SALUTE VETERANS DAY Honoring all who served
NOVEMBER 2017 Lewiston Tribune & Moscow-Pullman Daily News
2 | November 2017 | Lewiston Tribune & Moscow-Pullman Daily News
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Ready to defend Retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Rockey Davis continues the fight for fellow veterans By Josh Babcock // Lewiston Tribune
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n Sept. 11, 2001, shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Rockey Davis, then 48, was ready to come out of retirement. “I called the recruiter and said I’m ready to go,� Davis, a retired U.S. Navy senior chief petty officer (E-8), said. “I thought they might need me.� Davis, an aviation electrician, was never shot at. He never fired a shot and wasn’t issued a weapon during his 22 years serving his country. Instead, he protected pilots by blinding the enemy. Between 1977 and 1994, Davis, now 65, embarked on five cruises on aircraft carriers throughout the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and the Pacific and Indian oceans. He was tasked with repairing the EA-6B, a four-seat, twin-engine aircraft, capable of jamming enemy radar devices and throwing up false targets; the plane usually led an air strike. “We had to scramble to keep those planes working,� Davis said. “When the EA-6B didn’t go everyone knew where those planes were.� Davis experienced some tense times at sea. In 1979 — during the Iranian Hostage Crisis — Davis sat on the USS
Kitty Hawk, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, at a time many hesitated to turn on a radio. “The intel we had was Iran had the capability of carrying Harpoon missiles on a plane that would hit where radio traffic last occurred,� he said. In the early 1990s Davis was aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf, monitoring a no-fly zone in southern Iraq. “We would get to a point (an aircraft) couldn’t go any farther into Iraq, so the aircraft would turn around and once they did the airplanes would get a warning they were locked on by a surface to air missile,� Davis said. Eventually an EA-6B was used to destroy two missile sites. “Who knew if they were ever going to launch a missile and take out a plane?� he said. “They finally got permission to take them out each time they locked on; that happened twice in a row and they quit locking on after that.� Life on an aircraft carrier didn’t make things any easier. The flight deck can get you killed if you’re not careful. “We had an F-14 hit the back of the ship and it put pieces all over the place,� Davis said. “He never made it.�
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The only way for aircraft to land on the carriers is by a cable catching the plane by a hook on its tail end, known as a tail hook. “If one of those cables broke and you were in the way it would cut you in half,” he said. “And if you get too close to a jet intake you get sucked into it and come out the back end.” Davis said one man was on an elevator to lower airplanes to a lower level of the carrier, when a wave washed him overboard. “It was 80 feet to the water,” he said. “They never did find him.” An aircraft carrier is about as dangerous as it is uncomfortable. Davis said the shower is the most private place on a carrier. “But if you use too much water they could shut off water to the showers,” Davis said. “It’s no fun when you’re all lathered up and have no water to rinse off with — it usually only happens once.” Bunks are stacked on top of each other and offer a little more than 2 feet for sleeping quarters between each, he said. And unlike today, “slow mail” was mostly used to keep in contact with family. Davis said that was the hardest part, and the reason he only went on one cruise after his first child was born. “A lot of guys miss their kids graduate high school and sporting activities,” he said. “You figure a soldier or marine deployed in Afghanistan for a year, they miss a whole year of their kids’ life and we got veterans doing that three or four times during their time in the military.” Davis spent several years in Corpus Christi, Texas, Adak, Alaska, and Whidbey Island, Wash., where he was military substance abuse counselor. He mostly dealt with alcohol, marijuana and occasionally cocaine abuse. “It was a break from working on airplanes,” he said.
Join us in Saluting America’s Veterans for Their Commitment to Our Country and Freedom.
Tribune/Steve Hanks Rockey Davis is retired from the U.S. Navy.
Davis said he was tracked down by a wife of a man he counseled who died in a car accident. “She told me that he always told her that I made a big difference in his life and she said I just wanted you to know that,” he said. Davis calls it “just taking care of our veterans,” and a part of the military brotherhood. Now, Davis is the senior vice commander for the state of Idaho Veterans of Foreign Wars, where he assists veterans filing claims for disabilities that they incurred while they were on active duty. He will become the commander for the state of Idaho VFW in June. “We’re trying to help them any way we can,” Davis said. “It never stops.” ——— Babcock can be reached at (509) 339-3423, or by email to jbabcock@lmtribune.com.
