Vietnam veterans, others pay respects at travelling replica

Jerry Sousa, of West Nottingham and a veteran from the 82nd Airborne, salutes the American flag during the playing of taps while standing in front of The Moving Wall, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., during Newmarket's Memorial Day celebrations at Leo A. Landroche Memorial Field in Newmarket on Saturday, May 30, 2009. Sousa's biological brother, Lance Cpl. Robert Sousa, a marine, died during the war and has his name on the wall, "but they are all my brothers," he said, refering to the wall's names and the veterans in attendance.
Scott Yates/syates@seacoastonline.com

Moving tribute: Vietnam veterans, others pay respects at travelling replica
Vietnam veterans, others pay respects at travelling replica
By Gina Carbone
gcarbone@seacoastonline.com
May 31, 2009 6:00 AM
Roy Greenleaf lost 14 friends on May 19, 1968, in Vietnam. He found them again on May 30, 2009, at The Moving Wall in Newmarket.

Greenleaf, now the Newington fire chief, served two tours with the Marine Corps in Vietnam. On that May day, he was with Fox Company, 3rd platoon, 3rd squad, when they were attacked outside Khe Sanh.


The Moving Wall tribute to Vietnam veterans comes to Newmarket He caught shrapnel. His friends died.

Greenleaf had their names highlighted on a piece of paper in his shirt pocket Saturday morning at The Moving Wall, the half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which has been in Newmarket since May 28 and will leave town June 1.

"They're not the victims, they're the survivors," Greenleaf said, pointing to the more than 58,000 names. "Their war is over. It's done. The rest of us are still the victims. We still walk with it."

Greenleaf came to the wall with the Ancient Order of Hibernians Pipes and Drums Band of Manchester. They joined in the Newmarket Memorial Day Parade Saturday morning wending through town to the wall, where hundreds of veterans, families and Seacoast residents paid respects to the fallen.

Rick Donnelly of Dracut, Mass., lost one-third of the Air Force commandos he flew into Vietnam with the day before the Tet Offensive. Seeing them again at the wall was an emotional experience. "Very much," he said, wiping his eyes.

The Red Knights Motorcycle Club of New Hampshire helped bring in the wall on Thursday night. Congregating around the flowers, photographs and other offerings were members of various military branches — including Navy veteran Ed Lyons of Kingston; Army veteran Jim Voss of Kingston; Coast Guard veteran Aaron Epstein of Fremont; and Army veteran Dick Rodier of Epping.
go here for more

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090531-NEWS-905310328

Dr. George Tiller, killed at church

You cannot justify this. Don't give me the crap about the number of abortions because if you approve or even attempt to justify this, you are not pro-life. You are supporting evil and hiding behind the pro-life title. Pro-life means all life and not just the ones you deem worthy of breathing. This man was killed in church of all places. Isn't church the place we're supposed to be able to go to make peace with God and find redemption? Was it up to anyone else to take this man's life away from him? He was murdered in front of people at church,,,his family and friends!

There are good, decent people in this country that happen to be really pro-life and they take the lives of the living just as sacred as they do the unborn. I happen to believe life begins with birth and the soul enters into the body when "God breaths life into" as when He did with Adam. Others believe it begins with the conception. We can all agree the born are alive. So if you believe this is what God wants, then you really have a problem a lot bigger than being inconsistent.

Doctor who performed abortions is shot to death
Dr. George Tiller, whose Wichita, Kansas, women's clinic has been the target of anti-abortion protests for years, was shot and killed at his church today, his family said. Sunday afternoon, authorities took a man into custody near Kansas City after stopping a car that matched a description of the killer's getaway vehicle, according to Johnson County, Kansas, sheriff's deputies. full story

Older vets ready to support others in uniform

Older vets ready to support others in uniform

By Kenneth Fine - News-Argus of Goldsboro
Posted : Sunday May 31, 2009 13:42:09 EDT

GOLDSBORO, N.C. — Thomas Marlow hasn't stepped into his military uniform in decades.

