Ex-POW Vietnam Veteran Joe Crecca Keynote Speaker for POW MIA Service

Veterans honor those who came home — and those still missing — during POW/MIA ceremony

My Edmonds News

September 16, 2017

It was a heartfelt homecoming in so many ways, for so many, at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza Friday night.

For an hour, local veterans  —  many of them Vietnam vets — remembered those who became prisoners of war or were declared missing in action during our nation’s conflicts. The occasion was national POW/MIA Day, and nearly 100 people gathered for the remembrance held in the new Veterans Plaza space, which officially opened at 5th and Bell on Memorial Day.

The crowd heard first from keynote speaker Joe Crecca, a former Air Force Major and Vietnam veteran who spent more than six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam after being shot down by a surface-to-air missile on Nov. 22, 1966.

A North Bend resident, Crecca described being captured, beaten and interrogated, followed by eight months in solitary confinement. “During that time I tried to keep my mind busy,” he said. “The first thing I did was remember all the presidents of the United States in chronological order, then the states of the union in alphabetical order and all the capitols.” After that, he said, he “started working on math and physics problems and remembering classical music themes.”

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Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Honor Flight of Remembrance

Wisconsin Vietnam veterans visit D.C. with Stars and Stripes Honor Flight
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Meg Jones
September 16, 2017

Photos: Stars and Stripes Honor Flight
A group of Vietnam veterans visiting the Air Force Memorial in Washington, D.C., pose for pictures. The Port Washington-based Stars and Stripes Honor Flight brought its first planeload of Vietnam veterans to the nation’s capital as the ranks of World War II and Korean War veterans dwindle. Meg Jones / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

WASHINGTON - They came because they wanted to visit their buddies.

They wanted to see the names of men forever 19 or 20, men who never aged or grew gray or started families or got on with the rest of their lives after serving their country.

They came to experience the camaraderie only people who have served in combat, no matter how many decades ago, feel when they come together. And though they weren’t expecting it — they also received the heroes’ welcome veterans of other wars had gotten but was cruelly denied to many of them.

A group of 80 Vietnam veterans traveled to Washington, D.C., Saturday on the first Stars and Stripes Honor Flight dedicated to men and women who served during that conflict.

Stewart Johnson came to visit Johnnie Vaught Jr. John Phelan wanted to see Bob Gasko. Ted Peller Jr. was paying his respects to Danny Sikorski.

Johnson, 68, a retired Milwaukee police officer, planned to leave a medal awarded to him for saving someone’s life in Vietnam. His daughter, Kelly Becker, encouraged him to instead take a picture of his medal and leave that at the memorial at the spot where Vaught’s name is listed among 58,000 others who lost their lives in Vietnam.
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RCMP Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe Lost Battle With PTSD

Family, friends, colleagues honour Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe

The Telegram

Tara Bradbury

September 15, 2017

An honour guard of more than 100 officers — RCMP in red serge, RNC, firefighters, correctional officers, sheriff's officers, paramedics, veterans and others — formed two lines leading from the steps of Saints Peter and Paul church in Bay Bulls Friday afternoon.

RCMP Regimental Sgt. Major Doug Pack (on steps) salutes as cross bearer Craig Follett leaves Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Bay Bulls on Friday following the funeral service of RCMP Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe, who died Monday. RCMP officers salute as O’Keefe’s remains are carried out of the church behind Follett, O’Keefe’s brother-in-law.

Unmoving in the hot sun, they saluted as Cpl. Trevor O’Keefe’s funeral procession passed them, headed towards the cemetery.

In front in a black vehicle were the funeral directors with the urn carrying the RCMP officer’s remains. Next was the car carrying O’Keefe’s parents.

As they passed, his father Pierre (Perry) gave the saluting officers the thumbs up and a strained smile.

Earlier, during the funeral service, Perry told the congregation he had a message he wanted to get out.

“If you or someone you know is suffering emotional distress of any sort, tell someone. Don’t bottle it up.”

