Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 . __ . . -*- N A M V E T -*- ____/ \_ . . ( * \ . . Managing Editors \ Quangtri . . -------------- \_/\ \_ Hue . . G. Joseph Peck \_Ashau Phu Bai . . Todd C. Looney \_* \_ . . \ * ) . . Distribution Manager _/ Danang . . Jerry Hindle ( \_*Chu Lai . . \_ ------- \__ . . Section Editors \_ I Corps \ . . --------------- \ ------- ! . . AGENT ORANGE: Martin H. Kroll, Sr. /\_____ ! . . MIA-POW : Rick Stolz / ! \ . . REUNIONS: Glen Kepler ! !___ \ . . CHAPLAIN: Ed Brant ! \/\____! . . HOMELESSNESS: Lefty Frizzell ! ! . . FEDERAL BENEFITS: Jim Hildwine / Dak To ! . . INCARCERATED VETS: Todd C. Looney / * / . . Joyce Flory ! \_ . . MEMORIES: G. Joseph Peck ! Phu Cat\ . . IN-TOUCH: Ray "Frenchy" Moreau \ * * ) . . \ Pleiku ) . . -**- N A M V E T -**- \ \ . . / / . . "In the jungles of 'Nam, some of us ( -------- ! . . were scared and wary, but we pulled _\ II Corps ! . . one another along and were able / -------- \ . . to depend on each other. That has \ \ . . never changed. Today, free of the ! * / . . criticisms and misunderstandings _/ Nhatrang / . . many veterans have endured, _/ / . . NAM VET is a shining beacon, __/ ! . . a ray of hope, and a _ __/ \ ! . . reminder that the _____( )/ ! Camranh Bay . . lessons learned / !__ ! . . at such a high / \ / . . price shall not \ Bien Hoa \ / . . be forgotten - ! Chu Chi * \ __/ . . nor the errors \_ * --------- \ ___/ . . repeated!!!" ____ \ III Corps \ _/ . . / \_____) )_(_ --------- !__/ Duplication in . . ! ( ___/ any form permitted . . _____! \__ * ___/ for NONCOMMERCIAL . . ! Saigon/ purposes ONLY! . . \___ -------- / \/ . . \ IV Corps / For other use, contact: . . ) -------- / Managing Editors . . / ! Todd C. Looney (408) 947-8439 . . / ____/ G. Joseph Peck (413) 442-1660 . . / Mekong/ . . ! Delta/ This newsletter is comprised of articles . . ! ____/ and items from individuals and other . . ! / sources. We are not responsible for the . . ! / content of this information nor are any of . . ! __/ NAM VETs contributors or Section Editors. . . \_/ gjp . . . NAM VET Newsletter Page i Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1. EDITORIALS Agent Orange & Uranium - A parallel??? .................. 1 Thoughts in Parallel .................................... 4 Down for the count? ..................................... 6 2. Missing!!! Herbert Eugene Smith - KIA .............................. 8 Alfons Aloyze Bankowski - KIA/BNR ....................... 10 Mark V. Dennis - KIA .................................... 12 Donald Lee Sparks - MIA/POW ............................. 13 Donald Elliot Westbrook - MIA ........................... 15 Hugh Michael Fanning - MIA .............................. 17 Evelyn Anderson - KIA ................................... 19 POW News ................................................ 20 VietNow Ceases League of Families Support ............... 21 BEFORE "Normalization" - Remember Our MIAs!!! ........... 22 "Truth Accountability Bill" Supported ................... 23 Frank J. Kiewlen - KIA .................................. 24 In Memoriam - USS Liberty Veterans ...................... 25 They haven't forgutten US!!! ............................ 26 3. Agent Orange Millions "at once"? Maybe... ........................... 27 US Dogs in Vietnam: Cancer-prone ........................ 28 VA To Compensate for Soft-Tissue Sarcomas ............... 29 Break out the Clearsil ! ............................ 30 4. Noteworthy! National Guard Units in Vietnam ......................... 31 Cute Trick, Uncle Sam!!! ................................ 32 Do You Know Where The Vietnam Veteran Memorials Are? .... 33 All Roads Lead To Indochina ............................. 34 Congress Looks Anew at Ties With Vietnam ................ 35 Paralyzed Veterans of America ........................... 37 A matter of Conscience??? ............................... 38 5. Remember Them!!! Incarcerated Vets - Winning and Losing... ............... 39 A visit or note once in awhile? ......................... 40 Missing Memorial?? ...................................... 41 What is AVIP ............................................ 43 6. The NamVet Chaplain's Corner Strong Tools for a Quiet Battle! ........................ 46 The Electronic Chapel ................................... 50 7. *- Reunions -* R E U N I O N U P D A T E ............................. 51 8. Memories n' Stuff The Spirit of The Wall .................................. 67 Deliverance ............................................. 68 In Memory of "Someone Else" ............................. 69 9. Veteran Benefits & Info 1990 Veterans Benefits Handbook Available ............... 70 Ask the Veterans' Affairs Counselor ..................... 71 10. Hearts n' Minds Veterans heal themselves in 'The Hootch' program ........ 74 HOW TO DEAL WITH DESPAIR ................................ 76 Mistaken Diagnosis ...................................... 86 11. IVVEC & NamVet - WHERE? NamVet Roll Call!! ..................................... 97 IVVEC Nodelist .......................................... 99 Some Gave All... ........................................ 102 NAM VET Newsletter Page ii Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= E D I T O R I A L S ================================================================= Agent Orange Update, July 1990 By: Martin H. Kroll, Sr. NamVet's Agent Orange Section Editor Fort Mountain BBS - Chatsworth, Ga. 30705 (404) 695-8703 This month I am going to get a little off topic but there are many interesting parallels to the Agent Orange issue. Rather than speaking so much about Agent Orange, I would like to present some information about another group of people that have suffered because of the alleged suppression of information by our United States Government and their callous attitude towards it's citizens. The source of information for this months update is the June 18, 1990 issue of "Newsweek". In the 1950's and 60's the nuclear weapons industry was running full speed ahead. We can rest assured that the "Cold War" and the race for superior weaponry was responsible for this. Uranium was being mined in the Southwest at breakneck speed in order to meet the demands. Please note that this is also in the era of the Vietnam escalation and eventual spraying of Agent Orange there. The relationship is not one of nuclear weapons being used in Vietnam, but rather one that reflects the attitude of our government......"Damn the soldiers, damn the miners, full speed ahead!" The story of the uranium miners is as sad a story as the one about Agent Orange. Unlike Agent Orange victims though, the uranium miners and their families are finally due to receive lump sum payments as high as $100,000. The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was approved by the house recently after many years of controversy and it even makes provisions for certain cancer victims to receive as much as $50,000 because they were exposed to fallout from nuclear testing in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. US scientists discovered in 1949 that cancer could be caused by inhaling particles produced by radon gas (a byproduct of uranium) and the Public Health Service privately recommended ventilation of the mine shafts in 1952. European studies had linked radioactivity in uranium mines to lung cancer in the 1920's and 30's and had found that mine shaft ventilation could reduce the threat. Despite the findings of the Europeans and those of our own scientists and the recommendations of our own Public Health Service, the Atomic Energy Commission failed to pressure the mine owners to ventilate their mines. The approximately 15,000 uranium miners were never told that their occupation could cause cancer and be hazardous to their health. Dr. Victor Archer (a former PHS official) directed a study of over 4000 uranium miners beginning in 1954 and ending in 1960. During this period of time the Public Health Service monitored the health of these miners without telling them why. Dr. Archer said that by 1960 the miners already suffered high rates of lung cancer. Stewart Udall has said "The PHS used the miners as guinea pigs to NAM VET Newsletter Page 1 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 study the effects of radiation. Some of us have difficulty morally distinguishing between this study and some of the stuff the Nazi doctors did." Udall has crusaded for the miners in much the same way as many have crusaded for Agent Orange victims. He pursued four separate suits against mining companies and then proceeded to sue the US Government. Of course we all know how the suit against the government turned out since you have to get "permission" from the government to sue them. In 1985 an appellate court ruled that the government was protected by "sovereign immunity", thus killing the lawsuit. A judge suggested that the miners turn to Congress for help and thank goodness that we do have some sane members of Congress. Compensation is now a reality for the 15,000 miners for who the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act would establish a trust fund of $100,000,000. I am certain that given the choice, the miners and their families would much rather have their health than the money. The Agent Orange issue has run much of the same course but the results have not been anywhere near those of the uranium mining issue. We can take note that $100 million dollars will be set aside to pay off 15,000 miners while to this date there has been no such action for Agent Orange Victims. The class action suit against the chemical companies yielded only $180 million to presumably take care of the over 3,000,000 veterans and their children who may have been exposed to Agent Orange. This paltry amount wouldn't even begin to pay for initial examinations for Vietnam vets, much less provide any health care benefits. Many thousands of them have already died or are suffering from cancers and other health problems due to AO exposure. Reflecting on the Agent Orange issue though several things come to mind. We pretty much know that the chemical companies and the government knew about the hazards of Agent Orange. Dr. James Clary, an Air Force scientist who served in Vietnam, is on public record as saying "he and several others knew that Agent Orange was harmful at the time it was used." Did our government use us as Guinea Pigs also? It seems that the 50's & 60's era was chock full of experiments by a government that wanted to know about anything and everything no matter what the cost. Human lives had no meaning to many of those in power. I could only describe them as criminals of the worst kind and the thoughts that many of them are still around is not much comfort. I am glad that there is now a little hope and a small amount of justice for the uranium miners and their families. Maybe this is a signal that we are finally getting some members of Congress that are truly compassionate and believe that the government should be responsible for it's actions or inactions. I have consistently urged all of you to write letters to your Congressmen and Senators. As you can see, the miners got very little via the lawsuits against the mining companies and the government. Only when it was taken to Congress did things start to happen for them. We have been down the same route as the uranium miners and if we are to realize our goals then it looks like Congress is the answer. I ask you again to write individual letters telling your representatives just how disgusted you are with the handling of the Agent Orange issue and the continued suffering by our Vietnam veterans and their families. DEMAND as a NAM VET Newsletter Page 2 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 taxpayer and concerned citizen that the Agent Orange issue be settled in an acceptable manner. We have paid the price with more than our spilled blood! We have paid the price with the health of our children for several generations to come! Please, write now while it is on your mind... NAM VET Newsletter Page 3 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Thoughts in Parallel By: Todd Looney NamVet's Managing Editor West Vietnam Veterans Valhalla - San Jose, CA (408) 298-2740 It's taken me nearly a month to catch up on the going's on in the IVVEC since the Vietnam Veterans' Valhalla officially came back online on the 6th of last month, and I was not surprised to find the same kind of messages which were entered in the IVVEC way back when it first started. "Do the nightmares *ever* go away?" "Does the *pain* ever stop?" These are two common statements which seem to never go away. The answer to both of course, are "Yes, they do if you want them to." (I must credit someone from the echo with that response, I can't remember who that was, but you know). You need to work on them for that to happen. I was lucky enough to have come to a head with my own post traumatic stress disorder way back in 1983 which required a 6-month stay at a Veterans' Administration Mental Rehabilitation facility located in Menlo Park, California. During that stay I was part of a program called something like "Young Warriors" or "Young Vets" or the like. None of us were young, so I don't think the moniker fit, but there were ninety of us there. The program was run by a Vietnam veteran named Fred Guzman. He founded the idea and carried it through with great success, it is still operating under the auspices of the VA. That program literally saved my life. To qualify, you had to be a combat veteran as they dealt only with the problems associated with such trauma, and it was the *only* program of it's kind in the nation at that time. Now, there are several programs around the country which aid the combat veteran during the healing process of his/her PTSD problems. I found the place thorough the local Vet Center which had just opened up a year before. All this, of course, after spending almost a year walking by the Vet Center's front door, afraid to go in. I didn't know what to expect. I'm sure there are a lot of you who are experiencing the same problem today. The Vet Centers are still there and they're very active. If you haven't had a chance to get by one, I highly recommend them. They are not your typical VA outlets, run by cold, uncaring professionals whose credibility is questionable at the very least. They are run, usually, by veterans like yourself who have been where you have been and know what you are going through. If your life is still a catastrophe, then by all means you need to get down there and receive the help you deserve, and *paid* for. I won't promise that it won't be painful, it was one of the most painful experiences I've ever gone through, including Vietnam. When I first started there were several different groups for me to go through, orientation being the first. I learned there about the group process and to deal with problems of everyday life. We rarely talked about Vietnam at first, and when we did, the communication was usually put off until the "next" group I would be attending..."Recontact". Recontact Group was the most painful. It's method was that of NAM VET Newsletter Page 4 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 confrontation by the other combat veterans in the group. The therapists usually had little or nothing to do with the course in which our sessions wandered. The other combat vets, experts themselves in putting up walls and hedging the real issues, would quickly jump in and call a bluff whenever they noticed anyone trying to play the same old tapes. This was very effective in gaining trust, as well as getting the real story out. This, like I said, was a painful process, but it enabled me to start talking about the problems, and it enabled me to face the everyday crisis', or what I considered before the hospital to be a crisis. That, if nothing else, made me feel *human* again. It's been a few years since I "graduated" from that VA program, but I still feel the effects of it today. I can talk about Vietnam for one thing, something I couldn't do before that time. I can communicate with my family and friends in a constructive way. I can handle anger, and usually identify its source so as not to misdirect it on innocent people around me. My violent streaks just completely went away. The nightmares have all but disappeared. When I think about it, it takes me a few moments to remember exactly when the last episode was, and what it was about. That is significant recovery if I do say so myself. The point of all this is that if you need help, it's there. The answer is "Not until you ask", so ask. Call the Vet Center in your area. Most large cities have them. Or contact your nearest Office of Veterans Affairs and ask them about treatment programs. Better yet, write to Fred Guzman at the VA in Menlo Park, California and he can direct you to the right people. Don't give up. Remember the strength you had in Vietnam? It's still there. The determination is still there. The resolve is still there. The camaraderie is still there. Don't give up on yourself. A better life is there for those of you who need it and for those of you who want it. Just ask. NAM VET Newsletter Page 5 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Down for the count? By: G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor East VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 We've survived another month! I know this issue is a tad late (arghhhh!!! - thinkin' already about the NEXT one) - and I hope our August issue can come out at or near on-time. There's just been a LOT happening up here! I just went through a terrible - yet happy - experience that I'd like to share with you... It may SEEM a tad off-topic from our normal vet-related stuff but, from speaking with many of you VOICE or chatting with you on the VETLink #1, I know the experience might just be a commonly-shared one. Just prior to when our last issue came off the presses, I received a telephone call from the attorney who's handling our very, very tough financial situation. I was told that before he could go ANY further with saving our house, I MUST have a job and MUST be bringing in an income (other than my VA Disability). Talked to a friend of mine and was given the needed position, whereupon I called the attorney back and promptly informed him that I DID have a job. THEN, I called my friend back to ask him when I'd start and was informed that he'd made a mistake and that his payroll just would not allow his taking on ANYONE at this time. Devastated, I wanted to call the attorney back and tell him what had happened with the job but, realizing that if I DID it would mean instant death-knell for our house/home, I kept busy pounding the pavements; my friend said that, technically, I DID have a job and that I was just laid off; filling out job application after job application; calling back those that I had already seen/spoken to about employment. Net result was still Zero! Fear of fear: The attorney eventually called and wanted to get the final paperwork done! The LAST thing I wanted to tell him was that I DIDN'T have a job! The night before my appointment with him, I didn't sleep at all. "What to do... What to do? I don't deliberately tell untruths and the attorney will think that that's what I've done. Oh no! What are my family and I gonna do? Where are we gonna go NOW? If I left my family, at least welfare would be able to care for 'em..." I morbidly remembered my drill sergeant's words: "Second place is a body bag..." I found out that "facing your fears" - no matter WHAT they are, sometimes prove's beneficial! At the appointed time, I went to the attorney's office - FEAR for my family and myself making it difficult to swallow. I was just gonna tell him the truth - explain to him EXACTLY what had happened and take the consequences, whatever they were. But I also did something else: I brought my resume with me - and asked the attorney, too, for work. NAM VET Newsletter Page 6 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 I'm really pleased with the results! Although the attorney didn't have any openings that I could presently fill, he did take a good, critical look at my resume - made some suggestions about how to change it and also suggested that I remove my beard and THEN give it another try ("If ya don't have a job by THIS Friday, Joe, there's just absolutely nothing at all that I can do to help."). We also called a couple of the people that I'd previously called concerning employment and set up interviews for the following day. I went home, took out the beard trimmer and trimmed right down to bare skin! Sat up half the night making changes to my resume. Next day, clean-shaven and suited in business-world cammies (also known as "a suit" ), I went to the interviews. Came home with TWO jobs - one in a supermarket, another in a department store!!! Even interviewed for another one in the evening - and have been spending a LOT of time now going to other ones! I start one of landed-jobs this Saturday (7/14/90) and the other I begin next Thursday (7/19/90). If everything continues on the path-now-started, it looks like I'll still be here for some time to come (and hopefully begin getting these things out ON TIME again!!!).. I know this should be in our CONCENTRATED SERVICE section but for this month, knowing how many of you called and left messages on VETLink #1 (and telephoned VOICE), I really decided to combine both my editorial and our Service report into one. Our issue is big this month, too. 12 July 90 Postscript: Georgia (my wife), got off work a little late - came out of her place of employment in her regular clothes rather than the workplace uniform. Said somethin' like "Remember that place on the way home that was advertising for help? Let's stop there on the way home - before I start crying. I got laid off." ... and our appointment with the attorney is 1100hrs., Friday the Thirteenth. And I thought I had mountains to climb before! Til next month... Show a brother or sister veteran That YOU care!!! Ci'ao for Ni'ao -Joe- NAM VET Newsletter Page 7 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= M i s s i n g ! ! ! ================================================================= Bio of Herbert Eugene Smith - KIA Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Remains Returned March 1988 Name: Herbert Eugene Smith Rank/Branch: E6/US Air Force Unit: 388th Combat Support Group, Udorn Airbase, Thailand Date of Birth: 01 March 1936 Home City of Record: Appalachicola FL (family in Cocoa Beach FL) Date of Loss: 29 July 1966 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 204300N 10454953E (VH998943) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: RC47D Other Personnel in Incident: Robert Hoskinson; Robert DiTommaso; Galileo F. Bossio (still missing) Bernard Conklin; John Mamiya; Vincent Chiarello; James S. Hall (remains returned) REMARKS: DEAD/FIR 317-09130 74 SYNOPSIS: On July 19, 1966, an RC47D aircraft departed Udorn Airfield in Thailand en route to Sam Neua, Laos. The crew aboard the aircraft included Capt Robert E Hoskinson, pilot; Maj Galileo F Bossio, 1Lt Vincent A Chiarello, Capt Bernard Conklin, 1Lt Robert J DiTommaso, SSgt James S Hall, TSgt John M Mamiya and TSgt Herbert E Smith, crewmen. The aircraft was an unarmed RC47D Command and Control airship (Dogpatch 2). When the aircraft was 10-20 miles south of Sam Neua, it was attacked by enemy fighters. Radio contact was lost and the families were initially told there was no further word of the plane or crew - that they had all been lost on an operational mission in North Vietnam. It was later learned, however, that at least one, possibly two parachutes were observed in the air from persons on the ground, and the loss had occurred not in North Vietnam, but at 201200N 1041700E, which is in Laos. Primary objective of the C-47 in Laos at that point in the war was visual reconnaissance. American forces worked closely with CAS (CIA) primarily to weaken the communist supply link to South Vietnam via the "Ho Chi Minh Trail". This particular plane, however, was working in support of the CIA's secret indigenous army which was attempting to prevent a communist takeover in Laos. The crew members on these missions were normally highly trained in electronic surveillance techniques as well as versed in codes and languages. Accordingly, and as "there was no war in Laos", certain details of the mission, such as the precise location of loss, were originally distorted. Later reports indicate that some of the crew survived the attack on July 29, 1966. According to a March, 1974 NAM VET Newsletter Page 8 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 list published by the National League of Families of POW/MIAs, Bossio survived the incident and was missing in Laos. One 1971 report states that as many as 5 of the crew were captured. Chiarello and DiTommaso were identified as survivors by Capt Adair of Project Dogpatch. US Air Force records still reflect the loss as having occurred in North Vietnam. In 1988, the remains of Conklin, Chiarello, Hall, Mamiya and Smith were returned to US control. They were positively identified and returned to their families for burial. The DiTommaso family was also notified, and Mafalda DiTommaso rushed to Hawaii to sadly welcome her son home. She was shocked to learn that no body had returned - only information which added nothing to the mystery surrounding her son's loss. The families of Bossio, Hoskinson and Di Tommaso have the right to know what happened on July 29, 1966. The communist governments of Southeast Asia can account for the large majority of the nearly 2500 Americans still missing there. The weight of the evidence shows that some of them are still being held captive. It's time the veil of secrecy was lifted on these men and the others. It's time they came home. NAM VET Newsletter Page 9 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Bio of Alfons Aloyze Bankowski - KIA/BNR Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Alfons Aloyze Bankowski Rank/Branch: E5/US Air Force Unit: 314th Air Division - Osan Airbase, Korea Date of Birth: 15 June 1930 Home City of Record: Stamford CT Loss Date: 23 March 1961 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 192855N 1031014E (UG081550) Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered Category: 1 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C47 Other Personnel in Incident: Lawrence Bailey (released 1962); Frederick Garside; Ralph W. Magee; Glenn Matteson; Leslie V. Sampson; Edgar Weitkamp; Oscar Weston (all missing) REMARKS: KIA - RES SHTDN/CRSH SYNOPSIS: Henry Kissinger once predicted that an "unfortunate" by- product of" limited political engagements" would be personnel who could not be recovered. On March 23, 1961, one of the first group of Americans to fall into that "unfortunate" category were shot from the sky by Pathet Lao antiaircraft guns. Most Americans at that time did not even know that the United States had military personnel in Southeast Asia. In fact, most Americans had not even heard of the name "Laos". The Geneva Agreements had yet to be signed; air rescue teams had yet to arrive in Southeast Asia. The C47 aircraft crew consisted of 1Lt. Ralph W. Magee, pilot; 1Lt. Oscar B. Weston, co-pilot; 2Lt. Glenn Matteson, navigator; SSgt. Alfons A. Bankowski, flight engineer; SSgt. Frederick T. Garside, assistant flight engineer; SSgt. Leslie V. Sampson, radio operator; and passengers Maj. Lawrence R. Bailey and WO1 Edgar W. Weitkamp. Bailey and Weitkamp were assigned to the Army Attache Office at Vientiane, Laos. The aircraft crew were all Air Force personnel flying from the 315th Air Division, Osan Airbase, Korea. This C47 was a specially modified intelligence-gathering SC-47 which took off from Vientiane for Saigon. The passengers and crew were bound for "R&R" in the "Paris of the Orient". Before heading for Saigon, the pilot turned north toward Xieng Khouangville, a Pathet Lao stronghold on the eastern edge of the Plain of Jars. The crew, experienced in intelligence collection, planned to use their radio-direction finding equipment to determine the frequencies being used by Soviet pilots to locate the Xieng Khouangville airfield through the dense fog that often blanketed the region. Pathet Lao anti-aircraft guns downed the plane, shearing off a wing and sending the aircraft plummeting toward the jungle. Maj. Bailey, who always wore a parachute when he flew, jumped from the falling aircraft and was captured by the Pathet Lao. Bailey NAM VET Newsletter Page 10 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 spent seventeen months as a prisoner in Sam Neua, the Pathet Lao headquarters near the North Vietnamese border, before being repatriated after the signing of the Geneva Agreements on Laos in 1962. The caves at Sam Neua were said to have held scores of American prisoners during and after the war. The seven men lost on March 23, 1961 were the first of many hundreds of American personnel shot from the sky only to disappear in the jungles of Laos. Four Lao sources stated that 7 of the 8 personnel on board died in the crash of the aircraft, and were buried in the vicinity. Sixteen years later, in February 1977, several Pathet Lao films were obtained by a friendly foreign government showing an ident- ification card with a photo of SSgt. Garside, and an open passport bearing 1Lt. Magee's ID number. The fact that these items were recovered in good condition is evidence that further information is available on the crew, due to the fact that the plane was not completely destroyed, and the Pathet Lao were