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Providing support to those who served Retired Navy Capt. Doug Welch continues to lead through L-C Valley Veterans Council, American Legion, VFW By Kerri Sandaine // Lewiston Tribune
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high-ranking combat veteran retired to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley three years ago and immediately put his experience to work by helping others who have served in the military. Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Doug Welch’s 34 years of active duty — coupled with a long family history of service — prompted him to take leadership roles in several groups, such as the Lewis-Clark Valley Veterans Council, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. “I didn’t want to sit around the house eating bonbons and watching soap operas,” Welch joked. “As a result, I do way too much.” Welch, who is among a handful of veterans who were on duty from Vietnam through Desert Storm, is familiar with post-war issues and the importance of providing support and assistance to people who have been in combat. “Sometimes the quiet times are the worst times,” Welch said. “Vet organizations can be a good place to talk about your experiences. Unless
you’ve been there, you can’t really relate to how horrible war is.” He and his wife, Nini, returned to Lewiston after his last post in the Netherlands, where he was deputy medical adviser to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Allied Joint Force Command. In addition, Welch was a senior medical intelligence officer and planner who helped provide support and casualty evacuation in Afghanistan. During his career, Welch helped coordinate medical requirements and planning efforts at the fleet level in direct response to the terrorist attacks on the USS Cole, the World Trade Center and Pentagon and served as the medical planner on five major combat operations in Iraq. After graduating from Lewiston High School in 1972, Welch enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a hospital corpsman and later became a combat medic during his years with the Idaho Army National Guard. He and other vets, including some of his LHS classmates, are now involved in myriad projects, ranging from suicide prevention to parades,
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in an effort to help and honor those who have served. “In this area, Vietnam veterans are the preponderance of active members in veterans organizations,� Welch said. “The younger vets don’t have a lot of extra time because many are still raising families and working.� The various groups are trying to reach out to any veteran in need. A good place to see Tribune/Steve Hanks all of the active Doug Welch is a retired Navy captain. organizations is today’s parade in downtown Lewiston. It begins at 11:11 a.m. on the 11th. “We have a good, cooperative effort here,� Welch said. “Vets from both sides of the river are involved and we cover two states and eight counties. There are plenty of organizations to get involved in. The vet parade is one
of the biggest things we do.� As a young Boy Scout in Lewiston, Welch recalls the days when a similar parade rolled through the Orchards. The tradition ended many years ago, but the downtown Lewiston event now fills the gap. The annual parade continues to grow with more people entering each year, he said. Many other veterans events are on the calendar, including sending Christmas care packages overseas, Toys for Tots and the Pearl Harbor Day ceremony in December and unveiling of the “Silent Battle� bronze artwork in March. A complete list can be found online at www. lcvalleyveteranscouncil.org. Among the members are some World War II veterans, such as Welch’s 96-year-old father, Les, who served in the U.S. Navy. The family’s military roots run deep as Welch’s grandfather, William “Ollie� Welch, was a coxswain on the USS Oregon in World War I and promised to “to keep the lights on at home� during WWII. His grandmother, Grace, was a WWII veteran serving in the Women’s Army Corps and another ancestor fought in the Civil War. Upon retiring, Welch’s volunteer work has been a seamless transition that keeps him busy and fulfilled. “Everything I did in the military, whether it was with the U.S. Navy, Army National Guard or U.S. Marines Corps, was focused on trying to help people,� Welch said. “I look at this as a continuation of what I did when I was in the service. I’ve been in 38 countries around the world and my job in all of those places was not only to support the military operation but also the people we were there to protect.� ——— Sandaine may be contacted at kerris@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2264. Follow her on Twitter @ newsfromkerri.
The History of
Veterans Day
Veterans Day, formerly known as Armistice Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.’� As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans. In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress -- at the urging of the veterans service organizations -- amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice� and inserting the word “Veterans.� With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 Kermit Malcom says goodbye to became a day to honor American one of his daughters, 1945. veterans of all wars.
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Serving with purpose Retired Lt. Col. Sheila Kopczynski loved life in the Army and continues to find ways to serve By Tom Holm // Lewiston Tribune
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n many ways, Sheila Kopczynski is unlike a lot of veterans. She’s not tight-lipped about her 30-year career in the U.S. Army. If you want to hear a war story Kopczynski will regale you with as many as you like. If you want her opinion on a current controversy, to know what it’s like to be a woman in the armed forces, or even hear a little bit about her current employment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; then keep your ears open because Kopczynski has got a story for you. But similar to most veterans — if not all — Kopczynski is passionate about her service, her country and what that duty continues to mean to her.
