prevent suicide, it seems that some have embraced it.

Silent Watch Raises Awareness For Veteran Suicide

They want people to stand in silence for 15 minute shifts. Silence contributed to the end of those who lost hope.

With the VA Crisis Line being reached by almost 4 millions calls, now members of congress are pushing for a three digit number.

Advocates Hope For A 'Turning Point' In Suicide Prevention With 988 Crisis Hotline Number "Samaritans has one of three call centers in Massachusetts that receive calls from the national hotline, which can currently be accessed by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Samaritans also receives calls and texts from its own local hotline number, 1-877-870-HOPE (4673)."

Will it help? Maybe but as long as the stigma is there, it will not help as many as it could.

There needs to be a massive effort addressing the stigma itself, because if they actually understand what PTSD is, then the stigma dies...but they stay alive.

Most veterans do not understand that PTSD is not self-inflicted. It hit them! The only way to get PTSD is surviving something traumatic. The term itself means "after wound" and just a bonus reminder, trauma is Greek for wound.

As survivors, they already beat death once. More than likely they did not accomplish that on their own. They had help fighting that enemy and need help to fight this enemy too!

Vietnam veteran painted his battles

Review: Exhibition Explores Vietnam Veteran’s Healing Journey

Third Coast Review
BY TOM WAWZENEK
AUGUST 28, 2019

Perhaps Costello’s most ambitious work is his Autobiography series, in which the viewer sees five different faces of the artist from different periods in his life. We see an evolution take place not only through his physical features, but also on a deeper, emotional level.

Maurice Costello, a Crossroads, 2017. Acrylic paint on hardboard and digital print. Photo courtesy of the National Veterans Art Museum.

The latest exhibition at the National Veterans Art Museum — Maurice Costello: Back to “The Nam” — tells the story of Maurice Costello’s experience while serving in the Vietnam War and his difficult transition as a civilian. This exhibition includes 21 works that are set in chronological order — starting with 1967 when Costello was drafted into the army until the present time.

One of Costello’s artistic strengths is his use of colors — from vibrant to muted — as a way to emphasize various emotions. A number of his works aren’t framed as rectangles or squares, but instead form various shapes, some looking like cutouts, that add an immediacy to his art. His creative process often involves constructing his work on the computer and digitally manipulating personal photographs and images.

Costello explores a range of emotions, many of them dark and painful, that allows us to peek into his psyche. In the First Time Ever, we see a close up of a terror-stricken face that has a sickly green hue. In this particular work, Costello tells the story of his first day in Vietnam when he finds a Vietnamese man in the jungle who has been shot by American GIs and is dying before him. Costello further examines his feelings about his war experience in the Crossroads — a deathly image of a skull being consumed by flames from within. This work does not only speak about Costello’s personal views about the horrors of war, but it’s also a reflection of his own painful emotions such as when he encountered the scattered remains of a young Vietnamese man who had been killed the night before.

Another powerful image is pre-Facetime which is a view of a ’60s-style television that shows the graphic for the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite in the foreground while in the background there are American GIs in the Vietnam jungle. Adding to the tension of this work is a reflection of the artist’s mother on the TV screen. This work is a grim reminder that Costello’s mother like millions of other Americans were dependent on these news programs to get as much information as possible about the Vietnam War.

Costello also explores the difficult adjustment he had to make once he became a civilian again. After being discharged from the service, Costello was divorced, fired from a job, and abusing a variety of legal and illegal drugs. This painful transition is best illustrated in a Blue Period that shows an army discharge paper that is covered with a bright red target with a hypodermic needle hitting the bullseye like a dart. This image has an out-of-focus quality that is a reflection of the artist’s own life that lacked a sense of clarity and direction.
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Community guards Vietnam veteran's possessions after eviction...and heart attack

Vietnam veteran evicted from apartment; people seen rummaging through belongings

by: WBTW
Posted: Aug 23, 2019

Trinemeyer said the veteran suffered a heart attack at around the same time he got the eviction notice and only recently got out of the hospital.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) – A Carolina Forest veteran is headed to New York after an eviction.