present at the site of the crash. Clearly, someone knows what happened to the crew of the C47. Because Laos was not included in the Paris agreements ending American involvement in Southeast Asia, and because no agreement has been reached since regarding Lao-held American POWs, hundreds of Americans remain missing, including the crew of the C47. Many Americans were known to have survived, and hundreds of reports point to their survival today. NAM VET Newsletter Page 11 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Bio of Mark V. Dennis - KIA Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Mark V. Dennis Rank/Branch: HM3/USN Unit: Date of Birth: Home City of Record: OH Loss Date: 15 July 1966 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: (unknown) Dong Ha Status (In 1973): Killed In Action Acft/Vehicle/Ground: CH46 Helicopter Other Personnel In Incident: REMARKS: Not on official Missing lists SYNOPSIS: Hospitalman Mark Dennis was a Navy medic aboard a Chinook helicopter when it was shot down on July 15, 1966. All men on board were declared Killed In Action. Three and a half weeks later, a casket arrived in Ohio and was buried. In November, 1970, an issue of Newsweek carried a photograph of an "unknown POW" which his brother felt was MARK DENNIS. That, combined with an earlier report from the Navy, that "a couple of men could have gotten out of the helicopter" sparked Mark's brother to travel to Paris, Bangkok and Vietnam in search of the truth. The remains purported to be those of Mark Dennis were exhumed, and exhaustive tests made. The results proved to Mark's family beyond a shadow of a doubt that they DID NOT BURY MARK DENNIS, but some- one else, unknown to them. Mark's family continues to actively pursue answers to their question, "Where is Mark Dennis?" NAM VET Newsletter Page 12 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Bio of Donald Lee Sparks - MIA/POW Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Donald Lee Sparks Rank/Branch: E3/US Army Unit: 1st Platoon, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 23rd Infantry Division (Americal) Date of Birth: 07 November 1946 Home City of Record: Carroll IA Date of Loss: 17 June 1969 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 153416N 1081737E (BT098232) Status (in 1973): Prisoner Of War Category: 1 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Other Personnel in Incident: Larry Alonza Graham (killed, body recovered) REMARKS: LETTERS FOUND; DIED IN PW CAMP SYNOPSIS: PFC Donald L. Sparks and Cpl. Larry A. Graham were serving as pointmen for their company when it was ambushed by an enemy force of unknown size on June 17, 1969 near Chu Lai, in the Tien Phuoc District, Quang Tin Province, South Vietnam. Witnesses indicated that both men were wounded and fell to the ground. As the remaining members of the patrol withdrew, they observed North Vietnamese Army personnel stripping PFC Sparks of his clothing and weapon. No one was able to reach the area where they lay for almost twelve hours because of heavy enemy fire, however, several members of the platoon believed both men to be dead. Air strikes were requested, and napalm, 500 and 1000 pound bombs, were dropped on the enemy position. Later the same day, another attempt was made to reach the bodies, but again was repulsed by the enemy. On the morning of June 18, a recovery element was able to reach the site, but was unable to locate the remains of PFC Sparks. The remainder of the day was spent in digging in the vicinity of a bomb crater where witnesses had last seen Sparks. The remains of Cpt. Graham were recovered during this search. It was believed that PFC Sparks' body had been totally destroyed by the air strikes, but with no positive evidence of death, Sparks was initially listed as Missing in Action. On February 3, 1971, a Viet Cong rallier reported that during April 1969, an American POW suffering from gunshot wounds and wounds from a U.S. air strike had been held in a POW camp located near the Song Khan River in the vicinity. The American's wounds were dressed and he was transported in a northwesterly direction along the southern bank of the Song Khan River. When released in 1973, American POW Maj. Harold Kushner and two other released American POWs stated that in the spring of 1970, while en route to a new detention camp in the same province in which Sparks was lost, their Vietnamese interpreter/guard said NAM VET Newsletter Page 13 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 that a U.S. POW by the name of Don was scheduled to join his POW group, but had been moving more slowly because of foot wounds. This occurred in the spring of 1970, but "Don" never joined the other Americans. On May 17, 1970, a Viet Cong soldier was killed in fighting near Chu Lai. On his body, American soldiers from the 19th Infantry Division found two letters from Donald Sparks dated April 11, 1970. In one of the letters, addressed to his parents, he assured them that he was in good health in spite of the fact that he had not seen another American during his ten months of captivity. One of the letters mentioned having received a wound to his foot. A report from the crime lab, 8th Military Personnel Group conclu- sively proved that the letters were written by PFC Sparks. Six months later, Sparks' official status was changed to Prisoner Of War. On September 19, 1973 an ARVN returnee stated that a US POW entered a POW camp in February 1970 using a stick for support as his feet and legs were bruised. Allegedly, the POW later contracted beriberi and is reported to have died in June 1971. This report was correlated to Donald Sparks. When 591 Americans were released in 1973, the communist government of Vietnam denied any knowledge of Donald Sparks. He was one of nearly 3000 Americans who did not return. At the time, military experts were shocked that "hundreds", believed to be held captive and expected to be released, were not. Donald Sparks was apparently never held with any returning American POW. Studies of the Vietnamese prison system indicates that those POWs who returned all had been held together, moving from camp to camp within the same system, but that other systems probably existed. Perhaps Donald Sparks is one of the several hundreds that many authorities believe to be alive in Southeast Asia today, still captive of a long-ago enemy. If so, what must he be thinking of us - having bombed him, abandoned him and forgotten him? NAM VET Newsletter Page 14 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Donald Elliot Westbrook - MIA Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Donald Elliot Westbrook Rank/Branch: Major/USAF Unit: Date of Birth: 28 August 1926 Home City of Record: Sherman TX Loss Date: 13 March 1968 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 202600N 1034300E Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Others In Incident: Clarence Blanton; James Calfee; James Davis; Henry Gish; Willis Hall; Melvin Holland; Herbert Kirk; David Price; Patrick Shannon; Donald Springsteadah; Don Worley (all missing from Lima 85) SYNOPSIS: One of the most intriguing cases of the Vietnam war is the Lima Radar Site 85 at Phou Pha Thi and the men who went missing there. Donald Westbrook, involved into the incident by the luck of the draw will perhaps never know just how intriguing it was. Lima 85 was on a peak in the Annam Highlands near the village of Sam Neua on a 5860 ft. mountain called Phou Pha Thi. The mountain was protected by sheer cliffs on three sides, and guarded by 300 tribesmen working for CIA. Unarmed US "civilians" operated the radar which swept across the Tonkin Delta to Hanoi. These "civilians" were actually Air Force personnel who were temporarily relieved of active duty to take jobs with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation serving with Project Heavy Green at Lima 85. The project was so secret that the men's wives were also required to sign secrecy agreements. Absolutely no one was to know about the assignment. Laos was a neutral country and as such, US military presence was internationally prohibited. For three months in early 1968, a steady stream of intelligence was received which indicated that communist troops were about to launch a major attack on Lima 85. Intelligence watched as enemy troops even built a road to the area to facilitate moving heavy weapons, but the site was so important that William H Sullivan, US Ambassador to Laos, made the decision to leave the men in place. When the attack came March 11, some were rescued by helicopter, but eleven men were missing. The President announced a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam. Donald Westbrook was flying one of 4 A1E's orbiting on standby to search for survivors of the attack at Phou Pha Thi when his plane was shot down March 13. Westbrook was never found. Observers said there was no parachute seen, no beepers heard, and no voice contact made. The wreckage of Westbrook's aircraft was seen scattered over a wide area and smoking. Finding no survivors, the Air Force destroyed Lima 85 to prevent the equipment from falling into the hands of the enemy. Westbrook was declared Missing In NAM VET Newsletter Page 15 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Action, with a high probability that the enemy knew his fate - and had perhaps even captured him. In mid-March, the Lima Site wives were notified that the site had been overrun by enemy forces, and that the men who had not escaped had been killed. Many years later, they learned that was not the whole truth. Two separate reports indicate that all the men missing at Phou Pha Thi did not die. One report suggests that at least one of the 11 was captured, and another indicates that 6 were captured. Information has been hard to get. The fact that Lima Site 85 existed was only declassified in 1983, and finally the wives could be believed when they said their husbands were missing in Laos. Some of the men's files were shown to their families for the first time in 1985. The Lima Site wives have talked and compared notes. They still feel there is a lot of information to be had. They think someone survived the attack on Lima Site 85. Perhaps Don Westlake survived. They wonder if their country will bring those men home. NAM VET Newsletter Page 16 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Bio of Hugh Michael Fanning - MIA by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Hugh Michael Fanning Rank/Branch: Major USMC Unit: 1st Marine Air Wing Da Nang, South Vietnam Date of Birth: 12 July 1941 (Washington DC) Home City: Ft. Worth TX Loss Date: 31 October 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 205000N 1061200E Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Acft/Veh./Ground: A6A Others in Incident: Stephen Kott (remains returned) SYNOPSIS: Hugh Fanning was born in Washington D.C. July 12, 1941. He lived in New York, where his parents later made their home, and attended college and lived in Dallas, Texas, before he joined the Marine Corps. His wife and children lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma when he went to Vietnam as a Marine pilot with the First Marine Air Wing based at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Fanning flew the A6A Intruder, an all-weather, low-altitude attack plane. On October 31, 1967, Fanning and bombardier/navigator Stephen J. Kott were sent on a mission over North Vietnam as number two in a flight of two aircraft on a night electronics support mission. Their radio code name was "Oatmeal". At about 1:50 a.m., Fanning indicated he was approaching the target. At 2:02 a.m., the leader observed a bright orange flash in the vicinity of the target area and in the estimated position of Fanning's aircraft which he est- imated to be about 15 miles east of Hanoi at an altitude of between 100-500 feet. Several reports surfaced concerning the crash of Fanning's plane in the ensuing years, including one account that Kott was killed in the crash, but Fanning was captured and taken away by jeep. The veracity of these reports as they relate to Hugh Fanning is uncertain. In August, 1984, remains were returned by the Vietnamese purported to be those of Fanning and Kott. Mrs. Fanning was glad the years of waiting had finally ended. Her casualty assistance officer assured her that existing dental records of her husband's matched those of the remains, an important means of identification. Moreover, he assured her that her husband had not been wounded in the skull, the focus of a recurring dream that had plagued her for years. The remains were buried with full military honors. It was not until 10 months later, when she was first allowed access to her husband's forensic file, that Mrs. Fanning learned that there had been NO skull and NO teeth in the remains purported to be Hugh Fanning. Mrs. Fanning arranged for the remains to be exhumed and examined independently. The examiner concluded that the alleged remains of Hugh Fanning could not have been NAM VET Newsletter Page 17 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 scientifically identified as his ... or anyone else's. Whether Hugh Fanning died on October 31, 1967 in the crash of his plane or was taken prisoner is not known. It can only be known with certainty when proof is obtained of his death, or Major Fanning himself is brought home alive. Meanwhile, Mrs. Fanning says, "My husband may be dead. However, until positive proof is given to me, I must entertain the possibility that he may be alive. Regardless of my husband's chances, I do believe that live Americans still remain in Southeast Asia. I will continue to search for the truth." NAM VET Newsletter Page 18 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Bio of Evelyn Anderson - KIA by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 Name: Evelyn Anderson Rank/Branch: Civilian Unit: Missionary - Christian Missions of Many Lands Date of Birth: ca 1950 Home City of Record: Quincy MI Loss Date: 27 October 1972 Country of Loss: Laos Status (in 1973): Prisoner of War Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Other Personnel in Incident: Beatrice Kosin (assassinated); Lloyd Oppel (released in 1973 - citizen of British Columbia); Samuel Mattix (released in 1973) SYNOPSIS: In the late hours of Saturday, October 27, 1972, a small group of North Vietnamese soldiers invaded the southern Laotian town of Kengkok, about thirty-five miles from Savannakhet. They took prisoners, including Evelyn Anderson, Beatrice Kosin, Lloyd Oppel and Samuel Mattix. Several other Americans in Kengkok managed to escape and radioed for help. At 9:04 on Sunday morning following the capture, an American heli- copter arrived and evacuated nine Filipinos, five Lao and the Americans who had radioed for help. Less than a hour later, Sgt. Gerry Wilson returned by helicopter to try and locate the two American women. Lt Colonel Norman Vaughn immediately set rescue plans into motion. The American Embassy in Vientiane heard of the rescue plan and ordered from the highest level that no attempt be made to rescue the women. The peace negotiations were ongoing and it was feared that a rescue attempt would compromise the sustained level of progress in the talks. On November 2, 1972 a radio message was intercepted from Hanoi which ordered that the two women be executed. A captured North Vietnamese soldier later told US military intelligence that the women were captured, tied back to back and their wrists wired around a house pillar. The women remained in this position for five days. After receiving orders to execute the two, the Communists simply set fire to the house where they were being held and burned them alive. A later search of the smoldering ruins revealed the corpse of Miss Anderson. Her wrist was severed, indicating the struggle she made to free herself. The two men, Oppel and Mattix, who were captured with Anderson and Kosin were released. It is speculated that the women would have been too much trouble to care for on the long trip to Hanoi, and killed instead. Evelyn Anderson was not in Laos to kill, but to help. Her death must be blamed not only on the communists who set the fire that killed her, but also on the faceless, nameless Americans who decided she was expendable. NAM VET Newsletter Page 19 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 MIA-POW News & Updates By: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 On Tuesday, May 22, 1990, Deputy Earl McFarland, of Liberty County Texas, gave his life to protect members of the Last Patrol. Volunteering for rear safety escort, he swerved in front of an eighteen wheeler with the driver asleep at the wheel, to protect the walkers and med. van from being hurt. He was killed instantly. He was 29, the father of 2, and his widow was pregnant with their third child. The Houston Foundation for Vietnam Veterans has sent what we could. Some other groups around have discussed doing the same. An addendum to this that the Patrol continued on in memory of Deputy McFarland. At the flag raising ceremony Friday morning it was also mentioned that the dedication was to remember the POW's *and* the sacrifice of the Deputy. A trust has been set up to provide for his family. Donations can be sent to: Cleveland Bank and Trust 104 W. Crockett Cleveland, TX 77317. ----------------------------------------------------------------- On April 26th Billy Hendon delivered an EXPLOSIVE presentation on the TRUTH about American POW's in S.E.A. to a standing room only closed congressional briefing. A copy of that briefing is now available on VHS. Taped presentation is over 1 hour long. Send 21.95 plus 3.00 shipping to: POW PUBLICITY FUND P.O. Box 65500 Washington, DC 20035. NAM VET Newsletter Page 20 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 VietNow Stops Support for The National League of Families by Lamont Gaston VietNow National President Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 I need to report to you on an important step that VietNow has taken at this last National Convention in New Orleans. This deals with an emotional issue, and it is important to read this in its entirety. It was approved unanimously to delete from record a VietNow resolution that stated VietNow's support of the National League of Families. This does not change our direction on the POW/MIA issue at all. This move does not make our organization bad, rebellious, or uncaring. We felt this change was needed because we have found that our philosophies have changed and the relationship between the National League of Families and Vietnam Veterans groups across the nation has widened greatly. The League has felt that we should not let our time be taken up by the POW/MIA issue, because we have many other important issues to concern ourselves with and that they have only the one issue on their agenda. That is like telling the Vietnam Veteran to stop fighting Agent Orange because you have to die from something anyhow. Our differences are not with the families of the POW/MIAs but with the League's leadership. There have been too many questionable situations in the past years, that have went answered and if you were to question the League's leadership you were given an undesirable label. VietNow's stand on the POW/MIA issue is to do everything possible to resolve the issue and to encourage other groups and citizens to join the cause and the fight for the POW/MIAs. We believe in persistence and have the strength and will of persistence and with that direction VietNow will maintain the agonizing path of freedom for our POW/MIAs. It's the least we can do! NAM VET Newsletter Page 21 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 BEFORE "Normalization" - Remember Our MIAs!!! Input by: Terry Hayes VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 May 3, 1990 The Honorable Frank Horton U.S. Congressman, 29th District U.S. House of Representatives Rayburn House Office Bldg. Rm. 2229 Washington, D.C. 20515 Dear Congressman Horton, While I am sincerely pleased that two of our hostages from Lebanon have been freed recently I would call your attention to an article recently published in NamVet Newsletter, an electronic newsletter for Vietnam Veterans. This article deals with our other "Hostages", those who have been hostages for far longer than the recently released Lebanese hostages, the Vietnam POW/MIAs. I am a Vietnam Veteran, having served honorably in the US Army in South Vietnam in 1965-1966. I find the enclosed article extremely disturbing as I was stationed near Hue. I have little doubt that the Vietnamese government continues to hold prisoners/hostages to attain their own ends. I would welcome your leadership in resisting normalization of relations with the Vietnamese government until all of our "Hostages", or the remains thereof, have been restored to their families. Thank You for your Leadership in this important matter. Sincerely, Terry L. Hayes XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx NAM VET Newsletter Page 22 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Input by: Terry Hayes VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 One Hundred First Congress Congress of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Government Operations 2157 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 June 28, 1990 Mr. Terry L. Hayes XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Dear Mr. Hayes: Thank you for your letter regarding HR 3603, the "Truth Accountability Bill." As you know, this bill would release information about American servicemen listed as Prisoner of War(POW) or Missing in Action(MIA) from the Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam. Long before I was elected to Congress, there were men listed as POW or MIA. The Vietnam Conflict added many more to the list, and unfortunately, many of these men are still missing. Families of these soldiers have not been apprised of all information because the information is classified. I support the release of information regarding sightings of those POW's or MIA's. The "Truth Bill," as it is called, protects national security while allowing the release of previously classified information. Most importantly, HR 3603 will enable us to examine the issue of classifying information on American servicemen. The bill contains a clause safeguarding personal privacy and national security above all else. In addition, this legislation would help clarify the discrepancies of claims made by different government agencies about these Americans. HR 3603 in the Government Operations Committee, of which I am the Ranking Minority Member. I have written a letter to Government Operations Committee Chairman John Conyers requesting prompt hearings on this bill. Be assured that I will continue to support this proposal in Committee as well as on the House Floor. Thanks again for your personal interest in the "Truth Accountability Bill." Please feel free to contact me in the future on any matters of concern. With best wishes, Sincerely, /s/ Frank Horton Ranking Minority Member NAM VET Newsletter Page 23 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 INFO REQUEST: Frank J. Kiewlen - KIA Input by: Rick Stolz NamVet's MIA-POW Section Editor The Reunion BBS - Okauchee, Wisconsin (414) 567-0437 I am listing this in hope that someone may be able to help Cindy Barrows. She contacted me to find out if I could help her learn more about her brother who was killed in Nam. Sgt. Frank J. Kiewlen 9th Inf. 4th Bat. KIA 5/69 Meriden Conn. is the home town This is all that she had on him at the time, and would like to talk to anyone that might have known him. She can be reached through Reunion BBS 414-567-0437. Her home # is 414-634-7922. Address is 902 W. Lawn Ave, Racine, Wi. NAM VET Newsletter Page 24 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 In Memoriam - USS Liberty Veterans Input by: Joe Meadors SeaBat BBS - Corpus Christi, TX (512) 387-6638 Killed, USS Liberty (AGTR-5) June 8, 1967 * * * * * In Memoriam * * * * * William Allenbaugh Philip Armstrong Gary Blanchard Allen Blue Francis Brown Ronnie Campbell Jerry Converse Robert Eisenberg Jerry Goss Curtis Graves Lawrence Hayden Warren Hersey Alan Higgins Carl Hoar Richard Keene James Lenau Raymond Linn James Lupton Duane Margraff David Marlborough Anthony Mendle Carl Nygren James Pierce Jack Raper Edward Rehmeyer David Skolak John Smith, Jr. Melvin Smith John Spicher Alexander Thompson Thomas Thornton Phillipe Tiedke Steven Toth Frederick Walton USS Liberty Veterans Association P.O. Box 789 Woodinville, WA 98072 NAM VET Newsletter Page 25 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 W W M M W W M M M M W W \ / M M M M OOOO W W W --*-- M M M IIII O O W W W W / \ M M II O O W W W W M M II O O W W M M II O O II PPPPPP O O ..... 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N ::::::::::::::::::::::::' `''' ': O `::::::::::::::::::::::: \v/ \ / :'E `:::::::::::::::::::::: =========================== :' U `:::::::::::::::::::::. /^\ \ :'T `:::::::::::::::::::: .: A `:::::::::::::::::: .:'T `::::::::::::::::::. .;' R `:::::::::::::::::. .;' T `::::::::::::::::. .;' E `:::::::::gjp::: .:' O `:::::::::::::...........'' G N O T F O R " Bring them home --- NOW !!! " NAM VET Newsletter Page 26 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= A g e n t O r a n g e ================================================================= Millions "at once"? Maybe... Input by: Esty Dinur NineJackNine BBS - Madison WI (608) 274-1904 Brought to you by the magazine of alternative news and analysis from shortwave broadcasts from around the world. WORLD PERSPECTIVES, $17.50/year. Box 3074, Madison, WI 53704 VIETNAM US's war against Vietnam destroyed over half of that country's farmland. 2.2 million hectares of tropical forest were destroyed and the country was pitted with 25 million bomb crates. The war ended 15 years ago, but Vietnam is still struggling with the consequences of that war. Elizabeth Kemp of the Worldwide Fund for Nature, who has been studying the issue for the last 5 years, said in a BBC interview, "when I first went to Vietnam in 1985 I saw what's called 'the Agent Orange museums' - vast stretches of valley which had been defoliated, and in the delta, huge patches of swampy areas where the trees stuck out of the horizon like the rotting masts of ships. What I saw beyond that was millions of people filling in the bomb craters, converting them to fish farms and planting millions of trees. Each year Vietnam plants five million trees. These are not indigenous species because those cannot be planted directly into the soil now in many areas because of the herbicides and because the top soil has been washed away during the rainy seasons. So these trees are used for canopy and under them they plant the indigenous species." "Not far from Ho Chi Minh City there is an area where over 50,000 hectares of tropical rainforest was deliberately destroyed. There, over 11,000 hectares have been replanted with success. Now the birds are coming back and they scatter seeds and soon we will see some regeneration but it will take hundreds of years for the rainforest to come back." According to a UN study, some areas in Vietnam were so badly contaminated by US chemical warfare that agriculture will not be possible on them for at least 500 years. (BBC) NAM VET Newsletter Page 27 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 U.S. dogs in Vietnam cancer-prone Input by: Terry Hayes VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Reprinted from The June 20, 1990 FingerLakes Times, Geneva, NY WASHINGTON (AP) - Dogs exposed in Vietnam to the same chemical sprays as US soldiers developed almost twice as many tumors of the testicles as military dogs that served only in the United States, federal investigators report. In a study published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers said the increased number of testicular cancers among canine veterans of Vietnam may predict the development of such tumors among American servicemen who served in the same country. "The dog is a sentinel model for man," said Howard M. Hayes, a National Cancer Institute researcher and co-author of the report. "He could be used to foretell the risks for exposure to the same chemical insults" encountered by soldiers in Vietnam. Veteran's groups have contended for years that soldiers who served in Vietnam have experienced more cancers and other ailments as a result of their exposure to chemical sprays while in Vietnam. Agent Orange, an herbicide widely used to defoliate the jungle, has come under particular attack by veterans' groups as the cause of cancers and skin ailments. NAM VET Newsletter Page 28 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 VA TO COMPENSATE VIETNAM VETERANS FOR SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Office of Public Affairs - News Service Washington, DC 20420 (202) 233-2741 Washington, May 18 -- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Edward J. Derwinski is announcing his decision to have VA recognize, as service-connected, soft-tissue sarcomas based on exposure to dioxin-containing herbicides. Soft-tissue sarcomas, which are difficult to diagnose, are a group of malignant tumors found on muscles and connective tissue or in body fat. The decision follows the completion of a two-day meeting of the Veterans Advisory Committee on Environmental Hazards, which made the recommendation to Derwinski after reviewing the scientific literature on this class of cancers and dioxin exposure. The Committee advised the Secretary that the evidence led them to conclude that there is "at least as likely as not" a significant statistical association between exposure to a dioxin-containing herbicide and soft-tissue sarcomas. VA, by regulation, presumes exposure to dioxin by all veterans who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam Era. VA expects to publish a final regulation in early fall. An estimated 1,100 veterans or survivors are expected to receive compensation, with an additional 50 claims annually thereafter. Payments, some of which will be retroactive, are projected to cost $8 million yearly. In March, Derwinski announced a decision to grant disability compensation to Vietnam veterans for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, based on the results of a case-control study of selected cancers conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. NAM VET Newsletter Page 29 Volume 4, Number 7 July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xxx _ -. . - .