“Everyday in the Army you never have to wonder what your purpose is for that day,” Kopczynski said. “I miss feeling like I’m contributing.” Kopczynski couldn’t leave behind the service after retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2006. She continues to volunteer with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and took over organizing the annual Veterans Day parade in Lewiston. She said she misses being in the Army every day. She carried with her the need to serve into her civilian life. Though still working full time from home for the USDA, Kopczynski finds time to try and get younger veterans involved in VFW and puts together the annual parade. She also volunteers in the 2nd Judicial District’s veterans treat-
(LEFT) Sheila Kopczynski started boot camp in 1982. After she completed it and ROTC, she worked for the Military Police-Army Reserves. She retired from the U.S. Army in 2006 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Tribune/Pete Caster
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ment court designed to help veterans convicted of a crime to rehabilitate. “I may be retired but I’m not expired,” Kopczynski said, pointing to her shirt displaying the same slogan. She started her career out of necessity, enlisting in 1981 to afford college. The structured daily routine of Army work got its claws into her and Kopczynski ended up spending most of her adult life in the armed service. She began as military police while attending school in her home state of Michigan. After finishing some schooling she went back to active duty in 1989, being trained in cryptography and communication security logistics. Her unit was deployed to the Gulf War in 1990, where she spent eight months on the ground assigned to patriot missile systems. She said as she stepped off a plane in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — in a country where women were not allowed to drive — she was a bit nervous but had the air of confidence that Army service had instilled in her. A group of religious police met her and her comrades as they disembarked. “I come down the stairs and this guy looks at me all hateful because I’m a girl,” she said. “His eyes get all big and he starts to back up. I was thinking they’re afraid of me, I didn’t know it but the guy behind me is some big Midwest guy with fingers as big as sausages. And here I was thinking I was Billy badass.” During her time in-country Kopczynski was in charge of making sure the missile systems ran smoothly and repaired anything that needed fixing. She said she could be a bit hot-headed if fellow soldiers pushed her buttons. Though one such instance of her back talk may have saved her life. She was out on one of the missile launchers repairing it. She said she Sheila Kopczynski was a major and commanding a unit in Alaska. On the day this photo was taken was lying on her belly as the missiles were pointed up but disabled so she was training her platoon to shoot at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Tribune/Pete Caster Sheila Kopczynski, retired from the U.S. Army in 2006 with the rank of lieutenant colonel, talks about her time in the military.
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“I thought the launcher was dropping its hydraulics so I go to push the drawer in and there’s the bullet holes,” she said. “If they hadn’t been nagging my ass and I hadn’t been such a (expletive) I’d be dead.” Upon returning from the Gulf War, Kopczynski spent the remainder of her time in Alaska serving as an education officer and eventually commander. She decided where troops in the Alaska Army National Guard should be deployed and had three sergeants under her command. She eventually moved to Lewiston with her husband, who was born and raised here. Kopczynski said she values whatever community she’s been a part of and Lewiston is no different. She’d also like to share what service has meant to her and congratulates anyone who “pays their taxes, votes,” or simply picks up litter as serving America. “I love my country. I would like to be representative of what a lifelong commitment means,” she said. “Everyday I’m thinking how can I make my community better. Even if I’m just walking my dogs and picking up another dog’s poo. Service should be lifelong. You still give until you can’t breathe anymore.” ——— Holm may be contacted at (208) 848-2275 or holm@lmtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @ TomHolm4
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she could continue her work on a pullout tray. A truck of soldiers came up and told her she needed to stop what she was doing immediately and get back to safety. They were informed a sniper may be out and training his glass on Kopczynski. Kopczynski was far more concerned with the repairs telling her comrades she’d only be another 15 minutes. The soldiers kept “nagging” her to stop, so she sat up and was going to give them an earful when she heard a “ping, ping, ping.”
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Service dog to be honored By Dash Coleman // Savannah Morning News
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unner is a good dog. In December, he’ll be getting a pretty distinguished treat to prove it. The 3-year-old Great Pyrenees from Richmond Hill, Ga., is being honored by the American Kennel Club with a Canine Excellence Award. Gunner is a familiar sight in Bryan County, where the service dog can be seen out and about with his human, Hamilton Kinard. In fact, the two are