Veterans Outreach Program Specialist Chris Aranda, with the Department of Veterans Affairs, told WBTW the veteran, identified as Tom, was released from the hospital around 3 p.m. on Wednesday and was dropped off at a homeless shelter.

When VA members went to the shelter, the veteran wasn’t there, Aranda said. The members went looking for the veteran and found him on Oak Street.

The veteran stayed in a hotel overnight, where he was able to shower and sleep in a bed, Aranda added. On Thursday, volunteers from various vet organizations helped the veteran load the rest of his things before he heads to New York to stay with family and friends.

“Very unfortunate event that he came home to this, but veteran community stepped up once again and ensured we leave no veteran behind,” Aranda said.

“I will never leave a veteran behind. If there’s a veteran in need, if there’s a veteran in the street, if a veteran just needs a meal – I’m there,” said Chase McCarthy.

Some volunteers stayed overnight to protect Tom’s property.

“We basically just stayed here to make sure that what was left of his property was, that nobody else looted or messed with anything else. A lot of his stuff had already been taken. To my understanding it had been here a few days already,” said Chuck Hooks.
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Vietnam veteran bought tickets to see Rolling Stones...no tickets and no refund

Vietnam vet hurt after $1,300 tickets for Rolling Stones concert in Phoenix vanish

AZ Family
LiAna Enriquez
August 26, 2019

Things quickly changed when Constable tried to retrieve those downloaded tickets, and they were gone. He said he called Vivid Seats, the company he purchased the tickets from. He said he was shocked when they told him his purchase had been disputed and reversed, so they re-sold his tickets.

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A Marine veteran who went to a Rolling Stones concert in the 1960s says he was thrilled to get the opportunity to go again more than 50 years later. But he says his tickets for Monday's concert vanished after purchasing them.

"This will probably be my last hoorah cause I’m in my 70s and they’re in their 70s," said Vietnam veteran Lenny Constable. "One of us may go before the other one, but this might very well be the last chance I have to see their concert."

Constable says he's been a life-long Rolling Stones fan.

“That was good machine-gun music. It got ya wired up a little bit," he said.

He says their music helped him through the hard times.

“You'd come back after being out in the bush for 30 days or so, and they'd blast them out," said Constable. "'Paint It Black’ and stuff like that."
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Vietnam veteran taken from pauper's gave to proper burial

Veterans band together to give Vietnam vet a proper burial

Fairfield Citizen
August 24, 2019

"We had so many mixed emotions because of things that had happened over the years," Carla said. "Even today, we still have so many questions and regrets that we didn't force him to talk to us. We would reach out to Billy, and he would ignore our phone calls. Or if he answered the phone and realized it was us, he would hang up on us. It was just really bad. But we loved him nonetheless."

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) — Billy Harold Watts was a decorated and disabled Vietnam War veteran. He had six children, 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

After collapsing in early June while home alone in Marion County, the 70-year-old lost his battle with lung cancer on Father's Day in a Columbus hospice.

Estranged from his family, no next-of-kin was found before he was buried in a pauper's grave.

But through a remarkable series of events, his family was eventually reached and local veterans were alerted. They, along with other caring folks in the community, rallied together to have his body exhumed for a proper burial: a funeral with military honors in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi.

"It was just a blessing after a blessing at the end of all of this," said daughter-in-law Carla Watts of Jackson, Tennessee.

Billy served for three years active-duty in the U.S. Marines Corps. He earned two Purple Hearts, a National Defense Service Medal, a Vietnamese Service Medal, a Vietnamese Campaign Medal and a Combat Action Ribbon. He was a private when he was honorably discharged in 1970 at age 21.

Although he wasn't diagnosed, Billy had symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and was "highly medicated by the VA," Carla said. "When we cleaned Billy's house out, we took 26 bottles of narcotics to the sheriff's department and turned them in."

