Your Stories: Final honor for homeless former Marine CBS 8 News Video Report By Monique Griego Jul 03, 2018
SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — News 8 has an update on a story we first brought you last week about a homeless former Marine killed in a hit-and-run accident. Deryck Bacon's widow reached out for help because she wanted her husband buried with honor.
And several San Diego groups answered the call.
When News 8 shared the story of Bacon - a 59-year-old homeless veteran who'd been killed - the circumstances surrounding his death struck a chord within the community.
"This one was a particularly tragic story," said Michael McConnell, a homeless advocate in the San Diego area. "As it turns out, he's a veteran and [he was] just innocently sleeping on the sidewalk because he has no place to call home." read more here
Independence Day and time to celebrate what is possible. That is the way this country started. Isn't it? It began when some people saw suffering and did more than dream about what was possible. They risked their lives for it.
When I think of all the men and women who put their lives on the line, then returned home, I wonder what it was like for them. What did their families think when they were changed by everything they saw...and did?
What was it like not knowing what to do, or what to say, to take away the pain that was in their eyes?
It isn't that hard to imagine the experience because in the 80's, that was something I had to wonder about. That was when I met my husband.
We met over a decade after he came home from Vietnam. Back then, there was no way of knowing what came home with him. My Dad, a Korean War veteran, couldn't explain it, but it was clear he understood when he used the term "shell shock."
"During World War I, some people saw shell shock as cowardice or malingering, but Charles S. Myers convinced the British military to take it seriously and developed approaches that still guide treatment today."
We were just average people, trying to do the best we could to live the best life possible. We had no way of knowing what the experts had learned. What made it harder was that did not know how to make living easier that it was.
When I wanted to know what my Dad saw, I had to go to the library. Hours, weeks, months later I began to understand. What I learned, actually made me love veterans more. I understood what PTSD and what Vietnam did to him.
Back then, my husband was my best friend. Sure I knew about the nightmares and flashbacks, mood swings and memory problems, along with everything else. What I did not know was that it could get worse for him, and us. It did.
After years of feeling like I was living with a stranger, one day it happened and he came back home as the man I fell in love with. No matter what he had been through, he was still the same loving, caring best friend I decided to spend the rest of my life with.
We've been together since 1982!
He is the reason I do what I do and have done for over 3 decades. The thing is, for all the talk about what is wrong with veterans, few are letting them know what is right about them.
I know my husband's heart as much as I know the demons he still fights. I know that he has enormous strength within his emotional core to the point where he can see a sunset and scream with joy so that I can share the experience with him. I see the drive he has when he wants to do something as much as I see the laidback chill-out times when he is watching an old TV show.
If you have a veteran in your life, you can help your best friend come home too. Nothing is impossible as long as we are ready to fight this battle with them instead of wondering what came home with them.
Veteran who lost both arms in Iraq discovers a talent for painting CBS NEWS By DAVID MARTIN July 3, 2018
"I don't see it that way. Suffering an injury like this sort of has a way of making you focus on what's important in life." Peter Damon
Peter Damon at work on a painting CBS NEWS
MIDDLEBORO Mass. -- Peter Damon turns out about 30 paintings a year and sells them for between $250 and $1,500. That's not enough to make ends meet, but it has made him whole again. He lost both arms in Iraq.
"Having this skill or pursuing this skill that even able-bodied people find difficult was something that really sort of gave me a boost and sort of made me feel like I fit in more in the world," Damon said.
He was an Army helicopter mechanic working on landing gear in 2003 when pressurized gas blew it apart, killing one soldier and gravely injuring him.
"I lost my right arm above the elbow, about three inches above the elbow, and my left about six inches below," he explained.
Damon was a blue-collar guy who had been an electrician before he joined the Army.
"How am I going to make a living and take care of my family? I had always worked with my hands," he said.
Then with a simple little drawing, a new future opened up for him.
"I was kind of miraculous in a way," Damon said. "Something was telling me to focus on this and everything will be alright." read more here
“Sounds bother me […] because I don’t like loud noises,” former Marine master sergeant and Vietnam vet Tom Roulier told CBS2 News. “I’m still paranoid if I here like a loud bang or something like that. Sometimes I’ll duck, or I’ll just quickly look around to see where it came from.”
Sioux City, IOWA - As our country celebrates its independence, some of our most patriotic Americans dread this time of year. Michael Powell proudly spent 22 years serving our country."I was in Iraq constantly under mortar attacks, small arm fire, road side bombs," says Powell. And Like many veterans, he suffers from PTSD.
Common sense moment: Fireworks bother everyone who did not have a choice to hear them! Plain and simple! Sure it sounds like a great news story to cover what veterans with PTSD go through. Because this neighborhood or that one has plenty of people with enough disposable funds to blow off fireworks for weeks. They do not care they are taking away the choice of their other neighbors to live in peace or participate, they won't care about a veteran living in the neighborhood either. OK, so, it is not just veterans jumping out of their skin. Babies, elderly, pets, anyone who has to get up early the next morning and the list goes on. If you are a veteran, have a plan for the endless annoyance of boom-boom boobs. Get headphones. Turn up the TV or music as loud as possible. Remember, sooner or later, these people will run out of money! If you're lucky, they'll be out of fireworks tonight and eating PP and J sandwiches until payday.