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never far apart. “I don’t like being without him,” Hamilton said this month during an interview along with his wife, Britnee Kinard, the president and founder of the nonprofit named after Gunner. Their organization, the SD Gunner Fund, has been turning heads lately by training service dogs for military veterans and children. “We provide service animals to disabled vets and disabled children or special needs children completely free of charge, and we also handle all their veterinary care and anything that the animal may need that the family at any point in time cannot afford or cannot do,” Brittnee said. The Kinards have been honored for their work with the fund before, including being recipients of the Lincoln Award in Washington. Locally, Brittnee has been named a Generation NEXT star by Business in Savannah and Savannah Magazine, and she has been named a distinguished alumna by Middle Tennessee State University. This time, it’s a bit more dog-oriented. The five winners of the Canine Excellence awards (in addition to Gunner, there are winners in the K-9, therapy dog, search and rescue dog and companion dog categories) receive $1,000 to donate to a pet-related charity of their choice, a one-year pet insurance policy and a silver medallion. Gina DiNardo, a spokesperson for the American Kennel Club, said in a news release that Gunner and the other winners “illustrate the devotion,
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loyalty and unconditional love that dogs give us.” “Each of these dogs has changed the life of a person or a whole community, and they all deserve to be celebrated,” DiNardo said. Gunner has a direct impact on the Kinard family, and that impact in turn inspired Britnee to start the nonprofit. As she tells it, Hamilton “was in a dark place” before Gunner. Hamilton, a U.S. Army combat veteran, was injured in Iraq. He came home with nerve damage, a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. The Department of Veterans Affairs considers him 100 percent disabled and, in 2013, recommended he get a service dog. At first, Hamilton said, he wasn’t completely sold on the idea. He had never really been a dog person, and puppy Gunner was a handful. “It’s day and night,” Hamilton said. “He goes with me to the bathroom. He’s beside the bed. He’s in the car. He’s in the store. He’s at the barber shop. I was getting a bit overwhelmed. It was almost like my freedom was getting tamped out.” But that changed. Gunner is trained as a mobility service dog, and he can help pull Hamilton if need be. If Hamilton falls, Gunner will even brace himself like a table so Hamilton can get up. He also just provides unconditional friendship and can act as a barrier if Hamilton needs a bit of space. “It was just the bonding,” Hamilton said. “It was being around each other and seeing what he does, knowing that I don’t have to worry about if my left leg doesn’t want to take that next step.” The transformation inspired Britnee to help others achieve the same thing. “If you can take a dog like Gunner, and Gunner saved my marriage, that’s one more family we’ve kept together,” Brittnee said. “That’s one more child we’ve helped connect back with their father or mother, who-
ever served — that’s one less divorce statistic in the military. That’s one less issue, and it doesn’t require prescription medicines that cause addiction or cause kidney failure or anything else — it’s a dog.” Now the SD Gunner Fund is going strong. The Kinards and a trainer they work with can provide service dogs to areas within about a three-hour radius of Savannah. In addition to military veterans, the dogs they train can also be used to help children with social issues, trauma and autism, Brittnee said. “We’re learning, but everything seems to be pretty good so far,” Brittnee said. “At the end of the year, we will have done 14 dogs this year.” ——— Information from: Savannah Morning News, http://www.savannahnow.com
Quad Cities Realty would like to extend its gratitude to all veterans and those currently serving on active duty, guard and reserves. Wherever in the world you are ...... we thank you! A special thanks to those we have had the honor to serve this year: Chris & Wendy Lee Michael Etzler Jason Evans Jerry Roberts
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W Celebrate America’s Finest A Veterans Day Tribute
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Brookdale would like to THANK all who served our country.
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An Iraq veteran finds healing By Hal Bernton // The Seattle Times
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or Army veteran Alex Seling, his ailing right knee has been the weak link on a slow trek from the Mexico border to Canada that began last spring. The pain never entirely goes away, sometimes slowing his gait to a limp, or compelling him to rest for a few days before resuming his hike north. This is not some old war wound. It’s self-inflicted. Depression mixed with rage led him last winter to slam his leg into a vacuum cleaner in his Los Angeles apartment. His swollen knee turned red and purple, and thrust Seling into a dark place. He felt his life lacked the purpose, passion and camaraderie experienced during a 2008 tour as a combat medic in Iraq, and he thought of suicide. “It became scary because I was so calm about it,” Seling recalled. “It was like ‘you know what you can do, and just get out of this right now’ … I realized I had to make a drastic change.”As his knee appeared to heal, he started hiking. That made him feel better, and got him thinking about a much longer journey. So in late March, several months after his injury, he started making his way through California along the Pacific Crest Trail. Wildfires and, more recently, the growing mountain snowpack, made him adjust. He typically hikes 15 to 20 miles a day along low-land highways, roads and bike paths — far from his initial backcountry route.