He and his last of six wives divorced in 2001, she said.

"Billy was very much a loner," she said.
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Disabled and decorated 74 year old Vietnam veteran training to be welder to care for wife?

'She deserves the best': Decorated Vietnam veteran, 74, enrolls in welding school to support ailing wife

Tulsa World
By Tim Stanley
August 23, 2019

The school awarded Nelson a full scholarship. “It’s the least we can do. He’s so inspirational,” Hinojosa said. “We owe our freedom to people like him.”

Whenever he has nightmares about Vietnam, David Nelson takes solace in knowing he’s not alone.

His wife, Cynthia, is always by his side.

“I don’t have them as often as I used to,” Nelson said, “but when I do, it’s normally a doozy. And she just lays on me and hugs and kisses me.”

“She’s worth her weight in gold,” he added.

A decorated Vietnam veteran and Army retiree, Nelson is committed to supporting his wife, as well.

Since her diagnosis with cancer, it’s been a challenge. Recently, with the related expenses mounting, the 74-year-old took what seemed like an unlikely leap for his stage of life.

He enrolled at Tulsa Welding School to embark on a new career.
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Man charged after disabled Vietnam veteran's body found

New details emerge after homeless man allegedly kills Vietnam Veteran

WEAR ABC 13 News
by Amy Russo
August 15th 2019

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WEAR) — New details are being released after a homeless man was charged with homicide.

The arrest report from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office says on Wednesday morning deputies were called out to a death investigation on Beverly Parkway.

Upon arrival, Jason Woodell told deputies he was working on a house at the 100 block of Beverly Parkway when Henry Vasquez told him there was a body under a white sheet at a property nearby, the report says.

Vasquez told deputies he was picking up trash when he noticed what appeared to be a human body under a sheet covered in blood, the report reveals.

It adds the body had been wrapped in a white sheet, blue furniture moving quilt, and dumped in a gravel parking lot.

The report says the victim is a disabled Vietnam Veteran. He was described as a man who could "barely get around without a cane."
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Seriously bad reporting on this about Blue Water Vietnam veterans

Seriously bad reporting on this about Blue Water Vietnam veterans and Agent Orange

Lawmakers are urging Veterans Affairs officials to move ahead with some elderly “blue water” veterans’ disability benefits claims now instead of waiting until next year, saying in some cases the assistance cannot afford another delay.

Meanwhile, a group of advocates upset over the decision to hold off on paying those claims for another five months has filed a lawsuit in federal court demanding quicker action on the cases.

At issue is a decision earlier this month by VA officials to delay processing of claims from “blue water” Vietnam veterans — former sailors who served in ships off the coast of the country during the war — until January, as outlined under legislation passed by Congress earlier this summer.
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Now you know what is behind all of this...you know more than the reporter did.

Lowcountry widow of Vietnam veteran says benefits needed now
ABC 4 News
by Brodie Hart
August 14th 2019

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Lawmakers are pushing to expedite a new law that extends disability benefits to Vietnam Veterans exposed to the chemical Agent Orange.

"Quite frankly some of our veterans don’t have time to wait they need help today," said Representative Joe Cunningham. Cunningham is on the Veterans Affairs Committee and says he helped push a new bill through Congress in June.

The bill extends disability benefits to veterans known as Blue Water Navy Veterans who served offshore in the Vietnam War, but it doesn't go into effect until January 2019. Those benefits were previously extended to veterans who fought on the ground in Vietnam.
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That was not my typo for a change. Congress approved it but the VA is the one delaying it.

Vietnam veteran forced to fight another battle...with the government over spiders

Army veteran fighting government for regulating part of his farm to protect spiders

WZTV
by ADRIAN MOJICA
WZTV Staff
August 9th 2019

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (WZTV) – An Army veteran who served his country in the Vietnam War is suing the federal government for regulating part of his family farm over spiders.

John Yearwood runs a small business and lives on the family farm which has been in the family since 1871, nearly 150 years. Spanning 865 acres in Williamson County, Texas, Yearwood is faced with being unable to use part of his land because of a tiny spider he's never seen.