O’Keefe, a 17-year veteran of the RCMP, died by suicide at home in Paradise Monday afternoon, after a battle with what his family says was post-traumatic stress disorder. He would have turned 48 next week.

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Facts, those pesky little details on veterans committing suicide

If I Could Walk Away, I Wouldn't
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 16, 2017

There is so much you have to learn about PTSD, but you won't. Because what is popular, like repeating numbers, keeps putting roadblocks between you and the knowledge that could save your life.

"If I could, I'd protect you from the sadness in your eyes, give you courage in a world of compromise, yes I would If I could. I would teach you all the things I've never learned, and I'd help you cross the bridges that I've burned. Yes I would, if I could. I would try to shield your innocence from time, but the part of life I gave you isn't mine, I've watched you grow so I could let you go if I could. I would help you make it through the hungry years, but I know that I can never cry your tears, but I would if I could."

That is one of songs I am most touched by. It is almost as I have been living in a time machine, repeatedly going back over the last 35 years of my life. Going back to the time when I had to read clinical books at the library with a dictionary to understand what combat did to the man I loved. I've been saying "if I could" as I read all the reports on veterans and suffering from where they've been.

I have a unique seat at the table for this one. To understand my husband and learn enough to help him, it made me a quasi-expert, but living with it made it personal to me as a spouse. We're celebrating wedding anniversary number 33 this month. This year marks my 35th year of trying to get to a point where I could walk away from doing this work so I could just enjoy being "normal" again. 

I never thought I'd still be doing this after all these years. I really thought I'd be able to stop when the internet connected the world and things once trapped in whispers were being shared while searching for answers. Soon, I discovered that within those keystrokes, there was a lot of lies, misdirection, and avoidance of facts.

Facts, those pesky little details that make all the difference in anything worth researching should matter, but folks will fall for whatever they are told. They walk away as if that is all they need to know.

That is what happened when the Department of Veterans Affairs released their report on veterans committing suicide. The headline was "22 a day" but the pesky fact was that number was an average from just 21 states. Reporters avoided the part where that was mentioned, as much as they avoided the fact that we have 50 states, so that number came from less than half the country.

What made it even worse, was they avoided mentioning that within that same report, the largest group of veterans were 65% of the suicides, and they were over the age of 50. You know, the veterans no one thought was worth mentioning.

When the VA put out the follow-up study and had the number at "20 a day" no one thought it was worth mentioning the fact that while the CDC knew how many suicides occurred every year, they did not know how many were veterans, and neither did the VA itself. Yes, one more pesky little fact, is that many states did not have "military service" on their Death Certificates.

States like California, with over 2 million veterans, announced this month they will now start tracking their veterans committing suicide. The San Diego Union Tribune added this in their report, " At least 27 vets under age 45 died by suicide in San Diego County over 18 months." Illinois did not have the ability to track veteran suicides either. In May this was reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Cullerton passed Senate Bill 1693 to allow deceased veterans with military service to include their veteran status, branch of military and the period of time served in the military on their death certificate.

Illinois has over 700,000 veterans, and now you have an idea of how many veterans were not counted. If military service was not on their Death Certificates, then the CDC did not know they were veterans while they did know the manner of death was suicide. The CDC Suicide Report states that there were 42,826 suicides and was the 10th leading cause of deaths. 383,000 more survived and made it to the emergency rooms.

One more pesky little fact is no one is talking about the attempted suicides within the veteran's community, any more than they are mentioning the other fact, that there are higher number of suicides within the military itself. Now you have a better idea of what was known by some thinking this topic was worthy of searching for facts and putting it all together.

All that may give you a better idea of why I find all this "awareness" repulsive. If not then this should really clue you in.

This was when there was very little being done to prevent suicides other than what the VA and established veterans groups were doing. 1999 population of veterans in the US was 26.4 million but in 2015 there were only 21,369,602. And that number was after over a decade of folks talking about suicides, using the word "prevention" along with "awareness" yet, as the VA reports showed, less veterans were alive to learn how they could stay that way.