-. - . . . . - XXXXXxxXXXXXXXXXXXx -. - .- . - . . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-. .--. - .- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -.- - -.- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -. -. -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx .g -. -. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX .- j. .- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX . p .-. XXXXXXXX ]XXXXXXXXX ]XXXXXXXX .- - -. XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX -.- - -- XXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXXX -- - XXXXXXXXX X'`XXX XXXXXXX Y Y XXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXX XXXXXXX X X XXXXXXXX XXXXXXX XXX XXXXXX XXX XX X XXX XX XX XXXX XX XXX XX XX XX XXXX XXX]XXXXXXXXXXXX XXX[ XX XX XXX XXXXXXXXXX " I t ' s o n l y t e e n a g e a c n e ! " -Robert Nimmo- NAM VET Newsletter Page 30 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= N o t e w o r t h y ! ================================================================= National Guard Units In Vietnam Submitted by: Craig Roberts The Computercenter - Tulsa, Oklahoma (918) 747-0250 After doing some research concerning the thread about who/how many National Guard units saw action in Vietnam, I came up with a few things. On May 13, 1968 a federalization call-up order was issued to 20 Army National Guard units in 17 states. Eight of these units were sent to Vietnam (7000 soldiers). This does not count Army reservists or Air National Guard members -- of which entire SQUADRONs served in VN. The first Army guard unit to be sent was the 650th Medical Detachment from the Alabama National Guard. Next were artillery battalions from the New Hampshire and Kentucky National Guard, along with Company D, 151st Infantry (LRRP) from the Indiana National Guard. A Ranger company, Company D was trained prior to deployment as a Long Range Patrol company. All members were airborne and jungle warfare school (Panama) qualified prior to deployment. They arrived in Vietnam December 29th, 1968 and assigned to 199th Light Infantry Brigade and later phased into combat operations under Company F (Ranger) 51st Infantry. ON Feb 1, 1969 Company D was designated from LRRP to Ranger. Hope this clears up a few issues. NAM VET Newsletter Page 31 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 CUTE TRICK, UNCLE SAM!!! Input by: Frank Topping Nightline BBS - Mather AFB, CA (916) 362-1755 hehe; ... Hi Guys! We just had a bit of irony here in Sacramento today. Seems we have this state senator Doolittle that needed a bit of help with his campaign-raising so Quail comes out to give him a hand. Not bad enough they had to cross a picket line to get in the Hyatt Regency; (informational picket by Hotel/Resteraunt workers) but I guess one draft dodger _needs_ support from another or something. (?) All day on TV they showed perts of Doolittle's commercials: starting with VGA quality _beautiful_ shot of the flag, a drumroll, in the background were voices recalling courageous campaigns where American troops have been dispatched in defence of democracy and freedom -INCLUDING VIETNAM- and then Doolitle (mousey lookin' type) steps out from behind the flag and declares (in his best republican style) "wherever our flag needs defending I'll be there" ...and the commercial finishes up with a loud voice: "Doolittle; he's one of _us_ The newscasts then focused on the various protests: Featured up top was a WWII era gent holding a copy of Doolittle's Selective Service record showing his reality: a string of deferrements, 2-S & 4-D - student and missionary. The Sacramento Union headlining page 3 with: "DOOLITTLE DODGED DRAFT FOR MISSION - GROUP" went on to quote Doolittle: "I very much supported the war in Vietnam and would have gone if the war had still been going on when I got back," he said. "I have a very clear concience about what I did, and I will answer to anyone." And continued: "But Don Lefevre, spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, said the church did not push its young men to serve in its missionary service during the Vietnam War "to make sure we could provide individuals for the war effort. It was a cooperative thing with the government. As a result, its number of missionaries dropped by about one-half during the war. Doolittle's only television commercial to date in his congressional campaign cites the importance of defending the American flag. It shows the flag waving in the breeze and notes that "from the Fourth of July parade ... to a place called Vietnam, Americans have honored and cherished this symbol of freedom." Doolittle then says that he would fight for a constitutional amendment to protect the flag if elected to congress. "And that's a promise," he says in the commercial. sheesh! Does anyone know where we can find any candidates for office anymore that have _any_ character? Wrapping ones self in the flag when the truth is otherwise seems to be a BLATENT LIE. Y'all c'n have Danny back now if ya want him; we got little use for him out here! Frank Topping, Sacramento U.S.S. Yorktown CVS-10 (the pilot pluckers) NAM VET Newsletter Page 32 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Do You Know Where The Vietnam Veteran Memorials Are? Input by: Ray "Frenchy" Moreau NamVet's IN-TOUCH Section Editor Herndon Byte eXchange - Herndon, VA (703) 471-8010 Yo Friends!!! Frenchy here again with a world-wide request, that is, errr!!! statewide. Someone out there in the outreach has a list of all Vietnam Memorials by State, City, or County and Points-of-contact for each. If that is a fact then the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (FVVM) would sure be appreciative for that list. If the list does exist, please forward the data to this IVVEC node 1:109/316. Or, better yet, if the list is not existant, then by geez we can get the location of the Memorial location with POC's using our world-wide NAMVET Echo... geez... kinda love that logic. Thanks shipmates for your support and help. Be good to yourself and God Bless. Yours in service Ray "Frenchy" Moreau USN (Ret) but not from life.. the Wall won't let me!!! NAM VET Newsletter Page 33 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 All Roads Lead To Indochina By: Greg Kleven - Editor, Vietnam Echos PO Box 774 Concord, CA. 94522 Input by: Todd Looney NamVet's Managing Editor West Vietnam Veterans Valhalla - San Jose, CA (408) 298-2740 As the administration reaches into its bag of tricks, and pulls out the once-dethroned Richard Nixon to help sell its Indochina Policy to the American public, I'm glad that I have been able to gain access to a different source of information. I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of hearing Nixon whitewash the history of the Vietnam war with statements like, "South Vietnam today would be as prosperous as South Korea if it hadn't been for Watergate." What fools we are to back into the political arena, especially one that he played such a major role in screwing up! So if you are tired of the same old administration lines like, "it's in the best interest of our national security", or the ever popular, "God-given right to intervene", then read BULLETIN OF CONCERNED ASIAN SCHOLARS 20th Anniversary Issue on Indochina and the war. You won't have to listen to Solarz saying that "Vietnam is the stumbling block to an Indochina settlement", but you will hear Noam Chomsky say, "In 1977 when Indochina tried to send 100 buffalos to Vietnam to replenish the herds destroyed by US violence, the US threatened to cancel 'food for peace' aid while the press featured photographs of peasants in Cambodia pulling plows as proof of communist barbarity; the photographs in this case turned out to be fabrications of Thai intelligence, but authentic ones could no doubt be obtained throughout Indochina." So who is the stumbling block? How sincere was Johnson when he told the American public that the US welcomed negotiations to end the war in Vietnam. Ngo Vinh Long answers the same BCAS book that, "In January 1965, while the US was preparing the pretext for sending its troops into South Vietnam in great numbers, the Saigon regime was clever enough to see that it should respond to the NLF's call to a negotiated end to the war. General Nguyen Khanh, who was the head of the armed forces council that ruled Saigon at the time, letter confirmed that he was close to a political settlement with the NLF and an alliance with the Buddhists. When the Americans found this out, however, Khanh was removed and sent into exile in France." So much for our desire for a peaceful settlement! If you are tired of reading that the US was invited into South Vietnam, then read what Daniel Ellsberg says in the same BCAS book. He says, "In Vietnam there was a war inside the county in which one side, not the other, was entirely paid, recruited, equipped, trained and directed by foreigners. It was not a civil war. That was the real secret of the Pentagon Papers. We Americans were not just ON the wrong side, we WERE the wrong side. And the US is the wrong side again today - in Central America." There are a dozen different articles by different authors that will give you an alternative explanation about our Indochina policy. The book can be purchased from BCAS, 3239 9th Street Boulder, CO. 80304. NAM VET Newsletter Page 34 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 CONGRESS LOOKS ANEW AT TIES WITH VIETNAM by Clifford Krauss Special to The New York Times The New York Times, Tuesday, June 5, 1990 Page A11 Input by: Kathleen Kelly The New York Transfer - Staten Island, NY (718) 448-2358 WASHINGTON, June 4 -- Pushed by Vietnam War veterans, Congress is reopening a debate on normalizing economic and diplomatic relations with Hanoi. The opening salvo is a piece of legislation introduced by Representative Howard L. Berman, Democrat of California, that would remove legal restrictions on travel to Vietnam and four other nations -- Cambodia, Cuba, Libya and North Korea. Veterans groups around the country have testified in favor of the legislation and have begun to urge their members to write supporting letters to their representatives in Congress. The legislation is expected to be considered by the House Foreign Affairs Committee before the July 4 recess. "This is the first step towards Congress's getting over its trauma over Vietnam," said Representative Sam Gejdenson, Democrat of Connecticut, chair of the House Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade. "There is no reason we can't review our relationship. Veterans groups are leading the charge." Mr. Gejdenson's subcommittee, which is handling the travel legislation, is at the forefront of Congressional efforts to normalize relations. In a small gesture toward that end, the subcommittee recently removed language in PL-480 Food for Peace legislation that prohibited the sale of American food and other commodities to Vietnam. Since losing the Vietnam War 15 years ago, the United States has not pursued normal diplomatic relations with Hanoi. The Bush Administration has said it is not opposed to normalizing ties once a complete removal of Vietnamese military forces from Cambodia can be verified. The Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, then ruled by the Khmer Rouge, in 1978 and installed the Hun Sen Government. Vietnam announced the withdrawal of its troops last September, but persistent reports have indicated that elite Vietnamese combat units still back the Hun Sen Government in its war against a guerrilla insurgency consisting mainly of the Khmer Rouge. A State Department official who deals with East Asian affairs said that now would be a bad time to send friendly signals to Hanoi, given the stepped-up diplomatic activity to resolve the Cambodian conflict. "We need leverage" to make sure Vietnamese forces leave Cambodia, he said. "It would be unwise to act unilaterally to satisfy Vietnamese demands." The United States would like to see a coalition, backed by an international peacekeeping force, replace the Hun Sen Government. Currently, under the Trading With the Enemy Act, it is illegal for commercial or nonprofit tour groups to organize or advertise trips NAM VET Newsletter Page 35 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 to Vietnam. Individuals may travel legally to Vietnam on their own. But without the help of people experienced in dealing with the Vietnamese, they often have trouble arranging visas and hotels. Allied with the Bush Administration opposing the Berman bill, which is called the Free Trade in Ideas Act, are Cuban exile groups opposed to liberalizing travel to Cuba. A growing number of legislators disagree with the Administration position. Senator Mark O. Hatfield, Republican of Oregon, said that liberalizing travel and trade with Vietnam made sense "from every angle" because it would not only help moderate Hanoi's foreign and domestic policies but would also enable relatives of Americans missing in action to visit Vietnam to press their search for information. Mr. Hatfield said the Berman bill "could be a triggering action toward normalizing relationships because it does have the support of those who in previous times were against normalization, like the veterans groups." Don Mills, from Akron, Ohio, told the committee: "Twenty years ago, if I didn't go to Vietnam I was threatened with jail, and now if I want to go to Vietnam I am threatened with jail." Mr. Mills has helped organize tours of Vietnam for more than 200 veterans. The Treasury Department has warned him that he may be prosecuted unless he halts his activity. A letter sent to Mr. Mills from the Treasury Department said he could face up to 10 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $50,000. NAM VET Newsletter Page 36 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Paralyzed Veterans of America 801 Eighteenth St.. N..W., Washington, D.C. 2006 21 years ago I made a commitment to you ... ....I enlisted to serve my country. To fight for America. To safeguard everything you and I love. For 18 months I flew as a combat pilot in the central highlands of Vietnam... But, then my tour of duty came to an abrupt end. Enemy rocket fire destroyed my helicopter, crashing it out of control into the jungle. I survived! A few days later the doctors explained the realities to me. I would be paralyzed for life from the chest down. I have to admit I cried sometimes as I spent the next year in a hospital bed, wondering if I had the strength to go on. But then a group called the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) helped to turn my life around. Thanks to PVA, I received more than sympathy... they gave me the counselling, role models, assistance with V.A. red tape, and emotional support I desperately needed. PVA gave me hope when I had lost hope... help I couldn't get anywhere else. Today I have the chance to give PVA something back in return - as a member of PVA's Executive Committee. Yes, I won my biggest battle. But there are thousands more of my buddies who still need help in order to rebuild their lives. These paralyzed vets need PVA's ongoing support ... today ... every day. And PVA can't provide that help alone. They need you. Please... there are thousands of vets who made the ultimate commitment to America ... and to you. Now, these brave men and women need your commitment. Desperately. Won't you send what you can to help these men today? Sincerely yours, Jack Michaels PVA National President, 1987 - 1989 THE PARALYZED VETERANS OF AMERICA NEED YOUR SUPPORT For rehabilitation and research into a cure for paraplegia. For barrier-free access to transportation, shopping and buildings. For the ability to land a job and get an education. For a chance to lead a full life and regain their independence. A copy of the Paralyzed Veterans of America's Annual Report is available by contacting PVA, 801 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006. In New York, contact the Office of Charities Registration, Albany, New York 12231. In Maryland, contact the Office of the Secretary of State, Statehouse, Annapolis, Maryland 21401. West Virginia residents may obtain a summary of the registration and financial documents from the Secretary of State, State Capitol, Charleston, W.V. 25305. Registration with any of these governmental agencies does not imply endorsement by the state. Will You Help A Paralyzed Vet Win His Biggest Battle? Right now, brave paralyzed vets are fighting their toughest battle of all ... in hospital beds. Please, my friend, show these men you care! Jack Michaels, PVA NAM VET Newsletter Page 37 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 HISTORY PROJECT:RESISTANCE VETS Input by: Zeke Davis The NY Transfer BBS - Long Island, NY (718) 448-2358 A Matter of Conscience: Resistance WITHIN the US Military During the Vietnam War We are looking for veterans who participated in acts of resistance either individual or organized while serving in the military during the Vietnam War, for a project called "A Matter of Conscience: Resistance within the US military during the Vietnam War," a series of portraits and oral histories of resistance vets. In the recent resurgence of interest in the Vietnam war, one part of the history has been ignored: that of the widespread dissent within the military. We hope this project will fill that void and further an understanding of the Vietnam War. We are looking for veterans who took a variety of protest acts: refusing orders, desertion, working on GI newspapers, participation in organized GI anti-war groups, AWOL, sabotage, fraggings, assaults, etc. To date we have interviewed 25 veterans, whose portraits and oral histories have been widely exhibited throughout the Northeast and are currently part of a nationally touring exhibition called "A Different War: Vietnam in Art." This project has been funded in part by the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at the University of Mass./Boston, the Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, and the Cambridge Arts Council. The Addison Gallery of American Art at the Phillips Academy in Andover, MA has recently committed major funding for the completion of this project and is seeking a publisher for the project. We will be traveling the country the summer of 1990 to interview and photograph resistance vets. We need your help. Please contact us if: 1) you are a vet who resisted while on active duty and are interested in being interviewed 2) you know a vet who resisted while on active duty 3) you are a member of an organization that would be willing to help us find resistance vets by sending a leaflet to your members including a notice in your organization's newsletter or providing any other help in finding resistance vets in your area. WHO WE ARE: Bill Short was a platoon sergeant with the 1st Infantry Division who after 4 months of combat refused to fight. He is now a photographer and artist in residence at the Addison Gallery, and teaches at Bradford College in Massachusetts. Willa Seidenberg is a free lance journalist. Contact Bill Short at 69 Rindge Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140 (call collect) (617) 868-4132. NAM VET Newsletter Page 38 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= R e m e m b e r T h e m ! ! ! ================================================================= Incarcerated Vets - Winning and Losing By: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 Here's a quick update on what all I've been doing on the incarcerated beat of late. No new names or addresses have come my way, other than some women's or co-ed prisons that I've written to looking for lady incarcerated Vietnam vets. I have sent off copies of the MIA/POW stamp petition to all the prisons I correspond with. All report they have more than the thirty signatures needed and have sent the petitions to the Postmaster General. I really hope this campaign gets off the ground and gets this stamp issued. I took the liberty of copying Ray Moreau's "IN TOUCH Registration" form and sent it along too. All were delighted this service is now available. From James River CCR (VA) "Thank you for the forms, believe me, we surely can use them and will." James River will again be enjoying the Namvet Newsletter. Ken has set it up so that with a keystroke or two they can either read it on-line or print it out. The readers have asked me to tell you all "Keep up the good work. We really enjoy reading the newsletter." Through looking for addresses, I was able to put Whitmarsh Bailey (CO) in contact with N.I.V.N. (National Incarcerated Veterans Network). It looks as though the 'Nam vets there are finally going to get the help they need and deserve. On the other hand, Gardner, MA, because of budget cuts in their VA, is losing its PTSD group. I hope funding becomes available soon for them. I'm pleased that Brenda and Todd are going to be helping me with contacting more prisons. With their Valhalla letterhead, they may get a faster response than I've been getting lately. Welcome aboard to you both !! That's it for this month. Hope to have more for you soon. As always, if you have an address or an idea that may help me (us) on our quest, I can be contacted at 1:305/105 (FidoNet) or 1825 Evelyn Las Cruces NM 88001 (BTW: if you want copies of the petition for the MIA/POW stamp, let me know at either address or leave a note in the Vietnam_Vets Echo). NAM VET Newsletter Page 39 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX \ \ \ \ \XXXX XXXXX XXXXX.::::::::::::::.XXXXX INCARCERATED XXXX XXXXX XXXXX --------- XXXXX \ \ \ \ \ \ \XXXX XXXXX .XXXXX W W I I XXXXX. VETERANS \ \XXXX XXXXX ::XXXXX --------- XXXXX::. \ \ \ \ XXXX XXXXX :::XXXXX ------------- XXXXX:::. 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XXXX XXXXX.::' :: XXXXX: PREPARED TO XXXXX .'' ''.. XXXX XXXXX::' :: XXXXX`: FIGHT XXXXX.' '.XXXX XXXXX' :: XXXXX ``. XXXXX XXXX XXXXX '' XXXXX PREPARED TO XXXXX XXXX XXXXX :: XXXXX DIE ...'XXXXX XXXX XXXXX :: XXXXX `...' XXXXX XXXX XXXXX `..' XXXXX .' XXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX /\ .' .' XXXX XXXXX /\ \ . . XXXX XXXXX / \ \...' `. .' XXXX XXXXX / NOT PREPARED TO BE DESERTED XXXX XXXXX / .'.' . .`.' XXXX XXXXX / ~ | : : : . XXXX XXXXX / |`. : : . .__________ XXXX XXXXX / ~ ~ ||.` ` : || \ / XXXX XXXXX / WRITE OR VISIT AN INCARCERATED VETERAN SOON ! XXXX XXXXX / ~ || . .'. / / XXXX XXXXX/ ~ ~ ~|| ||/ / XXXX XXXXX ~ ~ ~ || || / XXXX XXXXX || || / XXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX \_________XXXXX________|| XgjpX XXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXX NAM VET Newsletter Page 40 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Missing Memorial??? Input By: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 Copied by oral permission from the author, Dottie L. Cruz "Dear Editor, The Vietnam War may be over as far as a national military action is concerned, but it is very much alive in the hearts and minds of thousands of men who have been unable to escape the horrors of their experience. The MIA/POW issue is a worthy and just one, but I am writing out of concern for the veterans who are missing and in prison right here in our own country. "THE WALL" is a remembrance and tribute for the 58,473 who lost their lives in combat fighting on foreign soil, but I have not seen a memorial for the 98,500 who are missing from suicide and/or accident on their own soil. There is no memorial for those who are daily struggling through the abuse of alcohol and drugs as a means of staying alive, of coping, with the horrors yet so vivid in their minds. And who remembers, or cares, about the "Forgotten warrior" who's inability to deal with the experience has sent him to prison? Of the 3.5 million who were ordered to SouthEast Asia, approximately 500,000 have been in trouble with the law, in prison, or on parole. THINK OF THAT!! Nearly 1/7 of these young men were so affected, so marred, so troubled, that it contributed to their incarceration all across the country. Some have been in prison as long as 20 years, since shortly after their return from Vietnam. Not only has it been a devastating waste to them as individuals and their families, but to the nation as well. Instead of these men helping to build the national economy by productive service, they are a drain on the taxpayers of each state. Yet, this class of prisoner has above average skills. Many have learned skills or earned their college degrees while in prison. As a nation, we sent these young men, of approximately 19 years of age, into the very "pit of Hell", to experience horrors that even Hollywood wouldn't film. They were trained to kill, and kill they did. And when they couldn't cope with the killing, they turned to alcohol and drugs to numb themselves so they could keep on killing... and hopefully survive long enough to get home. For many of them, when their tour of duty was over, those that survived were sent home, and in less than 36 hours, went from the jungle warfare of Vietnam to the jungle of protesting America. Can you imagine the shock, the hurt, the anger, the rage, the frustration these men must have felt? They fought in a foreign land that didn't want them only to return to their own "homeland" that didn't want them either. In most cases, the government offered no "debriefing", no opportunity for gradual readmission into society, and it has offered little understanding, or benefits since. They have felt strongly rejected and demoralized by the very country they fought for, took pride in, sacrificed their very lives for, and loved. Yes, thankfully, many have coped, survived, and gone on to live balanced, healthy and productive lives, but WHAT ABOUT THE THOUSANDS WHO HAVE NOT? What about those who couldn't find jobs, and are now living on the streets, homeless? What about those who couldn't cope without alcohol and drugs, and are still using it to survive? What about the ones who couldn't readjust, couldn't get NAM VET Newsletter Page 41 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 the help they needed and requested, and are in our prisons? The Justice System has been everything but just and merciful when it comes to sentencing these veterans who have committed crimes. There is reason to believe that many have received harsher sentencing than their non-veteran counterparts. There appears to be a special need among these Vietnam veterans, and that is for "comradeship". They know they need help, but their pain is such that they will only respond to those of "like kind", other veterans who have been there, who have experienced the same horrors that they experienced. Maybe that is why the VA Hospitals have been so ineffective, while the Vet Centers have been more effective. The same is true for the "incarcerated veteran", but many are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to establish veteran organizations behind the walls of prisons. The prison administrations are fearful their motives are to start "gangs", but they are ill-informed! Vietnam Veterans of America "(VVA) has incarcerated Chapters all over the country and approximately 120 incarcerated veterans organizations make up the "National Incarcerated Veterans Network". Incarcerated chapters of other organizations are also found in many prisons. For the most part, these organizations are led by highly intelligent men, many of them educated, who understand the effects of P.T.S.D., Agent Orange, flashbacks, nightmares, etc. They are trying to get treatment for all incarcerated veterans who need it, so they will be well-adjusted when they reenter society. These veterans groups are "self-help ", but they do need a helping hand. Initially, I would like to see "veterans groups" allowed in all prisons across the country. There are successful veteran groups in some prisons, many which are operating with very little funding or outside help. To those of you who belong to veterans organizations, why not help your incarcerated brothers by co- sponsoring an "in prison" chapter or help them begin their own. They need your assistance and expertise. They need your friendship and involvement. These groups provide self-help treatment and they are rehabilitative. Ideally, I would like to see our judicial system, our Federal government and our American citizens take some ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY for these incarcerated veterans. While they are responsible for their own actions, I strongly believe that many were so effected by their experience that it is "criminal" of us, AS A NATION, not to come to their aid in their time of need. These men and women need to be IDENTIFIED, EVALUATED, TREATED, and GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY FOR RELEASE!! They were there when America called, and they would be there again!! They fought, and bled, and some died. Can we ignore the cries of those who survived Vietnam, but have not survived their experiences, those living behind "THE WALL of Incarceration". Sincerely Concerned, Dottie L. Cruz NAM VET Newsletter Page 42 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 American Veterans In Prison - What is it? Input By: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 The following was sent to me by incarcerated Namvet George Herbert, past Economics Director at Gardner prison (current director is Ron Gohn). I have further proof of this organization's legitimacy in the form of copies of certificates from Michael Dukakis (21-May-86), the Massachusetts State Senate (3-Dec-88), and other newspaper articles. "Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter #294 American Veterans in Prison P.O. BOX 466 Gardner,Massachusetts 01440 Information Packet This packet is intended to give a brief background of the history and activities of VVA/AVIP chapter #294. American Veterans in Prison (AVIP) was founded at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Walpole in 1978 by several concerned incarcerated Vietnam Veterans. It expanded to NCCI-Gardner in 1984 and has since been established in correctional facilities throughout the Commonwealth and the rest of the United States. Membership in AVIP is approximately eight- hundred in the Massachusetts prison system alone. Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) was founded in 1981. It is the only Congressionally-chartered Vietnam veterans organization in the United States. Its membership is twenty thousand strong. In 1987, AVIP here at Gardner came together with the VVA to form VVA/AVIP chapter #294. We thus joined over two hundred local chartered chapters of the VVA - including twenty-two other incarcerated chapters - throughout America. VVA/AVIP #294 is a very active organization in dealing with all Veterans issues, especially those issues dealing with incarcerated veterans. It has been estimated that up to as many as fifteen percent (15%) of Vietnam veterans have been incarcerated or remain incarcerated throughout America. This number indicates a clear need to bring the subject of the incarcerated veteran to the attention of the veteran community, as well as to the attention of the general public. VVA/AVIP #294 is a leader in this area. Chapter President John Scuderi is a Vice-Chairman of the VVA Massachusetts State Council. Chapter Vice-President Charles Dixon has been nominated to the VVA's National Incarcerated Veterans Committee. Chapter Committee Chairman James Mickel is the State Chairman of the POW/MIA Committee. VVA/AVIP Chapter #294 strongly supports the stated purposes of the Vietnam Veterans of America which includes: to help foster, encourage, and promote the condition of the Vietnam Veteran; to eliminate discrimination suffered by the veterans and to develop channels of communication which will assist Vietnam veterans to maximize their lives and to enhance life-fulfillment; to assist disabled and needy war veterans including , but not limited to , Vietnam veterans and their dependents and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans; and most especially to promote any physical and cultural improvement, growth and development, self-respect, NAM VET Newsletter Page 43 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 self-confidence and usefulness of Vietnam-era veterans and others. Reflections of our commitment to these purposes are the various programs and projects initiated, established, and/or supported by VVA/AVIP chapter #294 here at Gardner. In addition to providing information and avenues concerning military discharge upgrading, Agent Orange and PTSD awareness, legislation and compensation, VA regulations and benefits, POW/MIA updates, and post-release assistance, VVA/AVIP #294 has been and continues to be involved in such diverse areas as: a stress support and management group, an inmate softball team, an inmate drama group ensemble, an absentee ballot voter drive, a fund drive for the Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation, and the centerpiece of our organization, our Toys For Tots Program. Founded by incarcerated veteran Robert Lee in 1984,with the help of J.D. Enterprises, Inc. who has loaned all machines and tools in our shop, Toys For Tots is a year-round project where inmates design and construct wooden toys and dollhouses to be donated to needy, underprivileged or ill children across the state, the country and even around the world. Toys have been donated to an orphanage in Beirut, Lebanon, an orphanage in San Salvador, El Salvador, pediatric wards in various hospitals including Boston City Hospital, Saint Vincents Hospital, and Tufts Medical Center, The Italian Home for Children, the Berkshire County Child Care Program, the North Hampton PTSD Unit, the HEAD START program of Massachusetts, and the Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation. These toys include wooden dollhouses, cars, trucks, jet planes, biplanes, tractor trailers, jeeps, tanks, bulldozers, doll cradles, doll beds, doll swings, doll highchairs, animals, numbered puzzles, and special motor-drive/hand and eye coordination toys. Most of the money needed to purchase wood, replace materials, and repair machinery comes from monthly donations by our membership. This is supplemented by donations of materials and equipment by a few generous sponsors. They take advantage of our tax-exempt status and we all are rewarded by the smiles and the joy on the faces of the children who receive our toys. That is a currency that transcends any and all cultural or language barriers. The following are several articles that have appeared over the past few years in various newspapers regarding some of our donations and activities. Also included are some remarks by Kathleen Mulligan, who established the Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation For Chronically Ill Children. (Statement by Kathleen Mulligan on August 1, 1988 accepting toys donated by MCI-Gardner inmates to the Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation): "First and foremost, I want to simply and sincerely acknowledge this generous gesture by inmates in the veterans and lifers groups here at Gardner. These toys and this doll house will immediately be put into the hands of severely disabled children, bringing some joy into lives that have already known enough pain to last a lifetime. These toys and this dollhouse took sustained energy and effort to design and build. They stand as a silent, but nonetheless eloquent, statement that inmates - men like John Kelleher and John Scuderi - are capable of constructive acts based on feelings of empathy. And this is not the first time that has happened. A little more than two months ago, I was here to accept a check for more than a NAM VET Newsletter Page 44 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 thousand dollars that these same inmate groups had raised for the foundation. As severely disabled children are capable, with our help, of surviving and reaching their full potential, I would be remiss on this special occasion if I did not equally affirm that inmates - through efforts such as these - are also capable of traveling along their rough and sometimes rocky road to rehabilitation and constructive lives in our communities. On behalf of the children - some voiceless and all so terribly vulnerable - it is with enormous gratitude that I accept these gifts of your hands and heart. Thank you," (From the "Boston Globe" May 20,1988) "Party set to aid head-injury victim" The Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation of Methuen will host a party in Lawerence Sunday for head-injury victim, Philip Baldwin, 22 who is scheduled to go to a residential rehabilitation program in Dearing NH, Monday under an arrangement with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The foundation, which has helped 16 families with disabled children since it was founded last October, will receive a Veteran's Day donation of approximately $1,000 from several inmate groups at Gardner State Prison. Writing for the Gardner Lifer's group and two veterans organizations, John M. Kelleher said, "We hope to show that even though we are incarcerated, we do care about other people and the social issues and problems they face." (And May 29,1988 (Source unknown)) "METHUEN - Inmates at Gardner State Prison raised $1,052 for a Methuen foundation that helps families with ill children. The inmates are members of Vietnam Veterans of America-American Veterans in Prison. They presented a check to Kathleen Mulligan at a Memorial Day program May 25. Mrs. Mulligan is president of the Kaileigh Mulligan Foundation, named in honor of her 2-year-old daughter, who has Down's Syndrome and major heart and stomach defects. The prisoners also presented Mrs. Mulligan with a dollhouse, made through their Toys for Tots program. "Your thoughtful action in raising funds for the foundation is a clear statement that people in prison are capable of reaching out from their confinements to free families and children from their own cruel constraints," Mrs. Mulligan told the group." NAM VET Newsletter Page 45 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= T h e N a m V e t C h a p l a i n ' s C o r n e r ================================================================= Strong Tools for a Quiet Battle! by: Rev. Ed Brant NamVet's Protestant Chaplain The Landing Zone - Fall Creek, OR (503) 747-9809 Last month we talked Loudly about how to find Peace, and said that when we find peace, then we will find War, A spiritual war that is the counterpart of the war we fought in Vietnam! I said that we were engaged in a battle, that the enemy had weapons, but that we had weapons, too. That is our subject today, i.e. weapons of warfare. When we learn to use our weapons, we'll be better able to deal with the Anger, the Fear, the Depression, the Marital difficulties in our lives. So let's get on with our study. Here's the scripture we're using this week, in case you don't have a Bible handy. Ref: Eph 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 1. Weapons of warfare. A. What we used. M-14, M-16, 100-500 Yards M-45, 20-50 Yards Mortars, about 1600 Yards Puff, Snoopy; Suppression Support - FIREPOWER! Flares for night vision. F14s, Long Range Heavy Ordinance Arty: 105's 155's, 8 inch and more ... B. What God uses. Offensive 1. Prayer a. Compare M-14, M-16. Line of sight. Used instantly upon sighting the enemy, and to return fire. Can be silent, or out loud. Specific target. b. Compare M-45. Short Range. Maybe last ditch effort. When the Sgt. got his 45 out, they were close enough to see eye-to-eye. Overrun time. Surrounded by the NAM VET Newsletter Page 46 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 enemy at close range. Specific target. c. Compare to mortars. Lobbing in explosive ordinance to soften the enemy position. Maybe prior to an all out effort to take a hill, or a stronghold. Generally used to soften Satans stronghold in a certain area, such as skid row, the bar district, or the Nam Vet gathering where talk is going on in the effort of finding relief... d. Compare to snoopy/puff. The whole Church praying for the same thing, at the same time. (My point man group praying for the salvation of a brother - took 6 weeks) Praying for Light in the Spiritual darkness of the world, and in specific situations. e. Compare to F14's. Long Range heavy prayer support. We refer to them as prayer warriors. People who are constantly before God's throne in our behalf. f. Compare to artillery. The long-range prayer cover for softening the enemy position prior to an evangelistic thrust. A thought: Chuck Swindoll (Nam Vet) in his book "HAND ME ANOTHER BRICK" used a quote from the day of the revolutionary soldiers. They said `Trust in the Lord, but keep your powder dry'. I like the saying, because it reminds me that God has His part to do, and that I have my part to do. I can put `feet' to my prayers. I can go do something, i.e. be a friend to the one who needs a friend, talk to and LISTEN to the one who is hurting, do a good deed for the family that desperately needs your helping hand, but is too proud to ask for help (Nam Vet), etc. 2. Word a. Instruction manual to learn the use of each piece of equipment we used. The school we attended prior to outposting for the Nam. b. Memorizing the Word of God makes it possible for the Holy Spirit to use that same word in critical offensive situations in which we find ourselves involved. Reading the Instruction Manual gives us the insight to function under all aspects of daily life in the war zone. Attending and actively participating in a Bible teaching Church gives us the nourishment (C- Rats) to function during our time out from the base camp. 2. Armor. Defensive Command. Put on.. Why? In order to be strong *in the Lord*. Not in myself, but IN THE LORD. ITEMS OF ARMOR A. Belt of truth. Web Belt. The shoulder harness that attached to the cartridge belt (carried canteens, ammo pouches, first NAM VET Newsletter Page 47 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 aid kit, etc. It held everything together.) Just like that, the Word of God is true. It holds all the rest of our gear together. When you put on this belt, you are preparing to go on extended patrol. You are committed to proceed. Lastly, remember that Jesus called Satan the father of lies. As such, he, Satan, works by deception while God works by His Truth. PUT ON THE BELT OF TRUTH. B. Breastplate of Righteousness. We wore a Flak Jacket. It covered our chest (heart, lungs, stomach) and back when it was closed. It was practical to wear the flak Jacket in offensive situations. God's Breastplate does much the same. It is the practical righteousness of our lives (Our lifestyle). It protects us from failing to survive the onslaught of the enemy in our path, by helping us to understand and to live what is right and correct behaviour in every step of our daily lives. PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. C. Shoes prepared for the Gospel of Peace. We wore combat boots which had metal linings in the soles and a kind of covering to let water drain out and help our feet to breathe. I like to say that we have a God of Peace. We should be a people of peace. At least as far as our comfort level, internally. This peace would relieve many of us of our nightmares, flashbacks, etc. These shoes are prepared by studying, reading, memorizing the Word of God. As we wear the shoes, we spread peace wherever we go. PUT ON THE SHOES PREPARED FOR PEACE. D. Shield of Faith. At some of the places I was (An Hoh, LZ Baldy, Hill 55, Hill 65, all in I Corps area) we had a berm thrown up. Sometimes it was of dirt, sometimes sandbags. We built bunkers. Outside this we usually put down some tanglefoot, and some claymores. Then we dug two man holes and posted a guard. (I was radio relay, attached to various Arty outfits (11th Marines)) The shield of Faith might relate to these protective measures. Enemy rounds hit the dirt, the sandbags, the bunkers. That stopped the rounds from hitting us, who were inside the compound. In the same way the Shield of Faith, it says, puts out the fiery darts of the enemy. His fiery darts are such things as Lust, Envy, Jealousy, Strife, Hate, Fear, Lying, Stealing, Nightmares, Flashbacks, Anger, Depression, etc... When we carry the Shield of Faith with us, (We are GIVEN a measure of faith when we are initially saved) we can use it to put out the temptations that come our way. When we learn to use this Shield of Faith, we will find more internal peace, and by implication, relief from the constant harassment of temptations in our weak areas. PICK UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH. E. Helmet of Salvation. I had a steel pot. It is my understanding that the Army had something else? Regardless, its purpose was to protect our heads. (No, not to cook in) God's Helmet of Salvation is eternal in nature. The Greek indicates that we put it on, never to take it off. Now just a thought. I was already in the service when I was issued the steel pot we called a helmet. So a Christian fighting in the NAM VET Newsletter Page 48 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Lord's Army (God is my C.O. My Pastor is the first Sergeant, so to speak.) is told to "put on the helmet of salvation". Why? Because I GROW, not in initial salvation, but in the aspect of `being saved from my sinful lifestyle'. An ongoing thing. There's a word for this: Sanctification. Ask your local clergy about this word. Get an understanding of it to begin some growth in maturity in the Christian walk. PUT ON THE HELMET OF SALVATION. F. Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. I had a bayonet, but never used it. We were trained in its use, on the M-14's, then in Nam we were given Mattel toys - Oops! I mean M-16's. Oh well! The sword, it says, is the Word of God. God gave us His Word and you'll find it in the Bible. No place else. As we read it, study it, listen to a good expositor type of preacher in a Bible-believing church, and memorize it, we'll find just the right word to use in every situation that comes our way. It's the Sword, God's Word, that convicts of sin, NOT our words. The weapon is His Word! This sword is what you must use to set your brother vet free of the prison s/he is in. (mental and spiritual) PICK UP THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 3. How\when to wear armor. I put my armor on each and every morning. This act is almost the first thing I do each day. Depending on how I feel, I physically go through the motions, or I just say "I put on the Belt of Truth, etc.." And then I thank God for His providing the weapons and the armor for my use. All this helps me to remember as I go through the day, that I must live what I preach. It helps me to remember that it is an all-out battle that I am involved in, that it's a struggle to the death. (reference our scripture: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,..." Wrestle is a word used in the Greco-Roman games, and is a stranglehold that leads to the death of the opponent. 4. How to use weapons. A. In daily life and in battle: Use the weapons of Prayer and God's Word at every turn during your daily life. Keep them at the ready. If you get caught without them, you will find yourself easy prey for the enemy. Remember that the enemy is *Powerful* and that we are not, but that Christ in us, and in whom we are, is more POWERFUL, and has already won the battle. We just need to learn this and rest in its fact. The enemy doesn't believe this and so keeps after us mortals. KEEP YOUR WEAPONS AT THE READY, and DON"T HESITATE TO USE THEM! Use them instantly, and proficiently with professionalism. Till next month, fellow Vets, Keep in the Battle! Rev Ed NAM VET Newsletter Page 49 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 I I IIIII I I 88888 ITTTI o88888888 I I o888888888888o 8888 I I 888888888888888888888888 I I 88888888888888888 8888 888 xI Ix 8888888888888888 88888888 T III T 88888888888888 888888 88 I III I 8888888888888888 88888888 xI III Ix 888 888 88888888888' T I I T 88888888 I I I I 8888 xI IIIII Ix TI IT II II II II The Chaplain's Place IT | TI II --|-- II XIII | IIIX oooo o II I I II o88 888) (888) II I IIII I II o88 88888888 8888) XII I II II I IIX (88 8 88 888888) XIII III III IIIX (8 8 8 88 88 88 8 888) XIIII I I IIIIX (88 8 8 8 88888888) II II I xIIIIIx I II II ( 8 88 888 88888) II I T T T I II (8888 88 8 8 8888888) II I I I I I II (8 88888 888 88 88) II I I I I I II (8888)888 88888) II I I II II I II (8) (I8I8I) 8 oo8888888o II I I I I I II IIIII X 8888888 888BII I I I I I IIXX III X XX 88 88 88 BII I TIIIIIT I IIXXX III XXXXX 888888 88BII I .... I IIXXXXXX III XXgXXX 888 888888888XXXXXII ... IIXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXjXX II .. IIXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXpX The Vietnam Veteran XII IIXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX has relatives in the III IIIXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX Old and New Testaments III IIIXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX who also experienced loss II IIXXXXXXXXX XXX and grief, guilt and shame, II IIXXXXXXXXX XX rejection and betrayal, I IXXXXXXXXX alienation and estrangement, I IXXXX XX isolation and withdrawal. II IIXXXX II IIX Adam and Eve tried to hide from God; II II Moses, born Hebrew and raised Egyptian IIII IIII searched long and hard for his real self; II II Job, losing his children and all he owned, II II became sorely diseased; IIII III Biblical Joseph was rejected by his brothers, II II lied about and imprisoned; I Peter denied Jesus. II I "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" Matthew 28:20 NAM VET Newsletter Page 50 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= * - R e u n i o n s - * ================================================================= R E U N I O N U P D A T E By: Glen Kepler NamVet's Reunion Section Editor Input By: Terrell Domek [USA] CO-SYSOP THE US VETERANS BBS Robbinsdale, MN (612) 522-2026/522-0166/522-8700 ----> ARMY <---- (Whew!!! The list of Army reunions is MASSIVE!!! I've tried about a zillion ways to list 'em all and just could NOT get 'em in. The entire list is file-requestable at VETLink #1 as JUNE-REU.ZIP) 2ND DIV (WWII & KOREA) 174TH INF, 44TH DIV, CO. E July 18-22 1990, Sep 1990 2nd Division Assoc., William Hubbard POB 460, Buda, TX 78610 331 E. Elmwood Ave. Falconer, NY 14733 4TH ENG SP BDE, 289TH SIG CO (716)665-4955 July 1990 John Stoneburg 178TH ENGR COMBAT BN 1900 Lanewood Ln, Aug 1990 Plymouth, MN 55447 Pierce Butler 3726 Richland Ave. NATIONAL 4TH INF DIV ASSN Nashville, TN 37205 July 16-22 1990, (615)292-5878 Bobby Franks 7860 Belford Dr 205TH CA AA, BTRY F Colorado Springs, CO 80920 July 1990 Edward Young G-3-11/A, 3RD, 155 HOW BN Box 1063, Elma, WA 98541 (1941-45) (206)482-4738 July 25-28 1990, Sam Plott 216TH GENERAL HOSPITAL 9912 Marguerita Ave, Sep 1990 Glenn Dale, MD 20769 Alfred Sudsbury Box 186, 12TH FA OBSN BN Milbridge, ME 04658 July 1990 (207)546-7470 Joseph Banasiak 6547 Nebraska Ave, 219TH AAA GUN BN, BTRY B Hammond, IN 46323 Sep 1990 John Trainor, XIII CORPS ASSN (ALL RANKS) Rt 1, Box 140 July 26-29 1990 Turtle Lake, WI 54889 R John Bitting (715)986-4547 10104 Quinby St Silver Springs, MD 20901 224TH AIRBORNE MED CO, 117TH A/B DIV 13TH ABN DIV ASSN Aug 1990 July 4-8 1990, Edmund Wientczak Bob Sommers 9313 David Rd 8803 Patricia Court Garfield Hts., OH 44125 NAM VET Newsletter Page 51 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 College Park, MD 20740 (216)341-0695 28TH DIV, 112TH INF, CO A 232RD SIGNAL OPER. CO. July 27-28 1990, Oct 1990 Frank Delury DeWayne Lamansky RFD 2, Box 340 610 W. Elm Corry, PA 16407 Solon, IA 52333 (319)644-2380 39TH AAA GRP, HQ BTRY July 13-15 1990, 233RD GENERAL HOSPITAL Lloyd Hutson Oct 1990 Box 136 Tom Kocher Easton, MO 64443 1424 W. Marshall St. Norristown, PA 19403 40TH DIV. AVN CO (215)539-3533 (KOREA 52-54) 1990 233RD S/L BN, C BTRY. Hans Becker Sep 1990 POB 1410 Norman Latter Golden, CO 80402 43455 Osage Rd. Hemet, CA 92343 45H DIV, MP CO (714)652-8808 (KOREA 1950-52) July 27-29 1990, 246TH SIGNAL OPER. CO. Leo Williams Aug 1990 Rt 5, Box 4 Johhnie Huggins Atoka, OK 74525 30031 SW 169th Ave. Homestead, FL 33030 50TH COMBAT ENGRS, CO A (305)247-0150 July 20-21 1990 Darwin Kenner 252ND COMBAT ENGRS. BN. Rt 1 Aug 1990 Devils Lake ND 58301 Jerry Fatica 7383 Cedar Rd. 56TH * 283RD CA Chesterland, OH 44026 (FT CRONKHITE CA, 1941) (216)729-4601 July 19-22 1990 Aldor Hanson 272ND F.A. BN. 1423 So. 4th St Sep 1990 LaCrosse, WI 54601 Ralph Browne Box 19 64TH ARMOR RGT/64TH TANK BN Boston, MA 02119 /758TH TANK BN (617)436-4639 July 19-22, 1990 Clarence Kimbrough 279TH INF, 45TH DIV, 4801 Simpson Dr 1ST BN, HQ CO. Louisville, KY 40218 July 1990 Rodney Rossdeutscher 96TH INF DIV ASSN (WWII) 5088 Shore Acres Rd. July 1990 Monona, WI 53716 William Broschk (608)222-8322 17810 So Station Rd Columbia Station, OH 44028 282ND COMBAT ENGRS, CO. B July 1990 96TH QM BKRY Norman Morella July 21-22 1990, 1355 Queen Anne's Gate Carroll Jacobson Westlake, OH 44145 1101 Grace Ave. SW (216)835-1826 Willmar, MN 56201 NAM VET Newsletter Page 52 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 303RD INF RGT., F CO. 97TH DIV, 365TH FA BN Sep 1990 July 1990 Roy Sommerfeld Vincent Marceno 1214 Douglas, Wayne, NE 68787 92 Goosebeery Rd W Springfield, MA 01089 303RD INF, 97TH DIV, ANTI-TANK CO. 100TH HI-WAY TRANS SVC Sep 1990 (PHILLIPINES) Fred Kempski July 1990, 152 W. 13th St. Larry Eckard Deer Park, NY 11729 POB 5145 (516)667-2952 Hickory, NC 28603 317TH BARRAGE BALLOON BN. 101ST CA AA BN (WWII) Oct 1990 July 1990 Ben Gainer Lee Johnson 543 Union School Rd. 1444 Baracoa Ave Mount Joy, PA 17552 Coral Gables, FL 33146 (717)653-5551 101ST ABN DIV, 2/501 INF BN 328TH COMMUN. RECON. CO July 5-8 1990, July 1990 Al Werth John Arndt 603 E. Church Rt. 1, Box 1514 Reed City, MI 49677 Danielsville, GA 30633 (404)795-2350 101ST ABN DIV July 5-8 1990 336TH EMGR COMBAT BN (ETO) Ivan Worrell Sep 1990 101 E. Morris St. George Woodbridge Sweetwater, TN 37874 107 Conrad NE Grand Rapids, MI 49505 120TH STA. HOSP. (ETO, WWII) (616)361-7153 July 26-28 1990 Charles Schenz 339TH INF, 85TH DIV, HQ 3450 Behymer Rd Sep 1990 Cincinnati, OH 45245 Frank Kertesz 865 Salisbury Rd. 125TH AAA BN Columbus, OH 43204 July 1990 (614)276-0935 Clarence Vollmer 940 Plum Ridge 340TH ENR RGT Columbus, OH 43213 Sep 1990 Dino Parisi 143RD AAA GUN BN (WWII) 229 S. Yorkshire Blvd. July 1990 Youngstown, OH 44515 Harry Lane (216)799-4574 7291 Alspach Rd Lancaster, OH 43130 345TH RGT, 87TH DIV, D CO. Aug 1990 164TH INF, CO F(WWII & KOREA) Richard Lease July 14-15 1990 Box 26, John Paulson Crawfordsville, IA 52621 80-2 Ave. N. (319)658-2252 Carrington, ND 58421 397TH RGT. 100TH DIV, 202ND ENGR C BN, CO C (WWII) SERVICE CO. July 1990 Oct 1990 Clark Spangler Logan Dutton NAM VET Newsletter Page 53 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 1453 Bonbar Rd. 222 Glenview York, PA 17403 Dover, OH 44622 (216)364-2267 205TH BA AA, BRTY F July 1990 398TH AAA BN Edward Young Sep 1990 POB 1-63 Lawarence Lockard Elma, WA 98541 Rt. 7, Warrensburg, MO 64093 215TH CA AA (816)747-8549 July 1990 Louis Kahle 407TH COMBAT ENGRS 327 N. State Sep 1990 New Ulm, MN 56073 Donald Small 2645 Western Hills Dr. 282ND COMBAT ENGR, CO B Nashville, TN 37214 (WWII) (615)883-3776 July 6-8 1990 Norman Morella 410TH INF, 103RD DIV, CO. C 1355 Queen Anne's Gate Aug 1990 Wests Lake, OH 44145 Andrew Setliffe 6700 Granada Dr. 282ND COMBAT ENGRS, CO C Little Rock, AR 72205 July 1990 (501)663-2785 Bob Rains Rt 1, Box 33 411TH INF, 103RD DIC, CO. A Birmingham, IA 52535 Aug 1990 Bob Hopper 294TH AAA SIT BN, BRTY B 1546 Washburn Ave. July 1990 Beloit, WI 53511 David Dulinski (608)365-6060 1008 Davis St Manistee, MI 49660 426TH MED. BN., HQ 564/565/566TH AMB. COS. 314TH INF ASSN Sep 1990 & 79TH RECON TRP Waldo Erickson July 27-29 1990 510 N. Jefferson Ave. George Grisafi Springfield, MN 56087 3161 Lake Pine Way So Apt G-1 (507)723-5984 Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 436TH AA AW BN (WII) 328TH COMM RECON CO Sep 1990 July 1990 Lewis Young John Arndt 6315 S. Boston Rt 1, Box 1514 Ft. Smith, AR 72903 Danielsville, GA 30633 (501)484-7607 345TH AIR MATERIAL SQDN 442ND MEDICAL COLL. CO (WWII) July 1990 Oct 1990 Ray LaPlant Earl Pelham 1330 Lawe St 10401 Snug Harbor Rd #98 Green Bay, WI 54301 St Petersburg, FL 33702 (813)577-6238 433RD TC GP, 69TH SQDN, 5 AC July 1990 455TH AAA AW BN Barry Swanson Aug 1990 7270 Ladyfish Dr Richard Hollister St. James City, FL 33956 3844 Faxon Ave. Memphis, TN 38122 NAM VET Newsletter Page 54 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 466TH AAA BN (901)323-5859 July 14, 1990 Norman Gates 457TH AMPH. TRUCK CO. 118 Manning Blvd Sep 1990 Albany, NY 12203 John Passanante 11890 E. Canal Dr. 483RD AAA AW BN Aurora, CO 80011 July 13-14 1990 (303)344-8406 William Haygood Rt 11, Box 474 461ST AAA, BTRY B Florence, AL 35630 Sep 1990 Bernard Uhler 486TH ORD EVAC CO 157 Victory Ln. July 1990 Nazareth, PA 18064 Robert Ruane (215)759-3508 405 Willow Ave Ithaca, NY 14850 466TH AAA BN (ne CHAPTER) July 1990 503RD PRCHT RGT Norman Gates COMBAT TEAM ASSN 118 Manning Blvd July 5-8 1990 Albany, NY 12203 Gerald Hasbargen (518)438-5041 1165 81st St. So. St Petersburg, FL 33707 ----> USMC <---- MARINE CORPS ENGRS CAC/CAP VIETNAM VETS of July 18-22 1990 HOTEL 5,6,7 C.L. Guthrie Summer 1990 100 Textile Rd. Jim Duguid Spartanburg, SC 29301 P.O. Box 7090 (803)574-4903 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 M.A.G. WOMENS MARINE ASSOC 15 Aug 1990 July 3-7 1990 Ted Krzywda Virginia Allred 30 Brier Springs Dr. 1008 Scenic View Dr. Conway, Ark. 72032 College Place, WA 99324 (501)329-3094 (509)529-9054 3RD BTN, 10TH MARINES 12TH DEFENSE BTN Aug 2-4 1990 July 5-8 1990 Don Chappell Phil Sorkis Short Cut Rd. 350 Coffman Ln. Bloomington, WI 53804 Olathe, CO 81425 (608)794-2169 (303)323-6271 3RD & 4TH DEFENSE BTNS. 6TH MARINE DIV ASSOC. Aug 26-29 1990 Aug 26-Sep 1 1990 Joseph Walsh Ray Schlinder Box 99-2453, 19098 Robledoway 8292 Rat River Ln. Redding, CA 96099 Fremont, WI 54940 2ND MARINE DIV. 2ND MARINE, CO F Sep 1990 Aug 31-Sep 3 1990 Dave Dowdakin Larry Pressley 3933 SE Oak St. 1510 Ridgewood Ave. Portland, OR 97214 Omaha, NE 68124 (503)234-4242 NAM VET Newsletter Page 55 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 4TH MAR AMPHIB TRACTOR BTN 2ND