In a lawsuit filed by the non-profit American Stewards of Liberty on behalf of Yearwood, the suit claims the U.S. Department of the Interior is using the Interstate Commerce Clause to keep him from using part of the land due to an obscure cave spider species.

According to the lawsuit, the government is using the clause to protect the Bone Cave Harvestman, a tiny spider which only exists in underground caves in two central Texas counties. It is believed this species of spider lives on Yearwood's family land. The spider is considered endangered, thus protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Due to the endangered designation, Yearwood would be committing a federal crime if he did anything to harm or disturb the habitat of the Bone Cave Havestman spiders. The situation has put Yearwood's family in a tight position according to the American Stewards of Liberty. The organization states Yearwood has used the land for community benefit, allowing church groups, youth groups, and 4-H clubs to use the property for camping. However, the best part of their land for camping is also home to where the spiders are believed to live underground.
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Vietnam veteran needed a lift and got it from an angel

Lyft Driver an 'angel' for giving veteran with PTSD 2-hour ride home from hospital

ABC 15 News
by Connor Ingalls
July 26th 2019

"I went from depression and suicidal thoughts and tears," said Rickrode, "to feeling honor and integrity again."

Lyft ride uplifts vet (WDPE)

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Honor, integrity, and valor. Those words mean a lot to Michael Rickrode.

The Surfside Beach resident learned their meaning as a kid growing up in a military household.

"We didn't have dinner at 5 o'clock in our house," said Rickrode. "We had it at 17-hundred. 17 and a split and you were running...I did a lot of running growing up."

To Rickrode, turning 18 was simply an opportunity to begin serving our country, which he did for nine years in the United States Navy-- but it took quite a toll on him.
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Ex-POW Vietnam veteran Richard Burgess remembered for how he loved

Vietnam vet remembered as a hero and friend to all that knew him

Deseret News
Jasen Lee
July 28, 2019

"He could tap into (the sixth sense) of what connected us," Clemmons explained. "He taught me how to pay attention and it's amazing how many times it saved my life."

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Chambers and Sgt. Mark Maxfield fold the flag during services for Vietnam War veteran Richard Burgess during services at Camp Williams in Bluffdale on Friday, July 26, 2019.

BLUFFDALE – A onetime prisoner of war, Richard Burgess was a man who spent much of his life looking out for others' interests above his own.

To a person, speakers at his memorial service Friday at the Utah Veterans Memorial Cemetery all noted how selfless and caring a man he was to them and just about everyone he came in contact with.

"I knew he was special all our lives and I thought about him every day almost," said fellow Marine Gary Clemmons, who served with Burgess in Vietnam. "When I think I would have it bad, I would think of Richard (in the POW camp)."

So impactful to some was Burgess' connection with them, they came from miles away to pay their respects during a ceremony conducted with full military honors in Bluffdale. Burgess spent over six years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, but didn't allow it the extinguish the kind, generous spirit that ingratiated him to so many people during his 72 years, speakers noted. read it here

Vietnam veteran "Get It While You Can" attitude scores on AGT

How 'AGT' Contestant Robert Finley Used Music to Overcome His Heartbreaking Past

Good Housekeeping
BY KAYLA KEEGAN
Jul 9, 2019 

The Vietnam War veteran, who is blind, inspired all the AGT judges.

“The bad things sometimes bring out the best in you. I began to play the music again. It made me reach inside to find myself," he said on the show.

America's Got Talent contestant Robert Finley has been through a lot over his lifetime. But through all the challenges, the 65-year-old Vietnam veteran has never stopped pursuing his dream of being a professional singer. His uplifting spirit and love for music clearly left a mark on judge Simon Cowell, who had nothing but wonderful things to say about the blues vocalist on Tuesday night.

"You’ve got this great soul about you," Simon told the Louisiana native after Robert auditioned with his own original bluesy song "Get It While You Can."

