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

Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia

Ohio's militias are armed and ready, with good intent they say

The Plain Dealer
By Brian Albrecht
July 28, 2019

But there are militias that say they support the government and exist to serve as a citizen’s defense force in the historical sense of these groups. Armed, yes, but also prepared and trained to respond to disasters or local community needs.

Members of the Irregulars of Ohio Reserve Militia take a break for a photo with personnel of the Life’s Little Adventures Farm in Wooster, where militia members cleared fallen trees and foliage in May to help the facility that uses rescued animals in therapeutic programs for children, and veterans recovering from PTSD. (Brian Albrecht/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This is the militia: Men and women clad in camos, carrying semi-automatic rifles, stalking the woodlands, shredding targets, prepping for worst-case scenarios.

And this is the militia: Two militia members arrested and charged in Cincinnati earlier this year for allegedly making bombs; a militia leader arrested and charged with firearms possession by a felon in April after a video showed his group detaining migrants in New Mexico at gunpoint; two members of a Illinois militia pleading guilty in January to bombing a Minnesota mosque; three Kansas militia men convicted last year of plotting to blow up an apartment complex where Somali refugees lived.

And this: Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia to help clean up tornado-ravaged areas of Dayton, and an overgrown farm in Wooster that offers therapeutic programs to treat traumatized families and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The recent history of private militias in Ohio and the United States has been fraught with confrontation and violence.
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Missing veteran with PTSD found dead in Texas cemetery

Missing East Texas veteran found dead in Beaumont

CBS 19 News
Author: Matthew Copeland
July 26, 2019

Martin served abroad with the United States Army and suffered from PTSD, according to family.

BEAUMONT, Texas — A East Texas veteran who has been missing for more than two weeks was found dead Thursday afternoon in Beaumont.

Terrell Martin was first reported missing on July 11.

According to the Beaumont Police Department, officers responded Forrest Lawn Cemetery where a vehicle had been crashed in the back of the property.
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Disabled homeless veteran beaten by teens in Ohio

Teens attack two homeless men with bats, rocks outside Wooster church

FOX 8 Cleveland
BY JEN STEER AND SUZANNE STRATFORD
JULY 26, 2019

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

WOOSTER, Ohio-- The Wooster Police Department is working to identify three teens who attacked two men sleeping on the steps of a church.

Officers were called to Trinity Church on East North Street just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

The victims said three teens, between the ages of 14 and 15, threw rocks at them, then took turns hitting them with bats. The men suffered cuts and scrapes. One was taken to the Wooster Community Hospital Emergency Room.

The men were sound asleep on the steps to get out of the elements.

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

Pastor Kevan Franklin says, every morning the church serves a free hot breakfast, where they also connect those in need with the proper resources and community services.
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