Police officer helps Vietnam vet get new home and real welcome home

We see the crowds cheer when a veteran comes home today. We see them respectfully line the street as a flag draped coffin is carried to the fallen's place of rest. We saw the outpouring of support for the soldiers and families following the atrocity at Fort Hood. We see the best we can give them as a nation today but what the Vietnam veterans came home to was a much different nation.

Photo by Hayley Kappes
League City code enforcement officer Chris Torres, right, hands Vietnam veteran Jim Stepanski the keys to his new trailer on Willow Lane. Stepanski’s old home sustained irreparable damage from hurricanes Rita and Ike.

City workers get Vietnam vet new home

By Leigh Jones
The Daily News
Published November 15, 2009

LEAGUE CITY — Vietnam veteran Jim Stepanski’s trailer on Willow Lane became unlivable after water damage from hurricanes Rita and Ike caused the walls to peel and wore holes in the floor.

Mold coated the interior. Rats and raccoons infested the structure.

Stepanski, 61, lived in the trailer until a local police officer and fellow Vietnam veteran decided to take action.

City employees officially gave Stepanski the keys to a new trailer Saturday afternoon. His new home sits on the site where his former trailer was.

League City police officer William Gates made a welfare check on Stepanski on June 1 after a family member could not reach the man on his birthday. Gates and Stepanski talked for a while about their war experiences, especially the disconnect from society they felt upon returning home. The two shared an instant bond.

“We’re from a forgotten era,” Gates said. “When I came home in 1970, I was screamed at and spit on. Police officers told me not to wear my uniform in public because it would cause an uproar.”

His worst injury was invisible to the human eye. Stepanski withdrew from society and lived alone for years after returning from combat as a way to deal with the horrible memories of war that haunted him. Large crowds and constant loud noises still cause him to suffer panic attacks, he said.

“I now realize that what I had was post-traumatic stress disorder,” Stepanski said. “Back then my doctors just told me to put the war behind me and try to forget about it. There was no counseling for it back then.”

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City workers get Vietnam vet new home

This is one case of a Vietnam veteran, Officer William Gates, taking care of a brother. This is what is greatest about these veterans and most of the country will never know how much they have been involved with what is being done for veterans today. This at the same time they are finally discovering what was eating them alive has a name, a reason and a way to be healed.

There are still Vietnam veterans learning about PTSD from their own adult children. The newer generation connected to others across the country know far more than most of Vietnam veterans but they only understand it from the perspective of their own generation. They may have heard stories about the way Vietnam veterans were treated. Some would believe them, others would dismiss them. What cannot be dismissed is the fact had it not been for Vietnam veterans coming back, enduring all, risking all, fighting for all the benefits related to PTSD, this nation would look like a much different place for the newer veterans. Consider this the next time you read about how hard it is for our veterans and remember, it would a lot worse had it not been for those who were neglected and mistreated the most.