"The finest wines are the ones that stay in storage for a few years and then they become beautiful, and that’s how I feel about your voice." Fellow judges Julianne Hough, Howie Mandel, and Gabrielle Union agreed with Simon and tacked on several more compliments.

Despite his talent, fame never came to Robert at a young age. Still, he continued to perform wherever he could — nursing homes, prisons, and more. At 18, he joined the military and served in the Vietnam War. After the war ended, he got married, had kids, and took up carpentry.

Years later though, Robert got divorced and lost his house and trailer to a fire. Then, at 60 years old, he started going blind due to glaucoma, which resulted in him losing his job.
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Vietnam veteran needed help, got bad paper discharge in return for service

A Vietnam veteran needed help. The government gave him a “bad paper” discharge instead

McClatchy News
BY EMMA DUMAIN AND TARA COPP
JULY 25, 2019

“What person in their right mind would serve the country honorably and then come back and go AWOL? I had to have been nuts.” Charles Smith

WASHINGTON
When Charles Smith came home after two years in Vietnam during one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict, he was a traumatized 21-year-old who needed help.

But all he could think about in 1969 was getting away from the military and “drinking myself to death.”

Smith — now 70 years old and living in Conway, S.C. — displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, a condition that wasn’t formally recognized by the U.S. medical community until 1980. He dealt with his pain by going Absent Without Leave, or AWOL.

That action affected the rest of his life.

He received an “undesirable” discharge in 1971, which at the time was a subcategory of “less than honorable.” Smith’s mental state and his exposure to combat weren’t part of the evaluation.

That became a double injury, because the designation meant Smith would not be eligible to get medical or mental health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any financial benefits like disability payments, housing loans and education.

He is among tens of thousands of veterans who have experienced that same type of military separation, even though they are often among the troops who need care the most. Veterans believe many of these discharges are undeserved and call them “bad paper.”

“It’s taking time. That’s more suffering mentally, physically and spiritually, really, because you still will continue to drink or use drugs or whatever you want to escape,” he continued. “And most folks get discouraged, because they’re taking ‘No’ for an answer.”
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Fallen "brother" remembered by those he served with

Vietnam veterans honor a fallen soldier 50 years later

CBS News
By STEVE HARTMAN
July 19, 2019

But like a lot of Vietnam vets, especially, they find it hard to mourn the loss of a fellow soldier, without also mourning their own survival.

Chester, Illinois — At a cemetery in Illinois, Perry Dotson is 50 years late for the funeral of Army Pfc. Leonard Nitzsche. Lt. Dotson was Leonard's platoon leader in Vietnam, when, in April 1970, their group was attacked and Leonard was killed. They loaded his body on a helicopter and immediately, the platoon went back to the war.

"That was the extent of our grieving. And it just hit me one day, I woke up and I thought, 'I never had a chance to say thank you.' Maybe I just needed some finality," Perry said.

When Perry mentioned this pilgrimage to some of the other guys in his platoon, he found out something he hadn't considered before: That he wasn't alone and there were others who felt the exact same way.

So, they came, too. Tim Roland flew in from McAllen, Texas. Ernie Levesque drove out from Springfield, Massachusetts, and Glenn Fox came from Newport, Nebraska. On arrival, they met Leonard's sister, Linda, at the cemetery. Everyone gathered to pay their respects to Leonard.

"That's why this is so important to us today, because we never got to do this when it happened," Glenn said.
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Vietnam veteran not buried alone...Intern's invitation brought 3,000

Intern's efforts bring 3,000 attendees to funeral of Vietnam veteran who had no living relatives

ABC News
By ELIZABETH THOMAS
Jul 18, 2019

It wasn’t just the local community that came to pay their respects. Others drove to Michigan from Iowa, Tennessee and Florida to honor the veteran.

When Wayne Wilson passed away in May with no surviving family members, his friends initially planned for a small service of 10 people.