The last report from the VA put the number at "20 a day" but if you do not see it has gotten worse, then stop pretending to care. I bet since you're reading this, you are thinking "Oh My God!" it is worse. Then again, you'd also probably be aware of the other pesky facts, like all the money spent by Congress as they claim to care and repeat the same stuff that did not work going all the way back to 2007. (yep a decade ago) Or the fact that the Veterans Crisis Line has been taking calls since the same year and has this piece of pesky fact.

"Since its launch in 2007, the Veterans Crisis Line has answered nearly 2.8 million calls and initiated the dispatch of emergency services to callers in crisis nearly 74,000 times. The Veterans Crisis Line anonymous online chat service, added in 2009, has engaged in more than 332,000 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 more than 67,000 texts."

If that is not proof enough you need to stop supporting all these awareness stunts covered by reporters who do not even care enough to ask what the end goal is, then pay a visit to your local newspaper and the obituary section. Look for the word "veteran" and see where all this absence of facts has produced.

Now, if you are not sufficiently pissed off yet, read the following report and add into it what you just became aware of.

Suicide among veterans highest in western US, rural areas

Associated Press
Hope Yen
September 16, 2017 

"This report is huge," said Rajeev Ramchand, an epidemiologist who studies suicide for the RAND Corp. He noted that the suicide rate is higher for veterans than non-veterans in every single state by at least 1.5 times, suggesting unique problems faced by former service members. "No state is immune."

Suicide among military veterans is especially high in the western U.S. and rural areas, according to new government data that show wide state-by-state disparities and suggest social isolation, gun ownership and access to health care may be factors.

The figures released Friday are the first-ever Department of Veterans Affairs data on suicide by state. It shows Montana, Utah, Nevada and New Mexico had the highest rates of veteran suicide as of 2014, the most current VA data available. Veterans in big chunks of those states must drive 70 miles or more to reach the nearest VA medical center.

The suicide rates in those four states stood at 60 per 100,000 individuals or higher, far above the national veteran suicide rate of 38.4.
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Seems like someone is pushing the "privatization" of veterans getting the care they need instead of actually demanding answers as to why all these years has produced these pesky details no one has been held accountable for.

So no, even if I could walk away after all these years, I wouldn't. I started out for selfish reasons and that was my own future with my husband, when no one was talking about any of this. Now I look back and wish I could change what you know into what you need to know, but I can't as long as all this crap keeps getting in the way. If the truth does not come out, nothing will change for you because apparently this has become acceptable to far too many!


UPDATE

Pennsylvania veteran suicide rate lower than national

TRIBUNE-REVIEW  Saturday, Sept. 16, 2017

The suicide rate for Pennsylvania military veterans in 2014 was slightly below the national rate but more than twice the state's overall suicide rate, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study released Friday.

The figures represent the first-ever data on veteran suicides by state. Overall, the study showed that suicides were higher in the western United States and rural areas.

The Pennsylvania rate of 37.9 suicides per 100,000 veterans was lower than the national veteran suicide rate of 38.4.

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Florida Firefighters Remembered For Service After Suicide

Firefighters who took their own lives will be added to memorial

KOAA News

Lena Howland

September 15, 2017

COLORADO SPRINGS
With the annual IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter's Memorial ceremony coming up this weekend in Colorado Springs, 196 names of firefighters who have made the ultimate sacrifice will be added to the memorial.

David Dangerfield is one of several other firefighters that took their own life and will be added to the IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial. (KOAA)

Among them, a handful who didn't die in the line of duty, rather, from suicide caused by post-traumatic stress disorder they got on the job.

Usually when we hear about PTSD, it's related to our military but it's a growing issue among firefighters too.

They are first on scene to nearly every emergency, from fires, to drownings, to terrible accidents, they see it all and it can take a toll.