WE SALUTE OUR TROOPS & VETERANS
Seling, 30, is part of a wave of younger veterans who have looked to long-distance treks, rock climbing, mountain biking and other outdoor activities as a powerful therapy to help regain their footing in civilian life. They follow in the footsteps of generations of veterans from the Vietnam War and World War II who sought healing in nature. Some are sponsored by organizations such as Veterans Expeditions that organizes mountain and rock climbs, and Warrior Expeditions, which assists with gear, clothing and equipment and financing for long-distance hikes. During the past year, 350 veterans applied for 40 slots on hikes. The groups also offer counseling support, and some veterans seek VA assistance along their routes. “We call it reverse basic training,” said Shauna Joye, a Georgia psychologist who works with Warrior Expeditions. “It is a way to do therapy that doesn’t have stigma. This is something more badass, and it’s a throwback to the physical exertion that people have had to do in military service.” Seling opted for a seat-of-the-pants approach to his hiking marathon. He organized an online fundraising campaign that by mid-October had raised $8,700 to finance his trip. He has pledged to donate any money in excess of his expenses to a nonprofit — Mission 22 — that seeks to curb veteran suicides. The organization assists veterans with alternative treatments for post traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries, and also
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has developed memorials that honor veterans lost to suicide. “We want to recognize the sacrifice they made, and not make it a point of shame for families,” said Eric O’Neal, a Newcastle veteran who volunteers for Mission 22. Veterans overall have a suicide rate 22 percent higher than the general population, according to a Department of Veterans Affairs study that counted 7,388 veteran suicides in 2014. That study found the rate was nearly double among those under age 35. Veterans who take their own lives have a wide range of service experiences, many far from the front lines. A 2015 Defense Department study of nearly 4 million post-9/11 Afghanistan and Iraq service members and veterans found no significant difference in suicide rates between those who had deployed and those who had not. “Loss of a shared military identity, difficulty developing a new socialsupport system, or unexpected difficulties finding meaningful work may contribute to a sense that the individuals do not belong or are a burden on others,” wrote the authors of that study. Seling spent a year in Iraq as part of more than three years of military service. He said no soldiers were killed or seriously wounded by enemy fire in his platoon of the Hawaii-based 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment. Still, he endured a tense year, with the ever-present risk of attack helping to keep adrenaline levels high, and bonding the soldiers together. Soon after his return, Seling said he began to founder. “It didn’t take long to discover that life was not the same,” Seling said. “I didn’t want to go to the movies. I didn’t want to go out. I didn’t really want to hang out with people anymore. And whenever I did, I had the strong urge to isolate myself. And a lot of times, drink.” He used his veterans benefits to go back to school in Los Angeles to
pursue a career teaching music and as a bass guitarist. He found a job as a teaching assistant, but his struggles continued. Seling sought help from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He said he got counseling and pills such as Zoloft, an antidepressant, and Ambien, a sedative. He found some of his greatest relief in hikes around Southern California, and that prompted the decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. After months on the move, his life has settled down to some basic routines as he grinds on mile after mile. His meals are a constant round of burritos: breakfast burritos of granola, Nutella and peanut butter, and dinner burritos filled with tuna or summer sausage. There have been occasional nights of luxury in a bed. But for the most part, he has camped at sites along the Pacific Crest Trail and more recently under bridges, or in patches of forest he finds near roadways or rivers. His time on the trail in California took him across high mountain passes still heavy with snow, and creeks swollen by meltwater. But the biggest challenge has been his knee, which began to throb a few days after he started his hike. His morning ritual includes an 800milligram dose of ibuprofen that dulls the pain until later in the day. He has repeatedly pushed aside doubts that he would make it all the way to Canada. “I am not going to sit here and tell veterans not to give up on life if I am just going to give up on a little walk,” Seling said. “After I get to Canada. That’s when I rest. That’s when I heal.” Joye, the Georgia psychologist, has surveyed some veterans who made long-distance hikes. At the end of the trail, she found improvements among those who have had problems adjusting to civilian life. She cautions that the quest for mental health may be a lifelong pursuit that, for some, may include more time on hikes. Selig celebrated his birthday Oct. 20 in Castle Rock, and found a quiet spot along the Cowlitz River to pass the rainy night.