PTLN., E-2-5, Aug 1990 1ST MARINE DIV John Benedict Sep 1990 26741 N. Shore Dr. William Jacocks Beloit, OH 44609 427 Markham Dr. Slidell, LA 70458 BTRY F, 2ND BTN, 11TH MAR REGT 1ST MAR DIV MARINE SCOUT BOMBING SQDN Aug 1990 (VMSB-331) Paul Scalf Sep 1-3 1990 P.O. Box 326 Merlin Phillips Fennville, Mich 49408 713 Dragon Rd. Clarks Summit, PA 18411-9998 FLSG-BRAVO (VIETNAM) (717)587-2034 Aug 2-4 1990 Robert Whitt 16TH FIELD DEPOT, 1ST DIV 1009 Canonchet Ave Sep 6-8 1990 Big Stone Gap, VA 24219 Bill Snow 4616 Sabelle Ln. 1ST AM TRAC, 3RD MAR DIV Fort Worth, TX 76117 Oct 1990 (807)838-3323 John Ferra 2146 Nichigan USMC VIETNAM HELICOPTER PILOTS Lincoln Park, MI 48146 Sep 7-9 1990 (313)388-2907 USMC Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Reunion 3RD PLTN, LIMA CO, 1151 Alejo Pl 3RD BTN, 1ST MAR San Diego, CA 92124 July 1990 Harrison Jones F CO., 23 REGT, 4TH DIV 34 Chinquepin Dr. Sep 9-16 1990 Magnolia, AR 71753 Irby Hipp (501)234-2204 1033 Myrtle Dr. Rock Hill, SC 29730 3RD MARINE DIV ASSN (803)327-4424 July 1990 Jim Kyser GEORGE CO, 3RD BTN, Box 297 1ST MARINES Dumfries, VA 22026 Sept 10-20 1990 (703)670-8227 G.G. Pendas 26 Fermac St. 5TH AMPH CORPS, MP CO, Albany, NY 12205-4705 H&S BTN (518)456-1318 Sep 1990 Edward Dale C-1-28TH MARINES (IWO JIMA) 3525 W. 73rd Terr Sep 12-15 1990 Prairie Village, KS 66208 Bill Shadley (913)362-0409 601 Glenoak St No St Petersburg, FL 33703 1ST PLTN, H CO., 2ND BTN, (813)525-1277 3RD MARINES Planning for 1990 C CO, 1ST BTN, 1ST MARINES Steve Stevers Sep 12-16 1990 30413 Forest Grove Rd. Al Baiocchi Willowick, OH 44095 890 Oak Grove Rd (216)585-2280 Concord, CA 94518 (415)798-1000 LIMA BTRY, 4TH BTN, 11TH MARINES NAM VET Newsletter Page 56 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 MONTFORD POINT MARINE ASSOC. Planning for 1990 July 10-15 1990 John O'Neil Brooks Gray 318 Tontine Ave. P.O. Box 12546 Lyndhurst, NJ 07071 Philadelphia, PA 19151 (215)748-8542 2ND PLTN, D CO., 1ST BTN, 1ST MAR DIV. 1ST BTN, 9TH USMC REGT (WWII) Planning for 1990 July 18-22 1990 Brian Barron Dale Quillen 1 Wellstone Dr. 95 White Ridge Rd. Portland, ME 04130 Nashville, TN 37205 (207)774-8264 3RD BTN, 3RD MARINES 17TH MARINES July 26-29 1990 (ENGRS., PIONEERS, SEABEES) Mike Velasquez Aug 1-4 1990 (713)928-4350 George Wyatt 5617 S. Winston 2ND ARMORED AMPHIB ASSUALT BTN Tulsa, OK 74135-4332 Planning for Aug 1990 (918)496-2903 Jack Whitis P.O. Box 1417 MARINE DET, USS JUNEAU Rodgers, Ark 72757 (CLAA-119) Aug 9-12 1990 6TH MARINE DIV Ken Cook Aug 1990 63 Front Royal Ave. Mark Polak Charleston, SC 29407 3420 S. Ocean Blvd., 9V Highland Beach, FL 33487 VMSB-341 DIVE BOMBING SQDN Aug 21-23 1990 MARINE CORPS LEAGUE Steve Rovnak Aug 12-17 1990 22 Stratford Rd. Bill King Wheeling, WVA 26003 P.O. Box 1144 (304)233-4268 Modesto, CA 95353 (209)524-4238 BTRY F, 2ND BTN, 11TH MARINES Aug 23-26 1990 L CO, 3/5, 1ST MAR DIV Paul Scalf Planning for 1990 POB 326 Dennis Freed Fennville, Mich. 49408 24665 Via Tonada (616)561-2653 El Toro, CA 92630 ULITHI, SLCU-34 & ACORN-29 MAR. DET, USS FRANKLIN D. Sep 5-9 1990 ROOSEVELT (CVA-42) David Konovsky Planning for 1990 165 Towne Rd. Larry Stuckey Sequim, WA 98382 10,000 Oaks Ln. (206)683-2710 Seminole, FL 34642 3RD ARMORED AMPHIB. BTN CHINA MARINES 1ST MARINES July 1990 Sep 15-19 1990 Anthony Andriolo James Miller 53 Burnett Terr. #6 400 Hackberry Ln. West Orange, NJ 07052 TruthorConsequences NM 87901 (505)894-2496 3RD BTN, 3RD MARINES July 26-29 1990 US MARINE RAIDER ASSN. John Mick Sep 19-23 1990 NAM VET Newsletter Page 57 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 1638 SW Coral Reef St. Francis Hepburn Sebastian, FL 32958 4711 Del Monte Ave. (407)589-4671 San Diego, CA 92107 (619)222-8030 G CO, 2ND BTN, 5TH MARINES Aug 1-5 1990 WAKE ISL. DEFENDERS, 1ST BTN. Roy Overland Sep 20-22 1990 7225 13th Ave. So. Wiley Sloman Richfield, MN 55423 114 Creekwood Ln. (612)866-6675 Hondo, TX 78861 (713)644-5788 FORCE RECON ASSOC. Aug 1-5 1990 F-2-5 (KOREA) R.D. Williams Sep 20-22 1990 993 So Santa Fe Ave., Suite C A.B. Hendrickson Vista, CA 92083 705 Doris Ave. (619)941-1098 Jacksonville, NC 28540 ALL MARINES USMC RADIO INTELLIGENCE PLTNS Aug 10 1990 Sep 26-29 1990 W.R. Simon Dolph Reeves 2268 Innwood Dr. POB 923, Alpine, CA 92001 Youngstown, OH 44515-5150 (216)792-0003 MARINES DET., USS PENSACOLA (CA-24) 16TH INF BTN, CO C Sep 27-29 1990 Aug 24-25 1990 Ray Snapp Richard Eberle 3705 Heathwood Dr. 711 Law Dr. Troy, OH 45373 Newburgh, IND 47630 (513)339-3217 CAC/CAP/CAG (VIETNAM) 10TH DEFENSE BTN Planning for 1990 Sep 27-29 1990 Jim Duguid Eugene Simmons P.O. Box 7090 222 Maywood Cir. Santa Cruz, CA 95061 Jackson, Miss. 30211 (601)362-4161 ----> USAF <---- 3RD WAF REUNION 401ST BOMB GRP, 8TH AF (WWII) July 27-30 1990 Sep 20-22 1990 Lillian Phillips Ralph Trout POB 45453 POB 22044 Tacoma, WA 98445 Tampa, FL 33622 (813)961-0367 11TH AIR FORCE (WWII) Aug 4-11 1990 301ST VETS ASSN. Ralph Bartholomew Sep 20-23 1990 615 Stedman St. Charles McKeag Ketchikan, Alaska 98467 327 Johnston Rd. Gahenna, OH 43230 317TH FIGHTER (614)475-5451 INTERCEPTOR SQDN Aug 10-11 1990 93RD TROOP CARRIER SQDN, Ken Roberts 439TH TCG 8310 55th St. West Sep 20-23 1990 Tacoma, WA 98467 Tom Morris (206)565-4692 456 St. George's Ct. Satelitte Beach, FL 32937 NAM VET Newsletter Page 58 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 45TH AIR DEPOT GRP. (407)773-6960 Aug 16-19 1990 Charles Guemelata 603RD ACANDWSQ, GERMANY 119 Aigler Blvd. Sep 20-23 1990 Bellevue, OH 44811 Roger Myhre (419)483-4371 633 Upper Loop Rd. Coos Bay, OR 97420 54TH BOMB SQDN. BG., 9TH AF (503)269-1054 Aug 29-Sep 2 1990 Joe Havrilla 376TH HVY. BOMB GRP 1208 Maragret St. 9TH, 12TH, 15TH AF Munhall, PA 15120-2048 Sep 20-24 1990 (412)461-6373 Dick Schoenthal 366 Shoreline Pl. 66TH T.C. SQDN (WWII) Decatur, IL 62521 Sep 1990 (217)422-9244 Charles Hall Rte. 1, Box 97 13TH BOMB SQ (KOREA) Greensboro, PA 15338 Oct 1990 (412)943-3576) William Ricketts 11650 E. Calle Aurora TORREJON AB, SPAIN Tucson, AZ 85748 Sep 1-3 1990 (602)885-1438 William Lee 7820 Ashmont St. 27TH FTR. BOMB GRP. Citrus Heights, CA 95621 Oct 1990 (916)723-4895 Lowell Smith 166 Sorento Dr. 43RD SERVICE SQDN, 5TH AF Leitchfield, KY 42754 Sep 6-8 1990 (502)242-7868 Howard Schrumph POB 740 30TH MBL. RECLAIM, Pentwater, Mich 49449 REPAIR SQ, 9TH AF (616)869-5346 Sep 1990 Glenn Corder 459TH BOMB GRP., 15TH AF 415 E. Smith Sep 6-9 1990 McAlester, OK 74501 Lyle McCarty (918)423-4648 19235 Harleigh Dr. Saratoga, CA 32ND T.C. SQ (408)867-3160 Oct 1990 Fred Wagner 39TH T.C. SQDN., 317TH GRP Box 212 Sep 7-9 1990 Chester, NJ 07930 Bruce Davidson (201)879-5296 221 Savano Ave. Salida, CO 81201 36TH A.D.G. SUPPLY & HQ SQ. Oct 1990 306TH AIRDROME SQDN. Peggy Fortner Sep 7-10 1990 741 George Town Rd. Joseph Glatfelter Nashville, TN 37205 1714 So. Urban Way (615)352-4688 Lakewood, CO 80228 75TH AIR DPT. WING 28TH PHOTO RECON. SQDN. Sep 1990 Sep 9-15 1990 Warren Street Ray Ott 2805 Winslow St. 24 High Acres Rd. Irving, TX 75062 Ansonia, Conn 06401 (214)255-9096 NAM VET Newsletter Page 59 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 (203)734-3433 92ND AIRDROME SQ 391ST BOMB GRP, Oct 1990 572/573/574/575 SQDNS. Larry Kabat Sep 13-15 1990 1001 Woodlawn Terr. Robert Vincent Madison, FL 32340 Rte. 2, Box 16 (904)973-2306 Blossvale, NY 13308 (315)337-2749 92ND PERIODIC MAINT. SQ Sep 1990 58TH BOMB WING, Paul Schade 40/444/462/468 BGS. 553 School St. Sep 11-17 1990 St. Marys, PA 15857 James Pattillo (814)2095 1143 Glenview Rd. Santa Barbara, CA 93108 95TH BOMB GRP. (H) (WWII) (805)969-2796 Oct 1990 David Dorsey 94TH TROOP CARRIER SQDN, 125 Clark St. 439TH TC GRP Clarks Green, PA 18411 Sep 18-Oct 5 1990 (717)587-2290 Adam Parsons 44 N. Highland Ave. 97TH BOMB WING Akron, OH 44303 Sep 1990 (216)535-8332 C.W. Seymour 5369 Monterrey Rd. 310TH, 311TH, Crestview, FL 32536 312TH FERRYINGS SQDN (904)682-5988 Sep 19-21 1990 Rocky Bravo 303RD AIR REFUELING SQ 2712 NW 64th St. Sep 1990 Oklahoma City, OK 73116 Troy Hanson (405)843-4480 1033 Garlock Ln. Colorado Springs, CO 80918 AIR RESCUE ASSN. (719)598-3787 Sep 19-22 1990 Verd Rasmussen 315TH AIR SERVICE GRP 440 Oak View Dr. Sep 1990 Vacaville, CA 95688 William Llyod (707)448-0775 38102 Delaire Landing Philadelphia, PA 19114 89TH TROOP CARRIER GRP. (215)637-8285 Sep 19-22 1990 Wayne Handy 323RD SERVICE SQ 9889 Shelbyville Rd. Oct 1990 Indianapolis,Ind 46259 W.J. Barfield 1907 Pineknoll Ln. 364TH FIGHTER GRP, 8TH AF Albany, GA 31707 Sep 19-22 1990 (912)432-1470 Dan Leftwich 6630 Caldero Ct. 339TH FTR. SQ. (WWII) Dayton, OH 45415 Oct 1990 (513)890-3641 Richard Cowles 745 Harrison St. 388TH BOMB GRP (WWII) Belding, MI 48809 Sep 19-23 1990 (616)794-2083 Edward Huntzinger 1925 SE 37th St. 523RD FTR. BOMB SQ, 7TH AF Cape Coral, FL 33904 July 1990 NAM VET Newsletter Page 60 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 C.W. Ferguson 341ST FIGHTER SQDN, 348TH FG 4017 Academy Dr. Sep 20-22 1990 Metairie, LA 70003 Orlow Johnson (504)455-1553 237 NE 141st St. North Miami, FL 33161 633RD COMBAT SPT. GRP, 7TH AF July 1990 51ST FIGHTER GRP John Reiley (HQ,16TH,25TH,26TH,449 SQDN) Box 724 Sep 20-22 1990 Melrose, MA 02176 Robert Haines (617)322-0496 1720 13th Ave. Belle Fourche, SD 57717 RAAF/WAFB VETS (605)892-4623 Sep 1990 RAAF?WAFB Vets Assn. Box 8092, Linda Vista Sta. Roswell, NM 88201 ----> US NAVY <---- CARRIER AIR GROUP TWO (CVG-2) USS COOLBAUGH (DE-217) July 16-22 1990 Aug 1990 Raymond Andrews W. Bud Peck P.O. Box 750786 1212 S. 12th Petaluma, CA 94975 Mt. Vernon, WA 98273 (707)763-5257 (206)336-2754 NAVY ATTACK SQDN 163 (VA-163) USS CORSON (AVP-37) July 21 1990 Sep 1990 Larry Spear LeRoy Casey 1551 SW 199 Ave. Box 348 Penbroke Pines, FL 33025 Newhebron, MS 39140 (305)431-8171 (601)694-2167 USS BEALE (DD-471) USS CRAVEN (DD-382) Aug 11-12 1990 Sep 1990 Robert Taylor Lyon Lawrence 603 Center Street 41041 Baptist Church Rd. Ormond Beach, FL 32174 Lebanon, OR 97355 (904)676-7406 (503)259-1879 USS APL-30/MBP#1 USS CURRITUCK (AV-7/VP SQS.) Aug 14-15 1990 Oct 1990 James Pressley Ronald Curtis 1318 Washington 2954 Hilleman Ave. Fredona, KS 66736 St. Louis, MO 63114 (316)378-2647 (314)427-6140 USS INGERSOLL (DD-652) USS CURTISS (AV-4) Aug 14-19 1990 Sep 1990 Jerrel Childress Harold Oliver 3536 Blow Drive 1575 W. Valley Pky., #37 Knoxville, TN37920 Escondido, CA 92025 (615)577-1463 (619)471-7831 USS ORISKANY (CVA-34) USS DALY (DD-519) July 26-29 1990 Aug 1990 Don Purdy Walter Johnson 512 Viewmont St. 161 Boxford St. Benecia, CA 94510 Lawrence, MA 01843 NAM VET Newsletter Page 61 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 (707)745-1627 USS PIPHDA (AKA-59) USS SKAGIT (AKA-105) June 1990 July 12-15 1990 Tom Coogan Don Vogan 21632 Chipmunk Trail No. 950 Watkins St. Woodhaven, MI 48183 Conway, Ark. 72032 (501)327-7509 USS DUNLAP (DD-384) Oct 1990 USS BRINKLEY BASS (DD-887) Cary Wright Aug 3-5 1990 242 E. "J" St. Robert Stetson Chula Vista, CA 92010 347 W. Lee-side St. (619)426-7268 Glendora, CA 91740 USS EARL V. JOHNSON (DE-702) USS HUNTER LIGGETT (ASP-14) Sep 1990 Aug 9-11 1990 Edward Warrington L.R. Senk 4718 Marlie Cir. NW 31441 Monterey Ave. Cleveland, TN 37312 South Laguna Beach, CA 92677 (615)479-1853 (714)499-3421 USS ESTES (AGC-12), Aug 1990 USS TOPEKA (CL-67) Noah Joyner Aug 9-11 1990 44 Longstreet Rd. James Wilson Weldon, NC 27890 1022 W. Abbott St. (919)536-4283 Muncie, Ind. 47303 (317)288-3949 USS EURYALE (AS-22) Sep 1990 USS INTREPID (CV,CVA,CVS-11) Chuck Vizthum Aug 11 1990 9831 Tomahawk Tr. Fred Hemmerich Coldwater, MI 49036 144 Furler St., CM 240 (517)238-4962 Totowa, NJ 07512 USS EVERGLADES (AD-24) USS SPRINGFIELD (CL-66,CLG-7) Oct 1990 Planning for 1990 Ronald Curtis Christiane Juster 2954 Hilleman Ave., P.O. Box 29048 St. Louis, MO 63114 Washington, D.C. 20017 (314)427-6140 (202)526-7978 USS FOOTE (DD-511) USS WILKES (DD-441) Sep 1990 Planning for 1990 Wilbur Rodgers John Mercer 12243 Brookshire Ave. 2012 Dale Drive Baton Rouge, LA 70815 Dupo, Ill. 62239 (504)275-9948 USS MEREDITH (DD-434) USS FREDERICK FUNSTON Planning for 1990 (APA-89) July 1990 Robert Robinson Ted Thomas 6804 Totem Beach Loop Rd. 9745 Via Roma Mayrsville, WA 98270 Burbank, CA 91504 (206)659-3490 (818)768-4852 USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) USS HAMMANN (DD-412) Planning for 1990 Oct 1990 Bob Glickman Clyde Conner 6884 NW 30th Ave. Rt.1, Box 1 NAM VET Newsletter Page 62 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33309 Grafton, WV 26354 (305)972-5549 (304)265-3933 USS JAMES O'HARA (APA-90) USS GANSEVOORT (DD-608) July 13-15 1990 Oct 1990 Frederic Hawker Clyde Conner Rt. 12, Box 32 Rt.1, Box 1 Morgantown, WV 26505 Grafton, WV 26354 (304)296-2760 (304)265-3933 USS WALKE (DD-723) USS JOHN Q. ROBERTS (APD-94) Aug 31-Sep 3 1990 Aug 1990 Dick Nelson D.F. Van Epps 29 Beachmont Terrace 410 N. Main St. North Caldwell, NJ 07006 Dodgevile, WI 53533 (201)226-2732 (608)935-3423 USS CURTIS (AV-4) USS KRETCHMER (DE-329) Sep 5-9 1990 Nov 1990 Harold Oliver Dwane Robinson 1575 W. Valley Parkway #37 1032 Whildin St. Escondido, CA 92025 Euphoria, KS 66801 (619)741-7831 (316)342-7305 USS GRANVILLE (APA-171) USS LACERTA (AKA-29) Sep 6-9 1990 Oct 1990 Bob Blanding David Humphrey 4559 Shawn Court Rd. Rt. 7, Box 528 Salem, OR 97405 Kinston, NC 28501 (503)393-8739 (919)527-9417 USS CAVALIER (APA-37) USS LANG (DD-399) Sep 9-11 1990 Aug 1990 Herb Cohen Courtenay Chase 4151 Sanderling Circle - #346 Belmont Rd., Box 505 Las Vegas, NV 89103 W. Harwich, MA 02671 (702)873-7941 (508)432-1296 USS PRINCETON (CVL-23) USS LCS (L) 15 Sep 12-16 1990 Aug 1990 Sam Minervini Harold Kaup 25 Marlboro Rd. 289 41st St. NE Woodbridge, NJ 07075 Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 (319)363-1708 USS HEYWOOD (APA-6) Sep 13-16 1990 USS LCS (L) 358, FLOT. 22 Merle Teegarden Aug 1990 3015 SW Wembly Park Rd. Paul Moore Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Rt. 2, Box 180A (503)639-0170 Nixa, MO 65714 (417)725-1784 USS NEVILLE (APA-9) Sep 13-16 USS LSM 446 Merle Teegarden (USS LAUNCHER YV2) 3015 SW Wembly Park Rd. July 1990 Lake Oswego, OR 97034 Robert Weiss (503)639-0170 130 S. Nebraska St. Horicon, WI 53032 USS MANCHESTER (CL-83) (414)485-2556 NAM VET Newsletter Page 63 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Spe 16-19 1990 Paul Huffman USS LSM 500 4415 Brookhaven Ave. Oct 1990 Louisville, KY 40220 Gilbert Ellington (502)459-3260 Rt. 6, Box 462 Henderson, NC 27536 USS CONAMEE (CVE-12) (919)438-6530 Sep 25-27 1990 Joe Downs USS LST 246 Rt.5, Box 130 Sep 1990 Huntsville, AR 72740 George Becker (501)736-6374 Box 274 Cleveland, MN 56017 LST-993 (507)931-6287 Sep 26-30 1990 Emil Doroba USS LST 279 6039 Granger Rd. Sep 1990 Asktabula, OH 44004 Howard Lightner (216)998-5131 Rt. 1, Box 248 Loysville, PA 17047 USS INDIANA (BB-58) (717)789-3476 Sep 28-30 1990 Albert Vicarelli USS LST 372 P.O. Box 620 Case's Lane Sep 1990 Cutchogue, NY 11935 John Michaud (516)735-5001 11 N. Holly St. Perryville, MO 63775 VB-5 (1943-45) (314)547-6015 Sep 28-30 1990 D.H. SStegner USS LST 487 800 Cabrillo Ave. Oct 1990 Coronada, CA 92118 W.H. Boyt (619)435-5967 9452 Corinth St. Baton Rouge, LA 70809 USS MONTPELIER (CL-57) (504)926-5449 Oct 4-7 1990 George Scully USS LST 568 745 Thomas St. Sep 1990 Elizabeth, NJ 07202 William Ellis (201)355-0877 521 Broadmeadow Rd. Ratoul, IL 61866 USS MATTAPONI (AO-41) (217)892-2462 Oct 5-7 1990 Elmer Long USS LST G54 6528 State Rt. 105 Sep 1990 Pemberville, OH 43450 Hubert Mathes (419)352-1333 Rt. 2, Box 553 Hudson, NC 28638 USS ALMAACK (AK-27, AKA-10) (704)728-9179 Oct 5-8 1990 Joseph Benedict USS LST 663 5292 W. 52nd St. Sep 1990 Parma, OH 44134 John McCarthy (216)741-3843 15 Chestnut St. Groveland, MA 01834 USS COLUMBUS (CA-74, CG-12) (508)372-8651 Oct 10-14 1990 John Harvey Thomas USS LST 699 163 North Hill Ave. Sep 1990 NAM VET Newsletter Page 64 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 DeLand, FL 32724-4636 Oren Knapp (904)736-4509 77 Oneida St. Oneonta, NY 13820 (607)432-1392 ----> USCG <---- CG BUOY TENDERS USS DARANT Aug 1990 Sep 1990 Harold Rickabaugh Larry Eckard Box 694, Grand Haven, MI 49417 P.O. Box 5145 Hickory, NC 28603 USS POOLE (DE-151) (704)256-6274 July 19-21 1990 Donald Macchi USS PRIDE REVNUM (DE-323) 256 Spruce St. Sep 6-8 1990 Bloomfield, NJ 07003 Tom Heinmellier (201)748-0731 3258 E. Fulton St. Columbus, OH 43227 USCG CUTTER DIONE (WPC-107) Planning for 1990 USS LST-829 Harrison Ochs Sep 7-9 1990 1020 Couch Albert Ryzner Kirkwood, MO 63122 Star Rte. 1, Box 206 (314)822-9931 Lewis Run, PA 16738 (814)362-1810 US COAST GUARD COMBAT VETS ASSOC. July 18-23 1990 USCG BARRACKS / Baker Herbert RECEIVING STATION 6858 Lafayette Rd. Planning for 1990 Medina, OH 44256 J.M. Hayes 7311 9th N.W. CUTTERMAN'S ASSOC. Seattle, Wash. 98117 Aug 2-5 1990 W.W. Splettstoesser USCG CHAMBERS (WDE-491) Marineast Ste 2, 14 Ocean St Aug 1990 South Portland, ME 04106 Jack Ellis 721 Main St. USCGC WOODBINE Shrewsbury, Mass. 01545 Aug 4 1990 (508)842-2502 Dave Maynard 8450 Belle Vernon Dr. USS STREOPE, USS ENCELADUS Novelty, OH 44072 Aug 1-5 1990 (216)338-1241 E.P. Booth 511 Danville Ave. USCG CUTTER WINNEBAGO Stanford, KY 40484 July 2-22 1990 (606)365-2326 John Horton 4504 Blackburn Rd. USCG 83327 Jacksonville, FL 32210 Sep 16-20 1990 Jerome Merrill USS KEY WEST PF17 54 Van Buren Ave. So. July 1990 Hopkins, MN 55343 Vince Positan (612)938-4032 20 Gregory Rd. Springfield, NJ 07081 USS MACHIAS )PF-53 & ESCORT DIV 33 USS GEN MC MEIGS (AP-116) Sep 27-29 1990 Aug 2-4 1990 John Jones Wilbert Huebner 806 Helene St. NAM VET Newsletter Page 65 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 208 Malone Ave., Box 207 Wantagh, NY 11793 Readlyn, IA 50668-0207 (516)731-0442 USS SHELIAK (AKA-62) BERING SEA PATROL VETS ASSN. 1990 Oct 1990 Larry Eckard Maurice Kambarn POB 5145 1815 NW 201st St. Hickory, NC 28603 Seattle, WA 98177 (704)256-6274 USCG LST 20 USVGV INGHAM (W-35) Sep 1990 Oct 1990 Hartley Loertscher R.M. Carter W. 251 Loertscher Rd. 1061 Woodview Dr. Shelton, WA 98584 Flint, MI 48507 (206)426-4955 USS GEN. MC MEIGS (AP-116) USCG WOODBINE Aug 1990 Aug 1990 Martin McCormack Dave Maynard Rt.2, Delhi, NY 13753 8450 Belle Vernon Dr. (607)746-3758 Novelty, OH 44072 (216)338-1241 USS LANSING (DE-388) Aug 1990 USS BRUNSWICK PF 68 Larry Eckard Oct 1990 Box 5145 Richard Thomas Hickory, NC 28603 1856 Ridgeway Dr. (704)256-6274 Clearwater, FL 34615 (813)461-3278 USS RICHEY (DE-385) Aug 26-Sep 2, 1990 USS LST 168 Henry Konrad Sep 1990 18437 University Pike Fred Poweleit Livonia, Mich 48152 114 S Main St Lake Mills, WI 53551 USS LST-886 (414)648-8055 Sep 1990 Joseph McAuley USS LST 829 89 Jeanette Ave. Sep 1990 Staten Island, NY 10312 Ennie Hickman (718)984-4349 822 Lyngrove Dr Houston, TX 77038 USS RANSDEN (713)447-2370 Sep 1990 Larry Eckard USS POOLE DE-151 P.O. Box 5145 July 1990 Hickory, NC 28603 Donald Macchia (704)256-6274 256 Spruce St Bloomfield, NJ 07003 (201)748-0731 NAM VET Newsletter Page 66 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= M e m o r i e s n ' S t u f f ================================================================= * The Spirit of the Wall * By: Mike Moschkin TeleGard Express BBS - Wheaton, MD (301) 649-1050 I sense you as you park your car on the avenue I hear you as you close the car door I know your footsteps as you slowly walk the walk I see you respectfully glancing at each passing slab I know your thoughts are racing to me and the others * Touch me, Touch me, forget me not once more * I lie deep within the black paneled slabs My name etched on the surface of the wall I feel your warm fingers running across my name * Touch me, touch me, forget me not once more * Long have I passed from the memories of others But deep within your memories I dwell ** Oh dear comrade, touch me, touch me, forget me not once more ** Mike Moschkin Company A, 1st Bn 27th Inf. 25th Inf. Division Vietnam, '65 - '66 Cu Chi NAM VET Newsletter Page 67 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Deliverance Input by: Dale Malone Midas Touch BBS - Orlando, FL (407) 648-1133 You stand for principles that bring a lump to my throat I have travelled this globe in support of your pure motives I trod the sands of San Angelo Texas The wrinkle in time called Karamursel Turkey I sipped the solitude of Shemya Alaska The backward deep southerness of Biloxi Mississippi Isolated Misawa in the steppes of Northern Japan The screaming winds of remote Wakkanai on The tip of Hokkaido, where you can Almost throw a rock and hit Russian soil On the "hill" at Osan Korea In sleepy Guam where Agana was "excitement" In a tankers belly out of Kadena Okinawa Triple play in Saigon, at busy Tan San Nhut With choppers from the in-country R&R and 3rd Field Hospital Whomping day and night, and 100,000 candlepower flares Lighting the night, and "Patches" Spraying the wee morning hours with kerosene blended poisons Accompanied by the heart stopping blast of her twin propellers Less than 200 feet above my sweat sogged bed Singular lines of steel death from "Shadow" and "Spooky" Redistributing my pay in Bangkok's bars In Manila, watching the "students" storm the Embassy Flying with no tower controller into wonderful CCK, Taiwan Listening on the tactical freq's as brothers Play deadly tag with AAA and SAM's along the Ho Chi Minh Trail Sweltering in Udorn whilst the lumbering, heavily laden B-52's Spewed volumes of black smoke as they Trundled down the runway, bristling with ordinance In places I could hardly spell like Nakon Phanom With a "downtown" shared by bordering Laos The cool evenings of the Highlands of Pleiku Spectating at ping-pong while the swing Shift sights in and clears their weapons TDY's to Nha Trang, Dalat, Phu Cat, Vung Tau, Da Nang Long Binh, Bien Hoa, Cam Rahn Bay, other's, now forgotten But not the unforgettable Phu Bai where first I experienced The noxious greasy smoke of feces incinerators Centuries later, back in America, My rusted and time-worn armor put away I am confronted by those that Would desecrate your magnificence by burning you in protest Playing up to the toadies of the unsuspecting media Salty tears blur my vision, a crimson rage, gnawing at my heart Then your regal voice whispers to me: "Be at ease my stalwart, unknowingly, these Philistines Proffer me reverence, and deliver me from this Shocking disgrace with full honors as they Retire me by fire and bring surcease to my travails." I sit in mute, stunned surprise Affirming in my inner soul That the flag's spirit has indeed uttered the truth. NAM VET Newsletter Page 68 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 THE PASSING OF SOMEONE ELSE Input by: G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor East VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 The obituary below was submitted to VVA Chapter 65 (Pittsfield, MA) for their 5/90 Newsletter by John Anderson. Please remember Someone Else when your next NamVet is due out. Did YOU contribute to that issue? Did YOU suggest a topic to be covered that month? Did YOU enter any comments into this echo to any of NamVet's contributors to let them know their efforts were appreciated and maybe even helpful to you? Did YOU offer to help produce it? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The heads were bowed in grief this week to learn that one of our most valued members, Someone Else, had passed away. This death creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Someone Else has been with us for many years. During all of these years, he did far more than a normal person's share of the work. Whenever leadership was mentioned, this truly dedicated member was looked to for inspiration as well as results. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to be taught, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone's list: "Let Someone Else do it." Someone Else was also among the largest givers of the organization. Whenever the organization had financial needs, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference. This beloved organization member was a wonderful person, at times seeming to be superhuman, but a person can only do so much. Everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone. Who will pitch in to do the things that Someone Else has done? If you are asked to do a job in the organization, we hope you won't reply "Let Someone Else do it." Now we need you to pick up where Someone Else left off. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Someone Else" ... I think I knew him, too... NAM VET Newsletter Page 69 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= V e t e r a n B e n e f i t s & I n f o ================================================================= 1990 Veterans Benefits Handbook Available DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Office of Public Affairs - News Service Washington DC 20420 (202) 233-2741 One of the government's perennial best sellers, "Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents," has been updated for 1990 and is now available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. Published by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the 82- page handbook describes such VA benefits as medical care, education, compensation, pension, life insurance, home loan guaranty, vocational rehabilitation, and burial assistance. Special sections contain information on medical benefits for veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange and radiation, and services for post-traumatic stress disorder. Employment assistance and other Department of Labor benefits for veterans are also described along with programs administered by the Department of Defense, Small Business Administration and other Federal agencies. The new handbook, which ranks No. 5 on the federal government's list of all-time best sellers, contains sections on eligibility, benefits for former prisoners of wart, women veterans, merchant seamen and information on the new U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals. Addresses and local phone numbers of all VA offices, medical centers, national cemeteries, Vietnam veteran counseling centers, and other VA facilities are also listed. "Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents" is available for $2.50 from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 20402. NAM VET Newsletter Page 70 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 "Ask the Veterans' Affairs Counselor" DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Office of Public Affairs - News Service Washington DC 20420 (202) 233-2741 Input by: G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor East VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 (Following are representative questions answered daily by VA counselors. Full information is available at any VA office.) Q-- I just got married. Does my wife automatically become the beneficiary of my VA insurance policy? A-- No. You must write VA and provide complete identification of the new beneficiary. Q-- I have been receiving a widow's pension from the VA for 20 years. If I remarry will I be able to continue to receive the pension? A-- No. When a widow remarries, her pension terminates. Q-- Can I get a release of liability from the VA if a non-veteran assumes my VA-guaranteed home loan? A-- If the buyer meets with Department of Veterans' Affairs approval, you may be released from liability. Q-- I understand the Department of Veterans' Affairs recently announced a change regarding service-connection for illnesses related to exposure to Agent Orange. Is this correct? A-- On March 29, 1990, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs ruled that Vietnam veterans stricken with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, are entitled to disability payments based on their service in Vietnam. The decision is NOT based on a finding that this condition was caused by Agent Orange exposure. The Secretary acted following the release of study results by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. That study showed an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among veterans who served in Vietnam compared to veterans who served elsewhere during the Vietnam Era. The CDC study did not point to Agent Orange or any other factor as causing the increased risk. VA will identify and reopen claims filed by veterans who served in Southeast Asia and who alleged that their development of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma resulted from Agent Orange exposure. VA will extend as much latitude as possible to award retroactive benefits and to assist widows and children of veterans who died as a result of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Since 1981, VA has provided free, priority health- care services to Vietnam veterans who believe their health was affected by Agent Orange exposure. Since 1978, VA has also conducted a program offering free, comprehensive physical examinations to Vietnam veterans. More than 230,000 have taken advantage of the program, and a registry containing their addresses will be used to make follow-up contact concerning the Secretary's ruling. Q-- I have a fairly high interest rate on my VA-guaranteed loan. Is it possible to refinance this loan? A-- The Department of Veterans Affairs encourages veterans to NAM VET Newsletter Page 71 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 refinance loans with interest rates that are two points or more higher than the current market rate. The potential individual and collective savings to veterans are substantial. Veterans considering refinancing should contact a private lending agency. If there are questions concerning eligibility for a VA-guarantee of the refinanced loan, the veteran should contact the nearest VA Regional Office. Q-- Do