"Every three days, he experienced a trauma and then he came home to his family for 27 years," Leslie Dangerfield, a widow said.

David Dangerfield was a Battalion Chief in Florida.

But sadly one day, his wife, Leslie took the last call she would ever get from him.

"I love you, you're a good mom, take care of our kids... I begged him, please don't leave them, please don't do this, he said I can't do it anymore, I can't, the nightmares, I can't do it anymore," she said.

She had seen some warning signs. For years, he struggled with anger outbursts, sometimes irrational behavior and trouble sleeping.

"His nightmares about babies dying in his arms, about trying to save someone from a shark bite who lost a limb or he couldn't find a body part and had to bring a decapitated body onto the beach where the mother was standing," she said.

Sadly, he's not alone.

Richard Sandell, a Florida firefighter for 18 years, also took his life when his wife Diana was pregnant with their third child.

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Humble Heroic Marine Received Navy Cross

Marine Who Braved RPG Fire to Save Commander Receives Navy Cross

Military.com

Hope Hodge Seck

September 14, 2017

"I understand that this places me in a category of Marines that I would have never imagined to be a part of. I firmly believe that I was an ordinary Marine placed in an extraordinary situation." Eric Smith

Eric Smith, a native of Waxahachie, Texas, was presented by Maj. Gen. Paul Kennedy, head of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, with the The Navy Cross. (U.S. Marine Corps/Sgt. Courtney White)

A Marine veteran who left the service as a staff sergeant had his Silver Star award upgraded to the prestigious Navy Cross in a ceremony Thursday presided over by a two-star general.

Eric Smith, a native of Waxahachie, Texas, was presented by Maj. Gen. Paul Kennedy, head of Marine Corps Recruiting Command, with the military's second-highest valor award in recognition of his heroic actions while serving in Ramadi, Iraq, in 2004.

The medal was upgraded to the Navy Cross as part of an awards review initiated by the Pentagon in early 2011 to ensure that troops serving in wars after Sept. 11, 2001, were properly recognized for their heroism.

Smith's Navy Cross is the 40th presented to a Marine since the Sept. 11 attacks, officials said.

"I'm honored and humbled to be singled out against a sea of deserving Marines," he said. "The significance of this award is not lost on me, and I will wear it with pride."

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Many Vietnam Veterans Stronger After PTSD and Healing

Do you want the facts on veterans committing suicide? Better start with those who did not to change the outcome.

Majority of older local Vietnam veterans have grown stronger from combat, study finds

WBFO 88.7 NPR

Marian Hetherly

September 13, 2017

Chacko found this attitude among more than half the 117 veterans from Tonawanda, Salamanca and Rochester, aged 65 and older, who had their boots on the ground in Vietnam. He said the higher the level of PTSD, the more difficult it was to grow stronger from the experience of combat.

Most people have heard of PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health problem that can develop after witnessing a life-threatening event.

Lesser known is PTG. While recording the oral histories of local Vietnam War veterans, a University at Buffalo researcher found that post-traumatic growth can exist at the same time as PTSD. Marian Hetherly explains in Part 1 of WNED|WBFO's three-part series, "Our Vietnam Voices." 

According to the U.S. Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of the 3 million U.S. troops that served in Vietnam suffered from PTSD. Their rates of suicide, alcoholism, drug addiction and divorce were markedly higher among veterans.

In the study of local Vietnam War veterans conducted by Thomas Chacko for his master's degree in psychology, he found a PTSD level of 24 (self-report)-30 percent (interview). However, he also found something more positive also was found.

"PTG is a positive change experienced as people struggle with their traumatic experiences," Chacko said to a group of local Vietnam War veterans. "It's like people coming out of a very stressful, traumatic event becoming stronger. You know that old saying, 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger' has been, I would say, one of the remarkable findings of this research."

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Top that off with their wives and families struggling to learn all we could to help them heal. Not willing to suffer in silence or accept any of it without a fight, they achieved the impossible and got the government to do something about what all other generations came home from war with...the war to fight inside of themselves.