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Living history lesson By Tom Vogt // The Columbian, Vancouver, Washs
A
fter a disastrous night mission, Army helicopter pilot Jim Voorhees walked into the base operations center. A clerk stared at him and stammered: “You’re dead!� Voorhees wasn’t dead, but two of his friends were. And their commanding officer spent more than 40 years trying to forget that night. Forgetting doesn’t come easily for some people when every day brings another 50th anniversary of some aspect of the Vietnam War. The “50 years ago today� rolling chronicle of military action, social upheaval and political maneuvering is not always the only reminder: The Marine Corps tattoo on Dave Pruett’s arm — created decades after he left Vietnam — practically glows. The CIA’s Secret Operations calendar for 2017 shows where Ann Holland’s husband was last seen 49 years ago. Marion Mullin, a retired nurse, hears echoes of artillery shells in Fourth of July fireworks. They are some of the local people who played roles in the Vietnam War, including combat veterans such as Voorhees, Pruett, former Special Forces Capt. Larry Smith and Marine Corps veteran Bob Ferguson. Pruett now volunteers at the Veterans Museum on Vancouver’s Veterans
Affairs campus, near the local Vietnam Memorial and the “Lady Bell� helicopter. Ferguson’s memories of the conflict were rekindled recently while watching Ken Burns’ film, “The Vietnam War.� Ferguson is not a fan of the documentary. DIFFERENT TOURS Smith and Voorhees both served two tours in Vietnam. Each tour reflected a different approach to the war. Voorhees first arrived during the thick of American involvement; the second tour came after the U.S. handed off the fight to the South Vietnamese. “It was two different wars,� he said. From May 1968 through May 1969, Voorhees flew troops into combat operations. When Voorhees returned in 1972, most American ground forces had left. He flew a Cobra gunship during the Easter Offensive, when North Vietnam’s army moved south in force. “It was a lot more sophisticated enemy,� Voorhees said. “We hadn’t seen tanks before.� Voorhees was one of several local veterans who participated in a recent Library of Congress oral history project. In a discussion with U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Battle Ground, who hosted the event, Voorhees
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said that he had a choice of assignments in 1968. “I picked the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company. I was told it was based at an old Michelin rubber plantation and was 10 degrees cooler.� That’s one example of how a young soldier might make life-changing decisions, by the way. Voorhees was training as a field artillery officer when he had a chance to go to flight school. “I got flight pay, plus it delayed my Vietnam deployment by eight or nine months. Maybe the war would be over,� the Salmon Creek resident said. “It sounded better than a second lieutenant forward artillery observer. They didn’t tell us that one out of 12 Vietnam helicopter pilots didn’t come back.� GOING TO A ‘GOAT ROPE’ Those deaths included two of Voorhees’ comrades. Arnold Sanford and Roger Auld were killed on April 23, 1969, during the night mission that almost claimed Voorhees’s life. As a short-timer, approaching the end of his tour, he worked in the operations center rather than flying Amanda Cowan/The Columbian missions, Voorhees said in a follow-up interview. Vietnam War veteran Jim Voorhees pauses for a portrait with a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter named “Lady Bell� at the Vietnam War Memorial on Oct. 25. Voorhees flew two tours as an Army helicopter pilot. Then the unit, nicknamed the Robin Hoods, was assigned a lights-out night mission. It shaped up officer walked up and announced that Voorhees would be flying with him as a disaster waiting to happen: a “goat rope,� as instead. Voorhees called it. Sanford wanted Voorhees to fly with him. Auld replaced Voorhees in the seat next to Sanford. Voorhees was in “You’re great flying at night,� Sanford told Voorhees. the commanding officer’s aircraft, above the landing zone, when two When Voorhees was eating lunch in the mess hall, the commanding helicopters collided.
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22 | November 2017 | Lewiston Tribune & Moscow-Pullman Daily News “I’m looking out the window and I see two aircraft spinning, on fire,” Voorhees said. “We knew who it was: Arnie and Roger.” When the Robin Hoods returned to the base they called Sherwood Forest, “My ops clerk was as white as a sheet.” “You’re dead,” the clerk said, and pointed at the board where the mission was drawn up. Voorhees’s name was still listed on Sanford’s aircraft. “Every April 23, I remember,” the 75-year-old veteran said. For 40 years, Voorhees would call their commanding officer on April 23 to talk about their fallen comrades, until about five years ago. That’s when the CO told Voorhees, “I’m starting to forget. I love you, but don’t call me again.” Smith had a similar close call with death. “I was getting aboard an observation aircraft on a reconnaissance mission, to take a look at a trail network. I got called back. I needed to be at a meeting,” said Smith, who on Thursday will be honored as Clark County’s First Citizen. “The guy was shot down an hour later.” Ferguson recalled one situation that flipped on him, thanks to the family status of his commanding officer, Charles Robb. He was the son-in-law of President Lyndon Johnson. Ferguson thought: “I’ve got to be in the safest place in Vietnam!” Uh, no. Other Marines told Ferguson that Robb actually was a prime enemy target: “They’re trying to kill that guy.” Ferguson was a forward air controller, which had absolutely nothing to do with working in a tower at an airport. “You go out with the ground troops, and when you get in a bad situation, you call in air strikes,” Ferguson, 74, said. “A couple of times, I