all veterans qualify for a VA pension? A-- VA pension benefits are paid to wartime veterans who are totally and permanently disabled from circumstances unrelated to their military service and who are in financial need. Needy survivors of wartime veterans may also be eligible for pension benefits. Veterans and dependents with questions about eligibility for pension benefits should contact the nearest VA Regional Office. Q-- What benefits are included in veterans' rights to burial in a national cemetery? A-- For eligible veterans and family members, VA handles gravesite preparation and burial, furnishes a headstone or marker and a flag, and provides perpetual care. Q-- I am a service-connected disabled veteran. Can I receive additional compensation for my wife and child? A-- Veterans whose service-connected disabilities are rated at 30 percent or more are entitled to additional allowances for dependents. Q-- Will the Department of Veterans Affairs release my new address to my estranged husband? A-- No. Your address is privileged information and may not be released to anyone without your permission. Q-- What is a Presidential Memorial Certificate? A-- A Presidential Memorial Certificate expresses the country's grateful recognition of an individual's service in the armed forces and bears the signature of the President. These certificates are available to next of kin of deceased eligible veterans or persons who were on active military duty at time of death. Next of kin need not apply for a certificate. Q-- My first husband died of service-connected causes and I received VA dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) until I remarried. My second husband recently died. Can I regain my eligibility for DIC payments? A-- Yes. DIC benefits may be restored if the subsequent marriage ends through death, divorce or annulment. Q-- Is there special mortgage insurance for veterans? A-- You may purchase Veterans Mortgage Life Insurance if, as a disabled veteran, you receive a VA grant for specially adapted housing. Protection is automatic unless eligible veterans decline in writing or fail to respond to requests for information to determine premiums. Q-- Will my VA insurance dividends be affected if I get a loan on the policy? A-- No. Earned dividends are not affected by a loan on the NAM VET Newsletter Page 72 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 policy. However, you may use your dividends to reduce the balance of your loan. For more information on this and other dividend options, please call 1-800-422-8079. Q-- Can I use my VA-guaranteed home loan to buy land I plan to build a house on in the future? A-- A VA-guaranteed loan cannot be used to buy undeveloped land unless it is part of a package that includes the building of your home. Q-- How long does a power of attorney designating a service organization to represent me in VA claims matters last? A-- A power of attorney does not expire. It must be revoked or cancelled. The Department of Veterans Affairs treats designation of a new power of attorney as an automatic cancellation of an earlier one. You may cancel a power of attorney at any time by notifying VA. NAM VET Newsletter Page 73 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= H e a r t s n ' M i n d s ================================================================= Veterans heal themselves in 'The Hootch' program By Laura Palmer Input by: Joyce Flory NamVet's Incarcerated Veterans Section Editor Desert Dolphin BBS - Las Cruces, NM (505) 523-2811 In Vietnam, a hootch was where a soldier lived. In Brooklyn, "The Hootch" program is where Vietnam veterans learn to live again. "I came here and found I have a family," Gary Randazzo, 43, says "Everyone is very concerned about each other." "It's like a second home," Phil Redd, 46, adds. "I've been on an emotional roller coaster for 24 years and here I'm beginning to be able to trust." For Angel Rojas, 42, "The Hootch" is synonymous with survival. "If I didn't have this place, I'd have been in the street using drugs. This gives me the strength to hold on." Michael West, 40, was a Marine in Vietnam. "Here, we can let our guard down and be close. We're all brothers again." "The Hootch" is simply a room in the Brooklyn Veterans Administration Medical Center decorated with Vietnam memorabilia. The coffee pot is always on, and a vet is free to get off the elevator at 5 west and walk in. He - or she - will never feel like a stranger in "The Hootch". The program began three years ago when several Vietnam vets coming to the hospital's post-traumatic stress disorder treatment program wanted a place of their own. Today "The Hootch" still is a place to find a friend. It's run by vets in tandem with therapists at the hospital, and the 125 active members do more than sit around and swap war stories. "The Hootch" blends therapy with peer support and practical skills. "Hootch" members have run voter registration drives, had art and poetry shows, participated in an oral history project with the local junior high school, set up a "Big Brother" program for children with special needs, and gone to places like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. As they take on responsibility in planning and carrying out activities, "Hootch" members feel pride and self - respect. They are exceptionally motivated because, as in Vietnam, they don't want to let down their buddies. Camillo "Mac" Bica, a former Marine lieutenant in Vietnam, is one of the "Hootch" founders and he now helps run it. He believes most therapeutic programs for vets don't go far enough. They lead them to understanding, then let them walk out the door - alone. "Words are nice," Bica says,"but when people have a track record of failure, embarrassment and shame, words don't make it. What 'The Hootch' provides is practical experience in succeeding, of doing something significant. It builds up a person's identity as someone who can achieve." Bica describes the program as "a small slab of life. The same kinds of things people run into in the real world they are going to run into in 'The Hootch,' but only in a controlled atmosphere. We can pluck people back out and say 'You know what? You need to talk to your therapist about this.' " Participants develop an "Esprit d 'Hootch," which inspires them to try. NAM VET Newsletter Page 74 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Within this crucible of courage, success is contagious, and vets, supported by therapists and each other and their community, ultimately heal themselves. "Many of us who were looking for a purpose and meaning to life have found it here," says John Spano, 40, an Army vet and "Hootch" regular. "From this little base camp, we try to give each other direction, courage and confidence." NAM VET Newsletter Page 75 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 HOW TO DEAL WITH DESPAIR By: Joanna Rogers Macy in: New Age - 1979 Input by: G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor East VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 NOTE: At FIRST glance, I didn't think this article had any parallels to the many things that many of us daily endure. But, upon reading it... gosh!!! I recognized some of the things that I've recently gone through! See what YOU think... ----------------------------------------------------------- Joanna Rogers Macy, Ph.D., lives with her family in a cooperative household in Washington, D..C. A writer and lecturer on comparative religion, she plans to spend the next year in Sri Lanka, researching the uses of Buddhism for social change. ------------------------------------------------------------ I do not wish to seem overdramatic but I can only conclude from the information that is available to me as Secretary-General, that the Members of the United Nations have perhaps ten years left in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion, and to supply the required momentum to development efforts. If such a global partnership is not forged within the next decade, then I very much fear that the problems I have mentioned will have reached such staggering proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to control. --U Thant (1969) Our time bombards us with signals of distress - of ecological destruction, waning resources, social breakdown, and uncontrolled nuclear proliferation. Not surprisingly, people are feeling despair - a despair well merited by the hair-trigger machinery of mass death that we have created and continue to serve. What is surprising is the extent to which we hide this despair from ourselves and one another. If we are, as Arthur Koestler suggested, undergoing an age of anxiety, we are also growing adept at sweeping this anxiety under the rug. As a society, we are caught between a sense of impending apocalypse and an inability to acknowledge it. Political activists, who would arouse us to the fact that our very survival is at state, decry public apathy.. The cause of this apathy, however, is not mere indifference; it derives also from dread. It stems from a fear of confronting the despair that lurks subliminally beneath the tenor of life-as-usual. If anything, the alarms raised by protestors have an anesthetic effect, numbing us to our despair. Our dread of what is happening to our future is banished to the fringes of awareness, too deep for most of us to name, too fearsome to face. Sometimes it manifests in dreams of mass destruction - and is exorcised in the morning jog and shower, or in the public fantasies of disaster entertainment. But it is rarely acknowledged or expressed directly. Because of social taboos against despair and because of fear of pain, it is kept at bay. The suppression of despair, like that of any deep recurrent response, produces a partial numbing of the psyche: expressions of NAM VET Newsletter Page 76 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 anger or terror are muted, deadened as if a nerve had been cut. This refusal of feeling takes a heavy toll: not only an impoverishment of emotional and sensory life (the flowers dimmer and less fragrant, loves less ecstatic), but a lessened capacity to process and respond to information. The energy expended in pushing down despair is diverted from more creative uses, depleting resilience and imagination needed for fresh visions and strategies. Furthermore, the FEAR of despair can erect an invisible screen, selectively filtering out anxiety-provoking data. Since organisms require feedback in order to adapt and survive, such evasion is suicidal. Now, just when we most urgently need to measure the effects of our acts, attention and curiosity slacken - as if we were already preparing for the Big Sleep. Many of us, doggedly attending to business-as-usual, deny both our despair and our ability to cope with it. Despair cannot be banished by sermons on "positive thinking" or injections of optimism. Like grief, it must be worked through. It must be named, and validated as a healthy, normal, human response to the planetary situation. Faced and experienced, despair can be USED: as the psyche's defenses drop away, new energies are released. I am convinced that we can come to terms with apocalyptic anxieties in ways that are integrative and liberating, opening awareness not only to planetary distress, but also to the hope inherent in our own capacity to change. To do so, a process analogous to grief work is in order. "Despair work" is distinct in that its aim is not acceptance of loss (indeed, the "loss" has not yet occurred and is hardly to be "accepted"), but similar in the dynamics unleashed by the willingness to acknowledge, feel, and express inner pain. INGREDIENTS OF DESPAIR Regardless of whether we choose to accord them serious attention, we are daily barraged by data that render questionable, for the first time in recorded history, the survival of our culture and our species, and even of our planet as a viable home for conscious life. These warning signals prefigure, to those who do take them seriously, probabilities of apocalypse that are mind- boggling in scope. While varied, each scenario presents its own relentless logic. Poisoned by oilspills, sludge, and plutonium, the seas are dying; when the plankton disappear (in thirty years at present pollution rates, says Jean-Jacques Cousteau), we will suffocate from lack of oxygen. OR carbon dioxide from industrial and automotive combustion will saturate the atmosphere creating a greenhouse effect that will melt the polar icecaps. OR radioactive poisoning from nuclear reactors and their wastes will not only induce plagues of cancer that will decimate populations, but cause fearful mutations in the survivors. OR deforestation and desertification of the planet, now rapidly advancing, will produce giant dustbowls, unimaginable famines. The probability of each of these perils is amply and soberly documented by scientific studies (many of which are summarized in Lester Brown's THE 29TH DAY). The list of such scenarios could continue; the most immediate and likely stem from the use of nuclear bombs, by terrorists or superpowers. That eventually presents vistas of such horror that, as is said, "The survivors will envy the dead." Despair, in this context, is not a macabre certainty of doom, nor a pathological condition of depression and futility. It is not a nihilism denying meaning or efficacy to human effort. NAM VET Newsletter Page 77 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Rather, as it is being experienced by increasing numbers across a broad spectrum of society, despair is the loss of the assumption that the species will inevitably pull through. It represents a genuine accession to the possibility that this planetary "experiment" may fail. SYMPTOMS AND SUPPRESSIONS Years ago, at a leprosarium in India, I met a young woman, a mother of four. Her case was advanced, the doctor pointed out, because for so long she had hidden its signs. Fearing ostracism and banishment, she had covered her sores with her sari, pulled the shoulder drape around so that no one would see. In a similar fashion did I once hide despair for our world, cloaking it like a shameful disease - and so, I have learned, do others. When the sensations aroused by the serious contemplations of a likely, but avoidable end to human existence break through the censorship we tend to impose on them, they can be intense and physical. A friend, who left her career to work as a full-time antinuclear organizer, tells me her onslaughts of grief came as a cold, heavy weight on the chest and a sense of her body breaking. Mine, which began two years ago, after an all-day symposium on threats to our biosphere, were sudden and wrenching: I would be alone in my study, working,a nd the next moment would find me on the floor, curled like a fetus and shaking. In company I was more controlled, but even then in those early months, unused to despair, occasionally I would be caught off guard: a line from Shakespeare or a Bach phrase would pierce me with pain, as I found myself wondering how much longer it would be heard, before fading out forever in the galactic silences. At the prospect of the extinction of our civilization, feelings of grief and horror are natural. We tend to hide them, though, from ourselves and each other. Why? The reasons are both social and psychological. Despair is resisted so tenaciously because it represents a loss of control, an admission of powerlessness. Our culture dodges it by demanding instant solutions. "Don't come to me with a problem unless you have a solution": that tacit injunction, operative even in public policy-making, rings like my mother's words to me as a child, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." In a culture committed to the American dream, it is hard to own up to despair. This is still the land of Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale, where an unflagging optimism is taken as means and measure of success. As commercials for products and campaigns of politicians attest, the healthy, admirable person smiles a lot. Feelings of depression, loneliness, and anxiety - to which this thinking animal has always been heir - carry here an added burden: One feels bad about feeling bad. The failure to hope, in a country built and nurtured on utopian expectations, can seem downright un-American, a betrayal. In a religious context, despair can appear as a lapse of faith. Speaking at a vigil held in a church before a demonstration against nuclear weapons at the Pentagon last fall, Daniel Berrigan spoke of the necessity of hope to carry us through. Others chimed in, affirming their belief in the vision of a "New Jerusalem," and their gratitude for having that hope. After a pause, a young man who planned to participate in the week's civil disobedience actions spoke up falteringly: he questioned whether hope was really prerequisite, because - and he admitted this with NAM VET Newsletter Page 78 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 difficulty - he was not feeling it. Even among friends committed to the same goal, it was clearly hard for him (and brave of him, I thought) to admit despair. Evidently, he feared he would be misunderstood, taken as cowardly or cynical - a fear validated by the response of some present. "There is nothing more feared and less faced," writes Jesuit essayist William Lynch, "than the possibility of despair." This is one reason, he notes, why the mentally ill are so thoroughly isolated from the well - or why, one might add, expressions of anguish for the future are considered a breach of etiquette. Our culture discourages the acknowledgement of despair: this inhibition amounts to a social taboo. Those who break this taboo - to express their concern about nuclear holocaust, for example - are generally considered "crazy," or at least "depressed and depressing." No one wants a Cassandra around or welcomes a Banquo at the feast. Nor, indeed, are such roles enjoyable to play. When the prospect of collective suicide first hit me as a serious possibility - and I remember the day and hour my defenses against this despair suddenly collapsed - I felt there were no one to whom I could turn in my grief.. If there were - and indeed there was, for I have loving, intelligent friends and family - what is there to say? Do I want them to feel this horror, too? What can be said without casting a pall, or without seeming to ask for unacceptable words of comfort and cheer? To feel despair in such a cultural setting brings on a sense of isolation. The psychic dissonance can be so acute as to seem to border on madness. The distance between our inklings of apocalypse and the tenor of business-as-usual is so great that, though we may respect our own cognitive reading of the signs, our affective response is frequently the conclusion that it is we, not society, who are insane. Psychotherapy, by and large, offers little help for coping with these feelings, and indeed compounds the problem by reducing social despair to private pathology. Practitioners have trouble crediting the notion that concerns for the general welfare might be genuine, and acute enough to cause distress. Assuming that all our drives are ego-centered, they tend to treat expressions of this distress reductionistically, as manifestations of private neurosis. (In my own case, which is far from unique, deep dismay over destruction of the wilderness was diagnosed as fear of my own libido - symbolized by bulldozers! - and my painful preoccupation with U.S. bombings of Vietnam was interpreted as an unwholesome hangover of Puritan guilt..) Such "therapy," of course, only intensifies the sense of isolation and craziness that despair can bring, while inhibiting its recognition and expression. Our culture makes it hard to get in touch with the genuine dimensions of our despair, and until we do, our power of creative response to planetary crisis will be crippled. Until we can grieve for our planet and its future inhabitants, we cannot fully feel or enact our love for them. Such grief is frequently suppressed, not only because it is socially awkward, but also because it is both hard to credit and very painful. At the root of both these inhibitions lies a dysfunctional notion of the self, as an isolated and fragile entity. Such a self has no reason to weep for the unseen and the unborn, and such a self, if it did, might shatter with pain and futility. So long as we see ourselves as essentially separate, competitive, and ego-identified beings, it is difficult to respect the validity of our social despair, deriving as it does from NAM VET Newsletter Page 79 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 interconnectedness. As open systems, we are sustained by flows of energy and information that extend beyond the reach of conscious ego. Both our capacity to grieve for others and our power to cope with this grief spring from the great matrix of relationship in which we take our being. Just as our pain is more than private, so is our resilience. VALIDATION You can hold yourself back from the suffering world: this is something you are free to do... but perhaps precisely this holding back is the only suffering you might be able to avoid. --Elie Wiesel The first step in despair work is to disabuse oneself of the notion that grief for our world is morbid. To experience anguish and anxiety in face of the perils threatening humanity is a healthy reaction. This pain, far from being crazy, is rather a testimony to the unity of life, to the deep interconnections that relate us to all beings. Such pain for the world becomes masochistic only when one assumes personal guilt for its plight or personal responsibility for the solution. No individual is that powerful. True, by participating in society, each shares in a collective accountability, but acknowledging despair, like faith, means letting go of the manipulative assumption that conscious ego can or should control all events. Each of us is but one little nexus in a vast web. As the recognition of that interdependence breaches our sense of isolation, so also does it free our despair of self-recrimination. Most world religions corroborate the goals of despair work, offering constructs and symbols attesting to the creative role of this kind of distress. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, for example, the BODHISATTVAS vow to forswear Nirvana until all beings are enlightened. Their compassion is said to endow them with supranormal senses: they can hear not only the music of the spheres, but also all cries of distress. All griefs are registered and owned in the bodhisattva's deep knowledge that we are not separate from one another. POSITIVE DISINTEGRATION The process of internalizing the possibility of planetary demise is bound to cause deep psychic disarray. How to confront what we scarcely dare think? How to think about it without going to pieces? It is helpful in despair work to realize that going to pieces or falling apart is not such a bad thing. Indeed, it is as essential to evolutionary and psychic transformations as the cracking of outgrown shells. What Kazimierz Dabrowski calls "positive disintegration" has been operative in every global development of humankind, especially during periods of accelerated change; it permits, he argues, the emergence of "higher psychic structures and awareness." Occurring when individuals internalize painful contradictions in human experience, positive disintegration can appear as a dark night of the soul, a time of spiritual void and turbulence. But the anxieties and bouts are, Dabrowski maintains, "essentially healthy and creative" - not only for the person but for society, because they permit new and original approaches to reality. NAM VET Newsletter Page 80 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 What "disintegrates" in periods of rapid transformation is not the self, of course, but its defenses and ideas. We are not objects that can break. As open systems, we are, as Norbert Weiner writes in THE HUMAN USE OF HUMAN BEINGS (Doubleday, 1954), "but whirlpools in a river of overflowing water. We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves." We do not need to protect ourselves from change, for our very nature is change. Defensive self-protection, restricting vision and movement like a suit of armor, makes it harder to adapt; it not only reduces flexibility, but blocks the flow of information we need to survive. Our "going to pieces," however uncomfortable a process, can open us up to new perceptions, new data, new responses. FEELING No matter how safe and comfortable our personal lives or engrossing our private concerns may be, grief for those who suffer now, and may suffer in the future, is present in us all on some level. Given the flows of information circling our globe, our psyches, however inattentive or callous they may appear, have registered the signals of distress. We do not need to be exhorted or scolded into feelings of concern and compassion, for they inhere in us already, by virtue of our nature as open systems, interdependent with the rest of life. We need only to be encouraged and empowered to open our consciousness to the griefs and apprehensions that are within us. We cannot experience these feelings without pain, but it is a healthy pain, like the kind felt as circulation is restored to a limb that has gone "to sleep": it gives evidence that the tissue is still alive. In dealing with these feelings, as with a cramped limb, exercises can help. I have found meditational exercises useful, particularly ones from the Buddhist tradition.. Practices such as the BRAHMAVIHARAS, or "Abodes of the Buddha," designed to increase the capacity to experience such feelings as loving- kindness and compassion, can get us in touch with those concerns in us that extend beyond ego - and, in so doing, with our social despair. In one workshop I led, entitled "Being Bodhisattvas," we did a meditation on compassion which involved giving oneself permission to experience the sufferings of others (imaginatively, but in as concrete a fashion as possible), and then taking these sufferings in with the breath, visualizing them as a dark stream drawn in with each inhalation, into and through the heart. Afterwards, one participant, Marianna, described her experience in this meditation. She had been resistant, and her resistance had localized as a pain in her back.. In encouraging the participants to open themselves to their inner awareness of the sufferings of others, I had primed the pump with some brief verbal cues, mentioning our fellow beings in hospitals and prisons, a mother with dried breasts holding a hungry infant... That image awoke in Marianna an episode she had buried. Three years earlier she had listened to a record by Harry Chapin with a song about a starving child; she had, as she put it, "trouble" with it. She put away the record, never to play it again, and the "trouble" remained undigested. With her recollection of her experience with the song, the pain in her back moved into her chest. It intensified and hardened, piercing her heart. It seemed for a moment excruciating, but as she continued the exercise, accepting and breathing in the pain, it suddenly, inexplicably, felt right, NAM VET Newsletter Page 81 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 felt even good. It turned into a golden cone or funnel, aimed point downwards into the depths of her heart. Through it poured the despair she had refused, griefs reconnecting her with the rest of humanity. Marianna emerged from this experience with a sense of release and empowerment. She felt empowered, she said, not to DO so much as to BE - open, ready to act. She also believed that she had allowed herself to open up because I had not asked her to "do" something about the griefs of others, or to come up with any answers, but only to experience them. Sometimes the blocked emotions of despair become accessible through dreams. A very vivid dream came to me one night after I had spent hours perusing statistics on nuclear pollution: before going to bed, I had leafed through baby pictures of our three children to find a snapshot for my daughter's high-school yearbook. In my dream I behold the three of them as they appeared in the old photos, and I am struck most by the sweet wholesomeness of their flesh... My husband and I are journeying with them across an unfamiliar landscape. The land is becoming dreary, treeless and strewn with rocks; Peggy, the youngest, can barely clamber over the boulders in the path.. Just as the going is getting very difficult, even frightening, I suddenly realize that, by some thoughtless but unalterable prearrangement, their father and I must leave them. I can see the grimness of the way that lies ahead of them, bleak and craggy as a moonscape and with a flesh- burning, sickly tinge to the air. I am maddened with sorrow that my children must face this ordeal without me. I kiss them each and tell them we will meet again, but I know no place to name where we will meet. Perhaps another planet, I say. Innocent of terror, they try to reassure me, ready to be off. Removed, from a height in the sky, I watch them go - three small solitary figures trudging across that angry wasteland, holding one another by the hand and not stopping to look back. In spite of the widening distance, I see with a surrealist's precision the ulcerating of their flesh. I see how the skin bubbles and curls back to expose raw tissue, as they doggedly go forward, the boys helping the little sister across the rocks. I woke up, brushed my teeth, showered, had an early breakfast meeting, took notes for a research proposal. Still