Family of Veteran Wins Lawsuit Against Nevada State VA Nursing Home

State will pay $750,000 to family of veteran who died after legionella found in nursing home's water 
The Nevada Independent
Michelle Rindels
September 13, 2017

Gov. Brian Sandoval apologized to the family of an 88-year-old man who died at the Nevada State Veterans Home in 2015 after legionella bacteria was found in the water, then voted Tuesday to approve a $750,000 payout to his survivors.

The settlement with World War II veteran Charles Demos’ five children comes after the family sued the state on a litany of grounds, alleging negligence, wrongful death, elder abuse, infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring, training and supervision and breach of contract. A court denied the state’s motion to dismiss the case, and officials with the Nevada attorney general’s office said lawsuit costs could have spiraled to $2.5 million absent a settlement.

“I feel horrible that this has happened,” Sandoval said at a Board of Examiners meeting where the settlement was approved. “It’s a tragedy. This is a gentleman who served our country with distinction … I think this is a fair settlement and I just want to make sure that it was clear on the record that they have my apology.”

Demos, who would have turned 91 on Monday, was a member of the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Corps and had a decades-long legal career in Florida before retiring in 2010. After moving to the veterans’ home in Boulder City, he served two terms as president of residents at the nursing home and enjoyed playing chess and talking politics.
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VA Offers Beds to Non-Veteran Nursing Home Residents Hit By Irma

VA to make beds available where possible to non-Veteran nursing home residents affected by Hurricane Irma
News Release

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. David J. Shulkin announced that VA is making beds available where possible to non-Veteran nursing home residents affected by Hurricane Irma.

Secretary Shulkin has been working with Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Sen. Bill Nelson and their staffs on this issue beginning yesterday evening.

“We thank Governor Scott and Senator Nelson for involving VA, and are grateful we can help our fellow citizens where we can in this time of need,” Secretary Shulkin said. “All Americans are pulling together to help one another, and we must make a special effort for those most vulnerable to the conditions brought on by the storm.”

VA has the ability to make its facilities available to non-Veterans as part of its fourth mission to support national, state and local emergency management, public health, safety and homeland security efforts, and also through a mission assignment under the Stafford Act.

Secretary Shulkin agreed, where practical, to make beds that are not being used by Veterans available to non-Veteran nursing home residents as needed, while ensuring VA continues its primary mission of providing health care to Veterans.

The VA is also working closely with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state and local partners on the overall response to Irma, in addition to this specific issue.

“We will continue to look for ways to relieve the hardship this powerful storm has caused,” Secretary Shulkin said. “Much of the heavy lifting to recover from the hurricane is still to come, and our leaders and staff are determined to find as many ways as we can for VA to help in coordination with federal, state and local agencies in the response.”

More information on the VA’s response to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey can be found at https://www.va.gov/.

Forget Slogan of "22" California Will Start to Track Veteran Suicides

California will now track suicide among veterans


San Diego Union Tribune
Jeanette Steele
September 12, 2017

At least 27 vets under age 45 died by suicide in San Diego County over 18 months. The San Diego Union-Tribune tracked down the families, friends and medical examiner records of these young veterans.

A new law will require California officials to compile statistics on how many military veterans are committing suicide in the state.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation Monday.

One of the law’s proponents said the new requirement makes California one of 22 states to accurately report veteran suicide.

Assembly Bill 242 was introduced by two Fresno assemblymen, Republican Jim Patterson and Democrat Joaquin Arambula.

Specifically, the legislation requires the California Department of Public Health to report the number of veteran suicides every year to the state Legislature and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

The data would come from county coroners.

“Not knowing how many of those heroes are making the decision to end their lives is not acceptable,” Patterson said in a released statement.

“Men and women returning home to California after serving their country deserve all the help we can give them.”

California is home to the nation’s largest population of veterans.
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