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could feel the heat from the napalm.” It was also the observer’s job to log the battlefield damage, including the casualty assessment that became known as the body count. He still has a couple of those pages. Ferguson was in Vietnam for eight months, less time than he spent in military hospitals. He was on a supply run when an enemy soldier detonated an explosive just as the vehicle Ferguson was riding in drove over it. He was badly burned. HO, HO, HO One of Pruett’s early memorable experiences came on Dec. 25, 1967, and it involved preparing for a bearded visitor from the north. Pruett had just started his 19-month tour with an artillery unit when he heard a propaganda broadcast from North Vietnam. It was a special holiday greeting. The radio personality known as Hanoi Hannah told the Marines at Pruett’s base that North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh would be coming for Christmas dinner. “The base was on high alert,” said Pruett, who was working in the mess hall. “I was slicing bread with an M-16 slung on my shoulder.” Two or three years ago, Pruett chose to get a permanent reminder of his service: a tattoo. The Marine Corps’ globe, anchor and eagle insignia is emerging from a flaming phoenix. “I’ve always been proud of being a Marine,” said Pruett, who was part of a 155 mm howitzer crew. The tattoo also represents his transition from boy to man, Pruett said, marking a process that started in boot camp. When you emerge, “You are a warrior.” Pruett learned more about the warrior’s craft when he arrived in
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Vietnam, including recommendations for sleepwear. “We were told on the first day to leave our boots on overnight. For three weeks, I slept with my boots on. “Come on, I can take them off for one night! And that was the night we were hit,” the 69-year-old Vancouver resident said. “I ran to the bunker in my socks.” ATTRIT TILL THEY QUIT After graduating from college with a history degree, Larry Smith went to Vietnam in February 1966 as an Army platoon leader. The war frequently shared headlines with news from the civil rights front. Smith, 75, grew up on an integrated naval base in South Carolina, but when he and a friend went to high school, they caught different buses to go to different schools: one for white students, the other for black students. When Smith started college, Clemson University was segregated. His surroundings definitely changed in the Army. “In 1966, a third of my platoon was African-Americans,” Smith said. The mission of the Army’s 173rd Airborne could be summed up in one word, Smith said. Actually, it was more like half a word: Attrit. It was shorthand for war of attrition, Smith said — inflict such heavy losses on Communist forces that the enemy would come to the bargaining table. Smith returned to Vietnam as a Special Forces officer in late 1968 when the U.S. tried another approach, the Phoenix Program. The CIA project targeted Viet Cong officials who provided the infrastructure, known as VCI, for the guerilla war in South Vietnam. Each province had a reconnaissance unit, manned by 50 to 175 Southeast Asians. Smith and his master sergeant were the only two
Americans in his unit. It was a mix of Laotians, Cambodians, North Vietnamese who had come south and Montagnards — highland tribesmen who were nicknamed ‘Yards. Despite that diversity, “I was impressed with how deeply loyal they were,” Smith said. “I never had anybody desert while I was there.” That loyalty cost them. “Anybody who was in Phoenix was marked for life,” Smith said. “By the end of the war, the VCI knew who they were. They all died.” When their particular tours ended, the local veterans represented many now-familiar elements of the war. Voorhees said he returned home in 1973, and “at the San Francisco airport, two girls spit on me and called me names. I thought that was a little unfortunate.” Pruett said that he had some post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues. He was told that it was a result of “too many life-threatening situations in too short a time.” Ferguson said that a grandchild posed a question that seems to reflect more than one little boy’s curiosity. “My grandson asked why I lost the Vietnam War,” Ferguson said. It’s a daunting question for any individual Vietnam veteran. “They were kids who thought they all were in the right place, doing the right thing,” Ferguson said. That’s one reason he takes issue with the Ken Burns documentary. Ferguson sees it as an incomplete look at the war — particularly from the perspective of the young Americans who fought in it. “I’m not looking to vilify Ken Burns,” Ferguson said. “I want those young people to be remembered in the vein in which they served: with honor.”
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Caring for veterans By Sanjay Saint // Commentary // University of Michigan
V
eterans Day had its start as Armistice Day, marking the end of World War I hostilities. The holiday serves as an occasion to both honor those who have served in our armed forces and to ask whether we, as a nation, are doing right by them. In recent years, that question has been directed most urgently at Veterans Affairs hospitals. Some critics are even calling for the dismantling of the whole huge system of hospitals and outpatient clinics. President Obama signed a US$16 billion bill to reduce wait times in 2014 to do things like hire more medical staff and open more facilities. And while progress has been made, much remains to be done. The system needs to improve access and timeliness of care, reduce often challenging bureaucratic hurdles and pay more attention to what frontline clinicians need to perform their duties well. There is no question that the VA health care system has to change, and it already has begun this process. Over the past 25 years, I have been a medical student, chief resident, research fellow and practicing physician at four different VA hospitals. My research has led me to spend time in more than a dozen additional VA medical centers. I know how VA hospitals work, and often have a hard time recognizing them as portrayed in today’s political and media environment. My experience is that the VA hospitals I know provide high-quality,