the dream would not let me go. As I woke Peggy for school, I sank beside her bed. "Hold me," I said, "I had a bad dream." With my face in her warm nightie, inhaling her fragrance, I found myself sobbing.. I sobbed against her body, against her seventeen-year-old womb, as the knowledge of all that assails it surfaced in me. Statistical studies of the effects of ionizing radiation, columns of figures on cancers and genetic damage, their inutterable import turned into tears - speechless, wracking. What good does it do to let go and allow ourselves to FEEL the possibilities we dread? For all the discomfort, there is healing in such openness, for ourselves and perhaps for our world. To drop our defenses and let grief surface brings not only release but connection. Opening to our despair opens us also to the love that is within us, for it is in deep caring that our anguish is rooted. The caring and connection are real, but we cut ourselves off from their power when we hide from the grief they bring. IMAGING To acknowledge and express our despair, we need images and NAM VET Newsletter Page 82 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 symbols.. Images, more than arguments, tap the springs of consciousness, the creative powers by which we make meaning of experience. In the challenge to survival that we now face, exercise of the imagination is especially necessary, because existing verbal constructs seem inadequate to what many of us are sensing. Recognizing the creative powers of imagery, many call upon us today to come up with visions of a benign future - visions that can beckon and inspire. Images of hope ARE potent, necessary: they can shape our goals and give us impetus for reaching them. Often they are invoked too soon, however, diverting us from painful, but fruitful confrontation with the causes of our crisis and our own deep feelings. Sometimes it takes a while, in the slow alchemy of the soul, for hope to signal, and longer still for it to take form in concrete plans and projects. Genuine visioning happens from the roots up, and right now, for many of us, those roots are shriveled by unacknowledged despair. This is an in- between time: we are groping in the dark, with shattered beliefs and faltering hopes, and we need images for this phase if we are to work through it. Working together in groups is a good way to evoke powerful images to express - and thereby own - our despair. Quaker-style meetings, especially, in which a group sits and shares out of open silence, are an excellent way of letting images appear and interact. In a workshop I once gave on planetary survival, I explored means by which we could share our apprehensions on an effective as well as cognitive level. I asked the participants to offer, as they introduced themselves, a personal experience or image of how, in the past year, the global crisis had impinged on their consciousness. Those brief introductions were potent. Some offered a vignette from work on world hunger or arms. A young physicist simply said, very quietly, "My child was born." A social worker recalled a day her small daughter talked about growing up and having babies; with dull shock she encountered her own doubt that the world would last that long. Some offered images: fishkill washed up at a summer cottage, strip mines leaching like open wounds. Most encompassing in its simplicity was John's image: the view from space of planet Earth, so small that it could be covered by the astronaut's raised thumb. That vision of our home, so finite that it can be blotted out by a single human gesture, functioned as a symbol in our week's work. It touched a raw nerve in us all - desperate concern. In the sharing of despair that our imagery permitted, energy was released which vitalized our work. As pent-up feelings were expressed and compared, there came laughter, solidarity, and a resurgence of commitment to our common human project. In that same workshop, John showed slides of a trek he took up Mount Katahdin with some of his students at Yale. Between two high peaks was a narrow, knife-edge trail that they had to cross: it was scary and dangerous because fog had rolled up, blanketing their destination and everything but the path itself. The picture of that trail, cutting through the clouds into the unknown, became a strong symbol for us, expressing the existential situation in which we find ourselves, and helping us to proceed patiently, even though we can see no more than a step at a time. WAITING NAM VET Newsletter Page 83 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope. For hope would be hope of the wrong thing. --T.S. Eliot And so we wait; even as we work, we wait. Only out of that open expectancy can images and visions arise that strike deep enough to summon our faith in them. "The ability to wait," writes William Lynch, "is central to hope." Waiting does not mean inaction, but staying in touch with our pain and confusion as we act, not banishing them to grab for sedatives, ideologies, or final solutions. Jacob Needleman suggests that part of the great danger in this time of crisis is that we may, in impatience and fear, short-circuit despair - and thereby lose the revelations that may open to us: ... For there is nothing to guarantee that we will be able to remain long enough or deeply enough in front of the unknown, a psychological state which the traditional paths have always recognized as sacred. In that fleeting state between dreams, which is called "despair" in some Western teachings and "self-questioning" in Eastern traditions, a man is said to be able to receive the truth, both about nature and his own possible role in the universal order. In my own feelings of despair, I was haunted by the question, What do you substitute for hope? I had always assumed that a sanguine confidence in the future was essential as oxygen. Without it, I had thought, one would collapse into apathy and nihilism. It puzzled me that in owning my despair, I found the hours I spent working for peace, environmental, and antinuclear causes did not lessen, but rather increased. One day I was talking with Jim Douglass, the theologian and writer who left his university post to devote all his efforts to resisting nuclear weapons; jailed repeatedly for civil disobedience, he is now involved in the citizens' campaign against the Trident submarine. He said, in passing, that he believed we had five years left before it was too late - too late to avert the use of our nuclear arsenal in a first-strike strategy. I reflected on the implications of that remark and watched his face as he squinted in the sun, with an air of presence and serenity I could not fathom. "What do you substitute for hope?," I asked. He looked at me and smiled. "Possibilities," he said. "Possibilities. You can't predict - just make space for them. There are so many." That, too, is a form of waiting, active waiting - moving out along the fog-bound trail, even though we cannot see the way ahead. COMMUNITY When we fact the darkness of our time, openly and together, we tap deep reserves of strength within us. Many of us fear that confrontation with despair will bring loneliness and isolation, but - on the contrary - in the letting go of old defenses, truer community is found. In the synergy of sharing comes power. Joanna Rogers Macy plans to put together a book on despair work. She urges readers to share their own experiences. Write her c/o New Age, 32 Station St.., Brookline Village, MA 02140 NAM VET Newsletter Page 84 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 RECOMMENDED READING Brown, Lester. THE 29TH DAY, W W Norton, 1978 Dabrowski, Kazimierz. POSITIVE DISINTEGRATION. Little Brown 1964 Douglass, James. RESISTANCE AND CONTEMPLATION. Doubleday, 1972 Lifton, Robert. BOUNDARIES. Simon & Schuster, 1967 Lynch, William. IMAGES OF HOPE: IMAGINATION AS HEALER OF THE HOPELESS. University of Notre Dame Press, 1974. Needleman, Jacob. A SENSE OF THE COSMOS: THE ENCOUNTER OF MODERN SCIENCE AND ANCIENT TRUTH. Dutton, 1977. NAM VET Newsletter Page 85 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 MISTAKEN DIAGNOSIS (c) 1983, 1990 by G. Joseph Peck NamVet's Managing Editor East VETLink #1 - Pittsfield, MA (413) 443-6313 Since so many of you have asked "Who IS Joe... and WHAT did he do in the military?", I thought I'd share part of my life with you in the following, somewhat condensed version. -Joe- THE BEGINNING!!! The accident happened during a mission I had volunteered for while I was serving in the U.S. Army. There were four of us in the M-151 jeep that day: Glover and Schaffer were riding in the back seats; Al Brown was doing the driving, and I was in the passenger seat. Having completed our mission, we were enroute to our headquarters camp at Ft. Eustis, Virginia to relay the message that a supply run had to be made to Ft. Lee, Virginia that evening. Knowing that my sergeant wouldn't let me volunteer again if I had had no sleep and wanting very much to be of further service to my Company - feeling the warm afternoon sun gently massage my weary shoulders as I nestled into the crevice between the jeep's plastic window and the outside of the passenger seat, gently rocked by the rhythmic vibration of the tires on the roadway - contented and having no reason to be alarmed, I peacefully drifted off to sleep. Little did any of the four of us realize that only three would return to duty that evening. The next sounds I heard totally bewildered and confused me. "Joey? Joey - it's me, Mommy. Can you hear me?" My mother shouldn't have been in the jeep; she and the rest of my family were all in California. I tried to answer but couldn't. My voice wouldn't work, wouldn't make the sounds I wanted so much to say: "Yes, Mom, I can hear you. Where am I? What's happened? Why are all these tubes in me? Why can't I wake up? How did you get here; why are you here? I know this is all a dream!" Nurses scurried around me; Doctors put me on tables and connected wires to my head; I tried to walk - and fell flat on my face; I tried to remember - and couldn't. Hospital aides were calling me PFC (Private First Class). I knew that wasn't true - I was only a Private. There was a television in the hospital room and being telecast was a program that HAD to be science fiction - an announcer was describing the first spacewalk in history and it was actually being shown. I was in a hospital - and I didn't remember how I got there. This was all a bad dream; soon I would wake up in the front seat of the jeep and it would be all over. The days blurred. Soon my mother was gone - but not before I had begun to speak again, not before I could tell her how much I loved her, not before she would make every attempt humanly possible to trigger the myriad memories of my mind so that I could again be myself ... and not before she explained to me what had happened: Travelling at 55-60 mph the jeep either hit a bump or a ditch in the road causing it to go out of control and, after overturning several times, ejected both Al and myself. Al landed in soft grass along the roadway and, over a hundred feet away, I struck the pavement, reportedly head and right elbow first. With massive head injuries I had been rushed, Mom thought by helicopter, to De NAM VET Newsletter Page 86 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Witt Army Hospital in Ft. Belvoir, VA for emergency treatment and my mother had been flown from California by the American Red Cross to be at my side after the Army doctors had given me a 90-to-10 chance of surviving and I had been given the Final Rites of my religion. For almost a month I had been in and out of a coma and, during that near-month, I had been promoted to PFC. Finally, the TV program WAS for real! I had temporarily regained consciousness during the first spacewalk by American astronauts. I was NOT having a bad dream. As the tears on my face dried away, so, too, lifted the fog that had clouded my existence for what seemed a lifetime. The road ahead of me was really going to be a tough one - for I couldn't walk well, couldn't talk well, couldn't coordinate my body's movements well, didn't feel in the best of physical conditions, nor could I even think clearly. But I was glad to be alive, glad to have a second chance at this beautiful thing called Life. I would try, and try hard, to be a complete self again - no matter how long it took. For over eighteen and a half years I think I've been one of the most grateful people alive. I've often wondered, though, if the name of the city in which the accident happened hasn't been trying to tell me something. You see, the accident happened 13 Mar 65 in DAWN, Virginia - and it's been like waking up ever since. THE DREAM There is a blackness surrounding me. I can feel my presence, my being, my selfness. I know I am here. I know I am me. I cannot see me but I know I am me. I am walking and it is as though there is someone watching me, talking with me, asking me to give an accounting of my being. There is someone beside me here - yet I don't know who unless, of course, it is God, the God who is judging me and authoritatively saying what I should and shouldn't do. I cannot hear any sound - only thoughts. They seem piercing, cutting through the soft tissue of my brain, right to the central core of ME. I am part of something yet I do not know what. There is movement. I am moving into a structure. It is white with a type of clapboard siding. There is a porch and, on each side of the porch - which has a green railing, by the way - there is a window. There is brightness around the house. I enter; how I don't know. I am inside the front door. On the right of me is a room containing a print-covered sofa, a mahogany buffet and, also mahogany, a small table on which sits a lamp, turned on and making the room artificially bright. I have the feeling that it is again dark outside. There is no one in the room. In the room to my left there is a large oaken or mahogany table. There is a white lace tablecloth on it but I can see the table through it. Chairs - 8 of them - are around the table. They are mahogany-like "captain's chairs". In the center of the table is a candelabra holding five lit candles. There is another mahogany buffet (or dresser, if you will) in the room and, covered in the same print-type covering, a chair. Actually the overstuffed chair is covered in some kind of dirty-white material - I can't see any discernible design or print on it. The floors of both rooms are carpeted with thick-piled carpets. I cannot see my feet - yet I can sense how they feel walking across the floor, as if there is a great, soft cushion underneath me. There is "give" to each of my steps as I place one foot in front of the other - continuing on. There is blackness again. Suddenly I am in a very dark room NAM VET Newsletter Page 87 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 with only myself. I can feel no other presence. It is me - and me alone - who now stands here. I feel no fear - just curiosity. Where am I? What am I doing here? It is as if my eyes are adjusting to the darkness. I can make out some features of the room I am now in. Everything is covered in dark, dark purple velvet-like material. I am standing in something like an anteroom, a foyer, for off to my left, raised about six to twelve inches higher than the floor I am standing on, is another seemingly-large room. Somehow I have the feeling that I'm in a funeral parlor. I cannot see into the other room. I start to turn my head to the right to see what else is around me. There is a table - also covered in dark, dark purple velvet-like material. It has chrome legs. On the table is a box - approximately 18" x 18" x 18". It, too, is covered in dark, dark velvet-like material. It is a perfectly square box - and it is open. Inside, shining white, a polished-ivory kind of white, is a shining skull sitting on about a 2 or 3 inch pedestal. The skull is laughing. I can hear it inside my brain. I can see it. I can see the teeth in the upper and lower jaws - the teeth are where they normally should be; there are none of them missing. The skull continues to laugh... and laugh... and laugh. A feeling of apprehension, of fear, of intimidation comes over me. I cannot bear looking at the skull. I reach over the table, panicky, grab the open door of the box and try to close it. It won't close. The skull continues to laugh and laugh and laugh with a voiceless laughter. Now I hear the words: "We'll give you until January 28th." I try harder and harder to close the box, to stop the words, to stop the fear, but to no avail. With a fear akin to that of a feeling of impending doom and disaster, struggling with all my might to close the box and stifle the voice that keeps repeating the same words, over and over, I wake up. It has been said that the dream is part of our natural equipment and that our nature reacts when we interfere with this process. Our whole system functions in terms of tension and relaxation of tension, inhaling and exhaling, ingestion and digestion, and impressions, during our waking life. Further, the dream is said to be the exhaling, the digestive process of our human experience. If, though, the dream is said to be nature's way of psychologically exhaling, the digestive process of life experiences, what then of the "recurrent" dream - the one that persists for years and years without apparent resolution? The "dream" - save for the time I was busily gaining an education - has regularly occurred around the twelfth or thirteenth of most every month since late-March, 1965. And so, being the confused recipient of the physical symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, and of many other tests and evaluations, feeling my "existence" as secure as standing on a moss-covered wood-shingled roof on a rainy day - or as permanent as shifting sands, I became the participant in a brand-new stage of my life. THE HOSPITALIZATION As the "fog" that had so suddenly enveloped me 13 Mar 65 began to dissipate and a gradual awareness of my surrounding began to become clear and clearer, so also came the awareness that I was alone, there was no familiarity with ANY of my physical surroundings... and that I was beginning to feel a great "fear" and "lack of security" (the dream didn't help, either). All I wanted was to go back to my Duty Station, be with my Company, be NAM VET Newsletter Page 88 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 in familiar surroundings, assure myself that I was not dreaming. On April 1, 1965, after promises by ward personnel of De Witt Army Hospital to "return me to duty" remained unfulfilled, and fearing that another, more disorienting - and possibly fatal - experience was eminent, I walked out of the hospital and, as my military training had taught me, was returning to duty when I was apprehended by Ft. Belvoir, VA Military Police. How quickly caring and concerned treatment suddenly changed to the kind that was harsh and abusive and lacked understanding. Treated as though a common criminal, though I hadn't done anything except to try to return to duty, my right arm was wrenched backwards by Military Policemen and my right wrist placed just below the back of my neck in preparation for the application of handcuffs (it was my right arm that was injured in the accident) when, fortunately for me, an officer intervened and, upon his instructions, the handcuffs were put away and I was allowed to ride back to the hospital in the Officer's car rather than in a jeep with the MP's - which was similar to the one in which I had been riding when the accident occurred. A change from "treatment" to "punishment" ensued before my April 2, 1965 transfer to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. There seemed to be absolutely nothing I could do without supervision, without being watched very closely, without being told that I was going to be transferred to the "Looney Bin" - the "Nut Ward". The words still rang in my ears as I cautiously got into the ambulance that was going to take me there, noticing, with apprehension, the wire mesh separating the driver from the rear and the burly attendant who sat alongside me, silently seeming to say: "Just try to get away again and..." I was placed on a Neurology/Psychiatry ward at Walter Reed Army Hospital and, out of an estimated 130-160 patients, there was only myself and one other soldier there for neurological reasons, the rest assumedly there for final disposition before their "Section Eight's" - a military designation for "Mental Incapacity to further serve in the U.S. Military." Locks on the doors, locks on the windows, being allowed no matches or anything with which I could do harm to myself, and watched as though I were in a fish bowl, my every movement, action, reaction being recorded somewhere (though I knew not where), I spent my first few weeks in a "closed ward" and was later moved to the less-restrictive, more-trusting, "open ward" - where I could have matches, could wander around the hospital grounds, could go to the mess hall - like everyone else, instead of having my meals brought in on an ever-cold serving cart - and choose my own meals, could go to occupational therapy... where I discovered, for myself, the extent of damage to my physical coordination, my typing abilities, etc. All the skills and abilities that I had worked so hard to build and perfect were gone. Soon, in the first weeks of June, 1965 I was to receive a convalescent leave. As the end of that "leave" appeared on my horizon, though, I began to experience an overwhelming fear of returning to an environment which was not only strange but constantly pressured me to be "Normal" when I found it difficult to even walk a straight line. Heavily pressing, adding weight, to those fears was a very strong fear of suicide, an almost overwhelming desire to take my own life rather than return to an environment that labeled and treated me as though I was mentally deficient and should be locked up for the rest of my life. In long distance telephone calls from California - and in telegrams - I communicated with the doctors NAM VET Newsletter Page 89 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 at Walter Reed Army Hospital and described my feelings of fear and despondency and asked that I be allowed to admit myself to a local Veterans Administration hospital or the nearest Army base. The requests were denied and I was told that I must return to Walter Reed or face being charged with being AWOL. - whereupon Military Police would pick me up at my residence and all costs of such action would be deducted from my military pay or, if I was not to receive any, would be billed to my parents. The fear persisted - as did my pleas for help in coping with it. Telegrams were sent and more telephone calls were made until a doctor was reached who told me "If you want help, you've got to have the courage to come back to where you can be helped." For me, it took much personal courage to, once again, face confinement and constant analysis of my every move and verbal expression, to live in an environment where few people understood and many threatened harm if I didn't do as they wished, when I didn't do anything wrong to deserve it - but I DID return. Upon my return to Walter Reed I learned that my calls and telegrams for "help" had been both misinterpreted and distorted as I was told: "You can't manipulate people any longer. You're here and you're going to do what you're told or you're going back up to the locked ward." There was no commendation for overcoming the terror of self-destructive impulses and tendencies which I very alarmingly became aware of and experienced, nor did there seem to be other than a stone-cold response to my pleas for understanding and help in dealing with something very frightening and totally unfamiliar to me - but, instead, I was informed that paperwork for my separation from the Army was being prepared and that I should make arrangements with my previous employer to return. My Army career "washed up" - in spite of the fact that my military record showed an exceptional rating on the initial battery of intelligence and aptitude tests; a leader in Basic Training and above-average military performance; a leader in Signal School - in addition to extracurricular educational activities (College Level G.E.D. taken and successfully completed; U.S.A.F.I. course in electronics); "Graduate With Honour" in my Radio Relay & Carrier Operations School; Company Training and Supply Clerk while at Ft. Eustis, VA; upon Commanding Officers suggestion, support and recommendation (after I had declined offer of nomination to West Point Military Academy "from the ranks"), initial paperwork requesting attendance at Officers Candidate School, Ft. Benning, GA had been submitted - I was to start Sergeants (NCO) School, Ft. Eustis, VA 15 Mar 65 as the first step in preparation for my attendance at Officers Candidate School; and, further attesting to my performance as a valued soldier, while still in a coma (resultant action of the 13 Mar 65 accident) I was promoted to PFC E-3. "Washed Up", I was returned to duty with the recommendation that I be discharged from Active Duty because I was "Unsuitable - due to conditions pre-existing enlistment; Schizophrenic, with hallucinations and delusions." LABELS A label is something which functions as a means of identifying something else. Applied in a positive manner to the self, it can accomplish great and wonderful things and can give rise to accomplishments far beyond even one's wildest imaginings. Applied in a negative manner, or in error, the label can do great and destructive damage to one's self and the people immediately surrounding that self... sometimes irreparable damage. NAM VET Newsletter Page 90 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Labeled as "Schizophrenic - with hallucinations and delusions"; discharged from the U.S. Army because of their collective assessment that the label was correct, complaining of unpredictable losses of balance, headaches - predominantly centered around the temporal regions of my skull and an occasional loss of control of my eyes (they would, quite rapidly and in opposite directions, sort of "flutter", involuntarily jerk or roll) and other things, I was to discover the weight a label applied to me during one of the most confusing times of my life by the U.S. Army could have in biasing the treatment I received from the Veterans Administration. The "label", too, was to have an effect upon my employment opportunities because employers, the "sharp" ones, the ones having the "good" jobs, always checked my military record. The "label" was wrong, I knew it, but no matter what I did, no matter what I said, no matter how much - by my actions or by my words - I tried to prove that it was wrong, my efforts only seemed further justification, further verification of the original Army label. My trying to prove the Army wrong, though, was to lead me into many, many areas where, before the incorrect diagnosis, I would never have attempted to walk, to try to accomplish something in, or to even think about. ANOTHER HOSPITAL The hospital looked cold and forbidding, frigid and sterile. Inside those unfeeling and uncaring walls I assumed that there waited for me the same type of medical treatment and psychiatric misinterpretations that I had consistently received for the past several years. I really saw no reason, or had had any experiences, to justify my believing that there really do exist caring and concerned doctors, nurses and aides in the medical profession. The Veterans Administration was finally checking into what I'd been saying all these years, finally planning to give me some thorough testing in an attempt to locate the reasons for my many years of the same general complaints. Perhaps they could also find out why I blacked out behind the wheel of my car. Whether I wanted to or not, for the protection of my family's future and my own peace of mind, and in compliance with the Orders of the Board of Veterans Appeals in Washington, DC, I had to go into this dreaded place - a stone repository of so many traumatic memories and destroyed hopes for the future. Was I ever in for a surprise!!! As I had learned since my accident, the human brain, after being subjected to a severe shock - such as a blow to the head - will sometimes "shut down" - sort of cease to function - and go to sleep for awhile, sometimes quite awhile. Upon awakening there is usually a period of disorientation and lapses in and out of consciousness for the individual unfortunate enough to have had the experience and, if there is even a slight trace of a person's identity - their "self" - great effort is expended in trying to re-identify with reality, to reestablish oneself with the world. It was "my" brain, "my" self, and "my" body that "shut down" for almost a month, nearly 25 years ago and, after regaining consciousness, fully, I soon discovered that my body and my thought processes were quite different from what they used to be before "shut down." No matter how hard I tried, what prayer I prayed, or what magic trick I attempted to use, "Life" - as I knew it before the accident - would not return. Doctors, apparently NAM VET Newsletter Page 91 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 unfamiliar with the processes of the human brain and confusing the physical manifestations of my post traumatic confusional state with the physical symptoms of schizophrenia - apparently not reading correctly the results of the electroencephalograms given me in the period immediately following the 13 Mar 65 accident - and not having had