But when Drew Mickel, an intern at Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Niles, Michigan, put out a call to the public inviting them to Wilson’s funeral, the small service turned into a massive gathering as more than 3,000 people showed up from across the country to honor the deceased veteran.

“We were just hoping that some of the public would come out and honor him and pay respects,” Mickel told ABC News. “It turned out that a lot of people showed up, saying that he might not have family but I’ll be his family for the day."

Wilson, a Vietnam War veteran, passed away May 28 at age 67. He served in the army from 1971 to 1977, according to his obituary.
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Vietnam veteran confronted memories of 1st Sgt. Charles Sellers at the Wall

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall more than names

The Chronicle-Telegram
Bruce Walton 
July 16, 2019

Gannett spent the last few hours looking over the wall to find several names, including the name of 1st Sgt. Charles Sellers, Gannett’s sergeant, who died in Vietnam. The worst part, he said, was that he died at the hands of his own soldiers. It was through his work at the wall he said, that he even remembered his name Monday.

WELLINGTON — A small but dedicated group assembled for the closing ceremony of the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall on Monday afternoon.

Although attendance was less than for the opening ceremony Thursday, the respect was just as overwhelming.

The Amherst Veterans Military Honor Guard led the presentation of colors, followed by the last reading of the 98 Lorain County Vietnam veterans who died in the war. Brant Smith, Wellington Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6941 quartermaster and one of the main organizers of the event, gave the last words before the closing prayer.

“I truly love all of our Vietnam veterans, these men are my heroes, these men are the reason that myself and so many other young men of my generation have served our country because of these men and women that paved the way for us,” he said.
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This is from the Virtual Wall

Vietnam Veteran Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse

Strangers invited to funeral for Vietnam veteran who died alone. ‘I wanted to honor his final wishes,’ his nurse said.

Philadelphia Enquirer
by Melanie Burney
July 9, 2019

Kelly left Vietnam in November 1970 and received an honorable discharge, his records show. Little is known about his life after the military. He returned to Philadelphia. Richello said he had a hard life, “and he was one of the forgotten.”

BRADLEY C BOWER / FOR THE INQUIRER

Former Army Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse: He wanted to be buried with full military honors, a parade, bagpipes, and a 21-gun salute.

In death, Kelly will get what he did not receive in life when he returned home to Philadelphia from the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. His nurse, Jennifer Richello, has recruited a band of strangers to keep the promise she made to Kelly on his deathbed a few months ago.

“I wanted to honor his final wishes, and love and respect for his service to our country,” Richello, a registered nurse, said in a statement Tuesday. “Kelly was a good man and deserves this.”

Richello also made a special request to mourners: bring a can of Pepsi to the funeral. Kelly loved the soft drink, she said.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted on Jan. 14, 1969, his 20th birthday. He completed training at Fort Bragg, N.C, and Fort Sill, Okla., according to his military record. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and served as a communications chief in the 13th Battalion Signal, First Cavalry Division.
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90,000 Navy "Blue Water" veterans have the law on their side now

update ‘Blue water’ veterans’ claims delayed until next year

“Time is of the essence in this matter. Blue Water Navy Veterans are dying every day,” John Wells, retired Navy commander and the executive director of Military-Veterans Advocacy, wrote in a letter to Wilkie Monday morning. “These veterans have waited long enough.”

President Trump signs Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans bill into law

Connecting Vets
ABBIE BENNETT
JUNE 26, 2019

President Donald Trump has signed into law the "Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act," requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide disability benefits to veterans who served in the waters off the coast of Vietnam.

The bill is just one more provision in a decades-long fight to guarantee the same benefits to nearly 90,000 Navy veterans who served in the waters offshore of Vietnam that their land and brown-water comrades are entitled to after potentially being exposed to toxic Agent Orange.

Two weeks ago, the Senate passed the bill unanimously and the House passed it unanimously before Memorial Day.

Earlier this month, the final legal battle for Blue Water veterans to qualify for VA disability benefits for exposure to the cancer-causing toxin appeared to be over.
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