Bill Carr no longer carries a government-issued weapon.

And it has been years since the last time Theodore Ivey fixed the radar on a fighter jet.

But within places like the American Legion Post 11 headquarters — an aging construct tucked off U.S. 117 within earshot of the Wayne County Fairgrounds — their rank and experiences still matter.

Mike Burris straightens his back before saluting the men who showed up for a meeting of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"We've got a long history," he said. "We don't need to let the past die."

The News-Argus of Goldsboro reported that the men in the room bow their heads and say a prayer — for those who graced that building long before; for those who will be left to fill their seats when they, too, are gone.

As veterans of World War II, Vietnam and Korea grow older, many think about the fate of organizations like the VFW.

And they scoff at the notion that when they die, so, too, will veterans' needs for fellowship and a sympathetic ear.

"It helps your mind," Ivey said, looking down the line at the other men who fought in Vietnam. "I won't tell you what I did in Vietnam, what happened in Vietnam, but I'll tell him and him."

And that, he says, is why the young men and women currently fighting in two war theaters will one day fill the ranks of veterans' groups.

Bill Graham agrees.

"I could never talk about (Vietnam) with friends, family or anybody until I got associated with these groups," he said. "Until I found people who were in the same situation I was, I was closed off to everyone."
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_vet_support_053109/

Fishing Event Aims to Mend Those Who've Served

Event Aims to Mend Those Who've Served
'This Day Is Worth Living,' Veteran Says

By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 31, 2009

Sixty-seven days after brain surgery, Staff Sgt. Dave Love was out on the Potomac, fishing for bass on a beautiful afternoon.

He and more than 90 other wounded warriors participated in the Army vs. Marines Spring Bass Challenge yesterday at Smallwood State Park in Marbury. The event was a welcome change of scene for men whose days can be a blur of doctor visits and who are often tormented at night by post-traumatic stress.

"This day is worth living," said Love, a 32-year Army National Guard veteran who suffered brain trauma from roadside bombs during four years in Iraq. "This is what life is about."

The service members were paired with tournament-level anglers, each of whom brought a boat and tackle. A few service members walked with canes, and one or two used wheelchairs. Most of the disabled service members were stationed at Fort Meade or Fort Belvoir or recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Tournament director Ken Kirk turned to bass fishing a decade ago after post-traumatic stress disorder brought him low.

"The next thing you know, no more headaches, no more nothing," he said. "If I can help one individual, if I can turn his light bulb on and help him recover, then we've accomplished what we set out to do."
go here for more
Event Aims to Mend Those Who Have Served

Sergeant Joseph Huiet is on his sixth tour of duty

Fatal shooting shows stress risk facing U.S. troops
Sun May 31, 2009
By Tim Cocks

COMBAT OUTPOST COBRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Experts say the risk of soldiers suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) goes up substantially on their third tour of duty. Sergeant Joseph Huiet is on his sixth.

The killing of five U.S. soldiers at a clinic in Iraq two weeks ago by a comrade on his third tour, possibly suffering a stress disorder, has led to soul-searching in the U.S. military about the effects of serial deployments.

Huiet, 28, from Modesto, California, took part in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, just a week after completing basic training. More than six years later, he's still here and on his second marriage.

"Dealing with the stress has been real hard," he said inside combat outpost "Cobra," on the edge of Iraq's violent Diyala province.

"I've had times when I'm extremely angry, when I'm stressed out and so pent up I wanted to shoot or punch something. But I didn't," said Huiet, whose brigade is based in Alaska. A recent hardship: his daughter was born the day he started this tour.

Stress suffered by U.S. soldiers during multiple deployments came under the spotlight when a U.S. soldier shot dead five others at a clinic on May 14. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested stress was a factor.
go here for more
Fatal shooting shows stress risk facing US troops
Reuters - USA