the benefit of knowing me previous to the time of the accident and my subsequent treatment, incorrectly labeled me as "schizophrenic - with hallucinations and delusions," unaware of the strenuous and exhausting battle that was taking place inside the shell of my body; unaware of the damaging effects that would result from that erroneous label; unaware, too, as was I, that, as a normal person, unfortunately mislabeled, the battle to prove myself sane, mentally correct and healthy, and NOT schizophrenic, would strengthen me beyond my wildest imaginings in areas I had never considered. Hurting inside, unable to manipulate my body with the precise coordination I once possessed, and slowly becoming aware of the new person, physically, I had become, I was returned to duty with the recommendation from Walter Reed Army Hospital - the Army's Finest - that I be discharged because I was "Unsuitable for Military Service," not taking into consideration what I had been through, nor the locked ward that I had been mistakenly placed in, or the unspoken inference by the Department of the Army that I was a psychiatric case by their placement of me in the Neurology/Psychiatry ward with only myself and one other soldier there for neurological reasons; nor, did it seem, was the Department of the Army aware that their "recommendation" would even further damage any healthy image of myself I was so desperately trying to reconstruct or that it would tend to "bias" any form of treatment I was to receive in the future from any Veterans Administration doctor or other person who had need to check my past medical/military history. About six months after my discharge from the military, the veil shrouding my perceptions of reality began to clear and I began to realize what had happened to me. I wrote to the military, received an unsatisfactory reply asking me to contact my nearest reenlistment office so that I could reenlist, and soon checked myself into a Veterans Administration hospital for treatment because I was finding it VERY difficult to adjust, to sleep at nights, to live and be part of the world I was so fortunate enough to have a second chance at. It was then I found, to my dismay and frustration, that unless the diagnosis of the military was corrected, I could expect an insensitive ear from any doctor I spoke with or was examined by. As for "benefits" and my "military career": "Why you're lucky to have your freedom! Just think - you don't even have to serve any Reserve time. You're free, you can go wherever you want, do whatever you want." Records, though, don't get changed easily, and one's pleas, one's pointing things out logically or explaining the workings of the human brain, don't change a thing and are looked at as only further confirmation that the allegedly erroneous original diagnosis was correct. It was something akin to what happens to a child, let's say, who is hard of hearing and who is labeled as "dull-witted; feebleminded." It almost doesn't make any difference what the child says or does, for the way the child is going to be treated depends upon the label that has been placed on him. The many, many ensuing years, for me, would be replete with doctors who would dismiss my complaints of loss of balance, headaches, neck pain, and a varied assortment of minor complaints as only NAM VET Newsletter Page 92 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 another hallucination, delusion, somatic complaint or manifestation of a nonexistent schizophrenic personality. The years, too, would be filled with heartache and pain and being misunderstood, and ever-present, that desire to end-it-all, to cease the hurt I felt, to escape the situation I was in. That is, UNTIL I became a patient of Dr. Michael P. Alexander. After being hospitalized, I soon discovered the many, many tests that exist to determine the condition of the human brain; tests that, in all my years of complaining and requesting treatment from the Veterans Administration, possibly because of the original Department of the Army diagnosis, I had never been given (except for a simple electroencephalogram and pin pricks to my extremities) - and how the human body is, in actuality, a big electronic circuit that can be measured and tested and diagnosed and, sometimes, repaired. There are tests which measure the electrical activity of the brain - both while awake and while asleep - and tests which record the level of a person's hearing, the range of their eye movements, their muscle movements, their breathing, their heart rate, and almost even their thoughts. Dr. Alexander put me through them all - and then some - and added a few others of his own, such as walking or skipping with my eyes closed, etc. We talked of the many, many years I had been asking for proper testing and diagnostics to be applied in my case; of the fervent wish that the things that were bothering me WERE only somatic and COULD go away with just words or sugar pills, that they might only exist in my mind. We talked, too, of his deep patient care and concern and that if, possibly, I might have been incorrectly diagnosed, he would do everything he could to straighten things out. "Are there REALLY doctors within the Veterans Administration- System who honestly, sincerely care about their patients? Do I dare put my trust in another doctor, especially a doctor within the system that is partially responsible for perpetuating the 'hell' I've been going through all these years?", I asked myself, wanting to trust, wanting to be believed, wanting to be finally, after all these years, heard. "Can I really trust - or will I, like water on the beach, be smashed against the rocks?" With many things to think about, many feelings to sort out, I walked down the hospital corridor... and almost fell across the patient who had just been wheeled out of his room. All he could do was lay there in the chair; right arm, shriveled, pulled in towards the center of his body. Something about him, though, was familiar; gave me a feeling of "de ja vu" - like I'd been before where he was now. How accurate, sometimes, "first impressions" are! His name was Jimmy. He was 19. While on duty, someplace in Tennessee, he was thrown from a vehicle, hitting his head and right arm, and, after some very scary times for his mother, he was now on his road to recovery from a long period of coma. Jimmy, too, had a tracheotomy - as I had - and, as I spoke with him, I saw a glimmer of awareness spark within him. How grateful I suddenly became - and how quickly aware of how far *I* had come since the accident: I no longer walked as though I had been drinking - slurring my speech; I could say complete sentences now without pausing to remember how to form the words I was trying to say; I could use my right arm almost as good as my left; I NAM VET Newsletter Page 93 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 could eat and drink fluids without them running out of the right side of my mouth; and, if a person didn't know any better, I could pass for a normal, everyday, undamaged human being. I showed Jimmy my trach scar; talked to him of how, where he was, so, too, once was I - and where I was now he, too, could someday be - but he had to TRY, he had to mobilize every resource within himself, know that there IS a God who DOES hear him and WILL help him, and learn to count on himself and the God he believes in. Jimmy's mother told me, too, of how he had been given the Final Rites of his religion, of how she had been by his side and refused to accept it when she was told by the military doctors in Tennessee that Jimmy would not make it. Jimmy and I spent a lot of time together while I was there in that hospital. When I was discharged he was well on his way to recovery - alert and able to, a little bit, move his hands, feed himself, mouth words -- especially "Thank You." Jimmy's going to make it, I know. I've been there too and, Thank God, I was able to help one person at least start HIS way back knowing that he's not travelling an untraveled road, that someone else pushed one staggering foot in front of another, mouthed - as though for the first time, but with recollections of having done it before - words... and finally spoke and walked and ran and did more than he ever thought possible. "Trust??" If not the doctors - I could trust ME - and "trust me" to help him I did. THE RESULTS OF THE TESTS The tests Dr. Alexander put me through DID reveal the incorrect diagnosis of 18 years previous: Damage to the brain stem - the areas in which my headaches centralized themselves; the unpredictable losses of balance, and the results of many extensive tests and evaluations indicated a previously undiagnosed medical case of a mild form of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy coupled with the Military's incorrect diagnosis of a post-traumatic confusional state. In Dr. Alexander's words: "Our impressions are as follows: 1) he had a significant head injury with a posttraumatic confusional state and/or personality change; 2) that posttraumatic state was incorrectly diagnosed as schizophrenia - there is NO evidence of schizophrenia; 3) he has posttraumatic vestibular disturbance; 4) he has posttraumatic cervical osteoarthritis with secondary chronic neck pain and tension headaches; 5) he has an ulnar neuropathy; 6) he has a personality disorder which has elements of postconcussive syndrome... He is limited by neck pain and by his minor but definite balance impairment. He has no intellectual limitations." And, true to his word, Dr. Alexander has done everything he can to help clear my record, give me a chance at the future, and straighten things out. So, too, have the rest of the personnel at the Veterans Administration Hospital - each and every one - doctors, nurses, aides, and other patients... all had a part, an important part, in changing what once was, for me, a nightmare, a dark and dreary, gloomy memory into something valuable, something that CAN help others - and already has. As a result of the extensive testing and reports of the examinations I underwent while in the hospital, I attended Junior College, then went on to achieve my Bachelor's Degree. Finally I was being given the chance that was taken from me long, long ago; finally having NAM VET Newsletter Page 94 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 nothing to feel I should hide on applications for employment; finally not having to spend my life defending myself and my every judgement; and, most important, finally knowing that I was right all along, that I hadn't fought the battle, all the years I did, for nothing - for some crazy figment of my imagination. I was okay!!! As I left Boston's Veterans Administration Hospital in 1983, I noticed within myself a warm and welcoming sense of being, a spring to my steps, and an exhilaration that made me want to shout, at the top of my voice, "World, THANK YOU! I'm Okay! You finally agreed with me, you finally listened to what I've been trying to tell you all these years! I was right all along, I tried to tell you - but you, understandably because of that label, ignored me and wouldn't listen. There was nothing mentally wrong with me - except that which was created in my attempt to overcome that erroneous label - it was all physical, and now you've got the tests, finally the tests that I've asked for all along that prove it. I'm okay, world! Didya hear that??? I'm okay!!!" ALL doctors are not unfeeling and uncaring, insensitive and unconcerned. There ARE doctors, and nurses, and aides, and patients who refuse to believe "labels" - look beyond them to see if there might be other causes. And they CAN work miracles. I know. A NOTE OF THANKS In the many volumes of Greek Mythology is told the story of Prometheus and how he and the entire world was punished for his theft of fire by bestowing upon mankind its first woman, Pandora. Entrusted with a box containing all the ills that could plague mankind, curious Pandora opened the box and thereby unleashed misery, devastation, and calamity upon us all. Sometimes feeling lonely, lost, and that I, like Prometheus, was being punished - in ways I couldn't understand - for something I couldn't even remember doing, I spent many tearful hours before my typewriter reconstructing, reliving, remembering, and re- experiencing some of the most traumatic happenings of my life in order that, finally, I might put them to rest and get on with the business of living, to its fullest extent, the amount of Life that is left to me. The efforts to have the erroneous label removed from me lasted almost as long as I was old at the time of my enlistment in the U.S. Army - 19 years - and involved many, many more experiences than just the few I've written about here - among them including my successful battle against the Small Business Administration for a small business loan; my successful battle against the State of Connecticut for reimbursement of the cost of materials stolen from my Company truck; my unsuccessful battles (many, many of them) for custody of the children of my first marriage. There is still time to write about them, I understand that, and everything doesn't HAVE to be done today. Before my 1983 hospital stay, though, patience was not one of my strong personal characteristics. The hard part is in now realizing that, through all that's happened to me, EXPERIENCE has taught me to "start at the top - and work down." Prospective employers aren't really comfortable with that. Even today (10 Jul 90) I still have great trouble finding even the most menial of jobs. Maybe, though, I'll get better... NAM VET Newsletter Page 95 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 One of the most difficult things for me to do is to say "Thank You" to the people who have wrenched open that "Pandora's Box" I kept so tightly closed - afraid to look inside - away from a prying world who, I felt, would further condemn me when they saw what was in there; difficult - because I can't say "Thank You" enough to convey the feelings of gratitude that, finally, I may peacefully lay to rest a misunderstood, destructive Giant who would have destroyed me had it not have been for my God, my faith in Him, and my belief that, no matter how terrible, difficulties are only blessings in disguise; difficult - because it's hard for me to see through the tears when I let in sink in that I'm REALLY okay, that there was nothing as bad wrong with me as a confused bureaucracy said there was, and that I'm just an ordinary person who had a big mountain to climb - a big mountain with many tempting detours, many reasons to be angry, much that would be destroyed if I expressed that anger, many good people, and many hours spent reading, researching, hoping and praying for the answers, the words that could explain to someone else how, inside of me, I felt - and I've climbed that mountain one painful step at a time. Above all - to God goes my thanks! This report would never have been done had it not been for the caring and concerned medical/neurological treatment rendered me by Dr. Michael P. Alexander, M.D. Chief, Aphasia/Neurobehavior Unit Department of Neurology Boston VA Medical Center; nor could it have been done without the additional loving support of my precious wife, Georgia, the understanding - and sometimes quietness - of my children: David, George, and Rosa; the hopes of my other children: Michael and Kimberly; and would not have found its way onto these pages without the support and understanding of my many, many friends - ESPECIALLY those I've found here in NamVet and in the International Vietnam Veterans EchoConference "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered... no one there!" NAM VET Newsletter Page 96 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 ================================================================= I V V E C & N a m V e t - W H E R E ? ================================================================= The NAM VET Roll Call The following are the current locations where the NamVet newsletter and Annual editions are currently sent and, as I understand it, available for Bark/Wazoo File Requests. FidoNet & AlterNet Nodes: ------------------------ Scott McKnight 1:389/2001 Blytheville, Arkansas Todd Looney 1:143/27 San Jose, California Mike Nelson 1:125/20 Burlingame, California Greg Peters 1:103/232 La Mirada, California Sam Saulys 1:141/488 Branford, Connecticut Bob Morris 1:141/333 West Haven, Connecticut Jay Benton 1:150/290 Dover, DE John McCorkle 1:369/10 Fort Lauderdale, Florida Charles Harper 1:370/10 West Athens, Georgia Gene Clayton 1:161/414 Kauai, Hawaii Gordon Kaough 1:380/5 Lake Charles, LA Mort Sternheim 1:321/109 Amherst, Massachusetts G. Joseph Peck 1:321/203 Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pete Farias 1:321/210 Pittsfield, Massachusetts Vern Pero 1:321/212 Dalton, Massachusetts Jim Henthorn 1:261/1044 Baltimore, Maryland Bob Rudolph 1:261/0 Reisterstown, Maryland Wayne Parrish 1:308/20 Alamogordo, New Mexico Chuck Haynes 1:308/60 Alamogordo, New Mexico Ken Flory 1:305/11 Las Cruces, New Mexico Tom Mickus 1:480/114 Toronto, Ontario, Canada Bob Currie 1:105/204 Milwaukie, Oregon Ed Brant 1:152/11 Fall Creek, Oregon Luis Salazar 1:367/16 San Juan, P.R. Jerry Hindle 7:48/0 Stratford Heights, Tennessee Aaron Schmiedel 1:124/4106 Dallas, Texas Carrie Brown 1:130/10 Fort Worth, Texas Rick Edwards 1:106/113 Houston, Texas Bob Davis 1:106/116 Houston, Texas Art Fellner 1:106/437 Missouri City, Texas Ray Moreau 1:109/316 Herndon, Virginia Jim Barth 1:350/21 Brownsville, Washington Ralph Sims 1:350/341 Grapeview, Washington Rick Ayers 1:128/22 Colorado Springs, Colorado Paul Keefrider 1:128/54 Colorado Springs, Colorado Dan Gallat 1:128/60 Colorado Springs, Colorado Yasha Kida 1:151/305 Fayetteville, North Carolina Other Nets: ---------- Martin Kroll MetroLink Chatsworth, GA Lefty Frizzell RelayNet Houston, Texas Ed Lucas QuickLink Houston, Texas Edward Green Shop Qbbs Exeter, NH (603)778-1698 Areas not covered: If *-YOUR-* BBS is in any of the areas listed below *-AND-* you NAM VET Newsletter Page 97 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 have the NAM VET available for File Requests, please let us know your BBS (and SysOp) Name, its net/node number (if any), and its telephone number so that we might be able to direct a user in *-YOUR-* area to you. - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - Australian Continent - All European Continent - All Alabama Alaska Arizona Calgary, Canada Colorada Delaware Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Maine Minnesota Wisconsin Mississippi Missouri Connecticut Montana Nebraska New Jersey Nevada North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Pennsylvania South Carolina South Dakota Utah Vancouver, B.C Vermont Washington, D.C. West Virginia Winnipeg, Canada Wyoming NAM VET Newsletter Page 98 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 International Vietnam Veterans EchoConference Nodelist The following list of bulletin board systems throughout the United States and Canada host the International Vietnam Veterans' EchoConference (IVVEC). If you are a host system and do not find your name on this list, please contact Todd Looney, NamVet's Managing Editor West, Vietnam Veterans' Valhalla, FidoNet 1:143/27, (408) 298-2740 -or- G. Joseph Peck, NamVet's Managing Editor East, VETLink #1, FidoNet 1:321/203, (413) 443-6313 both at 3/12/24/9600 baud. If you see a system in this list which is not currently hosting the IVVEC, please drop a note in either IVVEC or by E-mail to either Managing Editor. Net/Node Name, City Telephone No Baud ========= ================================= ============== == 7:520/563 3 EEE's BBS, Clifton NJ Ed Edell 1-201-340-3531 96 107/563 EEE's BBS Clifton NJ Ed Edell 1-201-340-3531 96 141/488 Alice's Restaurant Branford CT 1-203-488-1115 24 141/250 Wilton Woods Wilton, CT 1-203-762-8481 96 124/201 Hardwired Dallas, TX 1-204-931-2987 24 344/117 LSO QuickBBS, Everett WA 1-206-334-3088 96 344/9 The Precedent, Everett WA 1-206-355-1295 ? 138/35 US HDS Human Service Seattle, WA 1-206-442-8127 24 343/26 AFMINS BBS 1-206-488-4309 96 343/111 Lessor Puget TB Edmonds, WA 1-206-742-8067 24 138/52 Burrell's Ballpark Tacoma, WA 1-206-752-4672 24 138/4 PTC Net Mount Vernon, WA 1-206-757-5248 24 138/49 The Cohort Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-2646 96 138/101 Story Board Puyallup, WA 1-206-848-5317 96 138/3 Reg17 ADVISOR EMERITUS Puyallup WA 1-206-848-9232 24 200/200 CSULB Long Beach, CA 1-213-494-8737 12 200/100 The Board Room Belmont Shores CA 1-213-498-6425 24 124/117 NCC-1701 Node 1 Dallas, TX 1-214-240-8821 24 124/106 CHAI Way II Dallas, TX 1-214-250-3323 96 136/200 The Chai Way II Austin, TX 1-214-358-3738 24 124/4210 Hardwired Dallas TX 1-214-437-4075 96 124/110 Flying Dutchman Dallas, TX 1-214-642-3436 96 124/14 Chrysalis Dallas, TX 1-214-985-9054 24 157/501 The PC-Key BBS Girard OH 1-216-545-9205 24 157/1 Auer Register Cleveland, OH 1-216-883-0578 24 227/1 Michiana TechLine Mishawaka, IN 1-219-258-0286 96 227/150 The SX Project Whiting IN 1-219-659-2711 24 13/33 Avi-Technic Lutherville, MD 1-301-252-0717 96 109/648 Falcon's Rock College Park, MD 1-301-345-7459 24 261/1004 The PainFrame 1-301-488-7461 ? 13/30 The Futurists BBS Perry Hall, MD 1-301-529-0716 96 109/717 Tin Badge BBS Silver Spring, MD 1-301-589-2016 12 109/722 Ronnie's Roadies, Camp Springs MD 1-301-736-0135 12 261/628 Liberty Hall Reisterstown, MD 1-301-833-8933 24 261/1044 Firestation BBS, Baltimore, MD 1-301-866-8613 24 261/1007 FINAL FRONTIER 1-301-947-4404 ? 104/51 P2 B2 South Denver, CO 1-303-329-3337 24 104/28 Pinecliff BBS Boulder, CO 1-303-444-7073 24 128/16 Firenet Leader Colorado Springs CO 1-303-591-9600 24 128/22 Electric Locksmith Clrdo Spg CO 1-719-392-2960 96 128/54 Military Connection Clrdo Spg CO 1-719-591-5924 96 128/60 Falc-A-Traz Colorado Springs CO 1-719-380-8813 96 104/739 The Phoenix Parker, CO 1-303-841-9570 24 NAM VET Newsletter Page 99 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 135/35 The Sober Way Out BBS Miami, FL 1-305-445-6917 24 135/27 Bitsy's Place Miami Beach FL 1-305-865-0495 96 232/4 Runways End OPUS Peoria, IL 1-309-691-5416 96 115/20 North Shore BBS Evanston, IL 1-312-491-2611 24 115/529 Elk Grove Repeater Elk Grv Vlg IL 1-312-529-1586 24 115/761 ICS/TRIX 1 OPUS Chicago, IL 1-312-761-7887 24 11/202 SouthSide BBS Indianapolis, IN 1-317-882-9330 12 380/5 Duffy's Tavern Recovery Board 1-318-436-2992 96 285/622 Friend's BBS Omaha, NE Joan Renne 1-402-896-2669 24 370/5 Athens Forum Athens, GA 1-404-546-7857 96 370/11 Classic City Vet's Conf, Athens, GA1-404-548-0130 ? 370/10 Classic Quick Echo, Athens, GA 1-404-548-0726 24 128/13 COSUG-Colorado's User Clrdo Spg CO 1-719-633-4563 24 385/6 Bink's Barn Lawton, OK 1-405-357-2473 24 385/4 Info-Net Lawton, OK 1-405-357-6181 24 147/14 Dark Star TBBS Oklahoma City, OK 1-405-691-0863 96 363/10 Midas Touch Orlando, FL 1-407-648-1133 24 363/9 MaMaB--Mark's Bedroom, Orlanda, FL 1-407-894-0807 96 157/506 Beacon Hill OPUS Transfer, PA 1-412-962-9514 24 321/109 PIONEER VALLEY PCUG #1 Amherst, MA 1-413-256-1037 96 321/203 VETLink #1 Pittsfield, MA 1-413-443-6313 96 321/210 Berkshire_Estates Pittsfield, MA 1-413-499-1327 96 125/78 Living Sober BBS San Mateo, CA 1-415-342-2859 24 125/20 SeaHunt BBS, Burlington, CA 1-415-343-5904 96 143/27 VN Vets Valhalla, San Jose, CA 1-408-298-2740 96 161/208 G.A.D.M. Multi-User Hayward, CA 1-415-581-3019 24 125/31 Echo Coord San Francisco CA 1-415-621-5206 96 161/56 Nat'l Family Forum Freemont, CA 1-415-651-4147 24 161/1 Nerd's Nook Concord CA 1-415-672-2504 96 161/509 Enterprize Pinole, CA 1-415-758-1650 24 161/7 Mover Mouse BBS Fremont, CA 1-415-883-1644 24 11/700 FCAU IBM Net Toronto, ON 1-416-427-0682 96 148/120 Genetic Research Vat Toronto ON 1-416-480-0551 24 14/703 Telen-Quest BBS 1-417-882-5108 ? 19/43 McScott's BBS, Blytheville AR 1-502-532-6212 96 105/61 Shotgun OPUS Portland, OR 1-503-760-4521 24 105/16 Net 105 EchoMail Hub Portland, OR 1-503-761-3003 24 305/105 Desert Dolphin, Las Cruces, NM 1-505-523-2811 96 322/230 Denis's OPUS, Ayer, MA (Ft.Devins) 1-508-772-6373 ? 382/1 Crystal Palace Lake Travis, TX 1-512-339-8037 24 387/401 Comp-U-Gen II San Antonio TX 1-512-496-9373 24 387/601 NCOA Intl BBS San Antonio TX 1-512-653-0409 24 382/14 Corona Del Mar Rockport, TX 1-512-729-7026 96 110/20 EDS Data Dayton, OH 1-513-455-2431 24 221/156 Waterloo CBCS PUBLIC Waterloo, ON 1-519-746-5020 96 153/130 VETSTAR (Northwest) 1-602-462-8752 24 114/13 Corwin's Keep Tempe AZ 1-602-644-0179 24 132/101 BBS Source Archive Nashua, NH 1-603-888-8179 24 153/123 DAETECH Burnaby BC 1-604-420-2641 96 153/133 Hot Line Data Network Langley BC 1-604-533-0421 24 220/20 Old Frog's Almanac Nanaimo BC 1-604-758-3072 24 153/508 Ebenezer Christian BBS Mission BC 1-604-826-6607 96 108/50 The ZOO BBS Independence, KY 1-606-283-2040 24 108/105 Global Time Systems Cincinnati, OH 1-606-341-7910 24 108/90 DATANET Info System Erlanger KY 1-606-727-3638 24 150/803 Jersey Vertex Moorestown, NJ 1-609-869-0139 24 362/1 The Mines of Moria Chattanooga, TN 1-615-344-9601 24 362/501 Coconut Telegraph Chattanooga, TN 1-615-698-4858 24 10/215 Silver BBS San Diego, CA 1-619-226-4502 24 NAM VET Newsletter Page 100 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 202/401 jabberWOCky Escondido CA 1-619-743-9935 24 109/639 The RENEX BBS Woodbridge, VA 1-703-494-8331 24 109/124 ZEPHYR National Capital Area 1-703-620-5418 96 109/604 ShanErin Alexandria, VA 1-703-941-8291 24 379/201 Metro Link Charlotte, NC 1-704-553-9534 96 125/7 Survival Forum Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-545-0746 96 125/12 The Grape Vine Santa Rosa, CA 1-707-546-4938 24 161/502 Wildcat Benicia CA 1-707-746-5820 24 106/132 Fast BBS OPUS Katy, TX 1-713-392-0093 24 106/114 The Fireside Houston, TX 1-713-496-6319 24 106/357 TMBBS Houston, TX 1-713-497-5433 24 106/108 Stormy Weather I Houston, TX 1-713-644-4345 96 106/113 The Opus Network Houston, TX 1-713-780-4153 24 106/386 Info Center Exchange Houston TX 1-713-872-4429 24 106/111 Shutterbug's OPUS Houston, TX 1-713-880-4329 24 103/507 Philosopher's Log Anaheim CA 1-714-535-1258 96 103/501 Mount Silverthorn Tustin, CA 1-714-544-3369 24 7:441/1 Lord Frog Of Swamp 1-715-362-3895 ? 13/1033 NY Transfer Staten Island, NY 1-718-448-2358 24 12/7 HPCUA Honolulu HI 1-808-422-8406 96 12/1 Aura Net Honolulu, HI 1-808-533-0190 24 130/5 CUSSNET UTA Arlington, TX 1-817-273-3966 24 366/38 Jolly Green Giant Shalimar, FL 1-904-651-3875 96 19/5 Micro Application El Paso TX 1-915-594-9738 24 381/201 Pro Link San Angelo, TX 1-915-944-2952 24 161/943 Eagle's Nest Sacramento, CA 1-916-334-2822 96 161/39 Nightline Mather AFB, CA 1-916-362-1755 24 161/11 The Byte Boutique Sacramento CA 1-916-483-8032 24 161/5 River City II OPUS Sacramento, CA 1-916-646-9678 96 161/34 Now and Zen OPUS Fair Oaks CA 1-916-962-1952 96 151/601 VMC-BBS Winston-Salem NC 1-919-744-0883 24 151/100 NC Central Raleigh, NC 1-919-851-8460 96 151/1000 REDCON Raleigh, NC 1-919-859-3353 96 632/350 Yarra Valley BBS Melbourne AU 61-3-848-331 12 NAM VET Newsletter Page 101 Volume 4, Number 7 July 15, 1990 Some Gave ALL ... Some Still Give!!! O O O SOME GAVE ALL ... ________O__________________________________O______________ ! O O ! ! pow mia pow mia - BRING THEM HOME NOW! - pow mia pow mia ! ! O O ! ! ~~~~~ ~ ~ O~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~ O ~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ! ! ~~~~ ~ ~~ O ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~O~~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ O~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~ ! ! ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~ O ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ O ~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ O ~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ O ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ O ~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ O ~_~_~_~_~_ ~ O ~ ~~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~~~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ O ) O ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ /(O) / O \ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ / / O \~~~~ ~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ! ! ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~~ / PRISONER / \~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~~~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~ / / MISSING \~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~ ! ! ~~~ ~ ~~ ~~ / OF /\ \~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~~~ ~~ ~ / / \ IN \~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ! ! ~~~ ~~~ ~ / WAR / ~~ \ \ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~ ~ / / ~ ~~ \ ACTION / ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~(__________/ ~~ ~~~ \ / ~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ! ! ~~~~~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ \ / ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ! ! ~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ \ / ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~ ! ! ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ \ /~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ ~ ! ! ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~ SOME STILL GIVE ! ~ ~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ! ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~ ! ! mia pow mia pow - BRING THEM HOME NOW! - mia pow mia pow ! !__________________________________________________________! NAM VET Newsletter Page 102