compassionate care. Treating 9 million veterans a year I don’t think most people have any sense of the size and scope of the VA system. Its 168 medical centers and more than 1,000 outpatient clinics and other facilities serve almost 9 million veterans a year, making it the largest integrated health care system in the country. And many Americans may not know the role VA hospitals play in medical education. Two out of three medical doctors in practice in the U.S. today received some part of their training at a VA hospital. The reason dates to the end of World War II. The VA faced a physician shortage, as almost 16 million Americans returned from war, many needing health care. At the same time, many doctors returned from World War II and needed to complete their residency training. The VA and the nation’s medical schools thus became partners. In fact, the VA is the largest provider of health care training in the country, which increases the likelihood that trainees will consider working for the VA once they finish. The VA network specializes in the treatment of such war-related problems as post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide prevention. It has, for example, pioneered the integration of primary care with mental health. Many veterans live in rural parts of the U.S., are of advanced age and
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Lewiston Tribune & Moscow-Pullman Daily News | November 2017 | 25
have chronic medical conditions that make travel challenging. So the VA is a national leader in telemedicine, with notable success in mental health care. The VA’s research programs have made major breakthroughs in areas such as cardiac care, prosthetics and infection prevention. I can vouch for the VA’s nationwide electronic medical records system, which for many years was at the cutting edge. A case in point: Several years ago a veteran, in the middle of a crosscountry trip, was driving through Michigan when he began feeling sick. Within minutes of his arrival at our VA hospital, we were able to access his records from a VA medical center over 1,000 miles away, learn that he had a history of Addison disease, a rare condition, and provide prompt treatment. I am therefore not surprised that the studies that have compared VA with non-VA care have found that the VA is, overall, as good as or better than the private sector. In fact, a recently published systematic review of 69 studies performed by RAND investigators concluded: “…the available data indicate overall comparable health care quality in VA facilities compared to non-VA facilities with regard to safety and effectiveness.” The VA offers veterans more than health care. The most remarkable aspect of VA hospitals, though, is the patient population, the men and women who have sacrificed for their country. They have a common bond. A patient explained it this way: ““The VA is different because everyone has done something similar, whether you were in World War II or Korea or Nam, like me. You’re not thrown into a pot with other people, which would happen at another kind of hospital.” The people who work at VA hospitals have a special attitude toward their patients. It takes the form of respect and gratitude, of empathy, of
a level of caring that is nothing short of love. You can see it in the extra services provided for patients who are often alone in the world, or too far from home to be visited. Take a familiar scene: a medical student taking a patient for a walk or wheelchair ride on the hospital grounds. It is common for nurses to say “our veteran” when discussing a patient’s care with me. Volunteers and chaplains rotate through VA hospitals on a regular basis, to a degree unknown in most community hospitals. The social work department is also more active. The patients are not always so patient, but these visitors persevere. “They’re a good bunch of people,” one veteran said of the staff. “I know because I’m irritable most of the time and they all get along with me.” Physicians everywhere are under heavy pressure these days, in part because of the increase in the number of complex patients they care for. Yet I have spent hours observing doctors in VA hospitals around the country as they sit with patients, inquiring about their families and their military service, treating the veterans with respect and without haste. Earlier this year, I cared for a veteran in his 50s, a house painter, whom we diagnosed with cancer that had metastasized widely. We offered him chemotherapy, which could have given him an extra few months, but he chose hospice. He told me he wanted to go home to be with his wife and play the guitar. One of the songs he wanted to sing was “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” I was deeply moved. I liked and admired the man, and I was disturbed that we had been unable to save him. My medical student had the same feelings. Before the patient left, the student told me, “He shook my hand, looked me in the eyes, and said, ‘Thanks for being a warrior for me.’” That’s the special kind of patient who shows up at a VA hospital. Every single one of them should have the special kind of care they deserve. And we must ensure that the care is superb on this and every day.
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WWII veteran’s remains return home after 73 years The State Journal-Register
T
he remains of a World War II veteran have returned to Illinois after more than 70 years. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Aiello’s remains arrived Wednesday night in Springfield, The State Journal-Register reported. His remains were exhumed about eight years ago and were identified with DNA samples provided by his family. Aiello will be laid to rest at Camp Butler National Cemetery with military honors during a graveside service open to the public today. A procession will depart from Staab Funeral Home. Aiello was born in St. Louis in 1909. His family moved to Springfield in 1918, where he lived until he enlisted in the Army in 1942. Aiello advanced to the rank of staff sergeant within two years and was assigned to a glider infantry regiment. He was involved in D-Day, and his unit was later assigned to Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands. The operation called for glider and airborne troops to seize bridges and hold them until British armor units arrived. Military records show Aiello went missing on Sept. 30, 1944, during a battle near the Waal River bridge at Nijmegen. The military issued a presumptive
Ted Schurter /The State Journal-Register via AP) In this Oct. 25, 2017 photo, a Fort Leonard Wood Honors Team escorts the flag-draped casket with the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Michael Aiello into Staab Funeral Home in Springfield, Ill.
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Edward Jones Salutes the courage and loyalty of our troops, both now and in the past. Thank you.
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