"The willingness with which our young people are
likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly
proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and
appreciated by our nation."
-- George Washington
This writer is a totally blind, 100%
disabled, service-connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean War era. I
have been honored to stand at the 25th anniversary celebration at Normandy, where thousands of our finest Americans died;
honored to stand at the large cemetery in Manila,
Philippines, where 18,000
are buried, to have visited Arlington
many times, where thousands are buried. The recent disclosures regarding
veteran's care is not news to many of us. I was honored to have served my
country, and since, to have been fortunate enough to travel most of the world.
I know the pride of saying, "I am American," with its warts, as well
as its thrills.
I was born in poverty on the parched
earth of Easter North Carolina's tobacco fields. I know the sweat and hard work
of parents and ancestors. I know what it was like to work an entire day to make
one dollar. In the blight of the America in which I grew up, life
was built around hard work, frugal living, the church-house, and the
schoolhouse.
I graduated from a small country
school, with 13 in my graduating class. Concerned educators, seeing my
possibilities, got me into the university at Chapel Hill.
Back then there were no scholarships or grants. I still feel now, as I felt
then, that I had died and gone to heaven-- all that knowledge. I worked at
night so that I could go to school during the day, and worked my way through
eight years of education, selling bibles door-to-door in the summer, covering every
pig path in Eastern North Carolina. I matriculated
through eight years living on one dollar per day. I graduated without owing any
money, and since then, now at the age of 84, I have invested 50 cents of every
dollar I have made. This has enabled me to live without help from anyone. Even
the NC Commission For The Blind told me recently that they had never heard of
me. I can say, with all honesty, that until recently, this blind veteran has
never received anything from the V.A.-- not even a white cane, not one minute
of rehabilitation.
The greatest concerns of any blind
person are robbery and fire. I still put cement blocks to the interior of my
doors each night. Living alone, I take care of myself, totally.
I jumped through every hoop to pass
the boards, necessary to gain my commission as an Army officer. I had hoped
that my diligence in life, hard work, hard studying, frugal living, would pay
off in social and financial acceptance. I have brought the plight of the
disabled veteran to the attention of many people in written letters, published articles,
as well as speaking on radio talk shows. Speaking before a college group
recently, I said, "The greatest sorrow involved in my disability has not
been spending most of my life in blackness, the poverty I grew up in, the
struggle to obtain my education, but the fact that I never received much
encouragement." This blind veteran introduced Senator Jesse Helms at many
meetings, yet he wrote me once and told me to apply for food stamps. I hear
from many disabled veterans, "Bring their attention to power brokers,
opinion molders." Rep. McIntyre (NC 7th), a member of the House Armed
Services Committee, actually told me that I was not in his district. Sen. Burr,
ranking member of the Senate Veterans Committee, and I am sorry to say, Rep.
Walter Jones (NC 3rd) are unconcerned with my letters. I could give many
examples of personal harsh treatment at VA facilities, mostly at the VA
hospital in Durham, NC. I have this on tape: the chief of staff
telling me, "We do not need your suggestions; we are just waiting for you
to die." This is after I suggested that they have volunteers to help blind
patients navigate the maze of clinics, such as they have at the Duke University
Hospital - Eye Center,
right across the street. At one time, I was physically able to travel the whole
day. Able to pay someone $100 to drive me there, but the driver was completely
lost, attempting to get me around. Durham opened
a satellite clinic in Raleigh.
The VA doctor there told me, "Your record is flagged. It says that you are
a trouble maker," and he refused to do anything for me. At that time, and
for about 40 years, I was using the fee-basis method of paying for treatment,
whereby I could go to a private doctor, and the VA would pay the bill.
Likewise, any meds prescribed by the private physician (Wilmington Health,
etc.), were send directly to me from the VA's pharmacy in Salisbury, NC.
All of this has been cut out. I am no longer in the program. The difficulty I
encounter in getting meds from the VA's pharmacy in Fayetteville, NC,
is a matter of record (blood pressure, eye problems, etc.)
Through years of sick-care and
struggles involving the VA, I have gone through ten eye surgeries at Duke,
Massachusetts General, etc. Alone, with no family, trying to take care of
myself (food, clothing, etc.), it has been my Christian faith, and nothing
else, that has kept me from ending it all. I well understand why so many
veterans commit suicide. One surgery, across from the VA in Durham, at Duke, Dr. Banks Anderson Jr., the best surgeon, was trying to save a shadow
of vision. I was in the corner room on the second floor, right across from the
VA hospital. Vietnam
protestors were surrounding the VA facility. A black nurse came into my room,
and, in great detail, told me how much she despised veterans. She punctuated
her remarks by spitting in my face. No one at Duke, or at the VA hospital, did
anything about the incident. Considering what I went through to be able to
serve in Army hospitals, what I have lived through since, in a world of
unconcerned people, perhaps I would have been better off if I had not been such
a good student, if I had not worked so hard for my education, if I had not been
such a good citizen.
