Vietnam Vet walking across US so PTSD veterans can stand tall

Vet crossing US barefoot for his comrades

By KELLEY KING

WORCESTER - Vietnam veteran Ron Zaleski is trying to bring attention to the need for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) counseling for military personnel anyway he can.

Even if it means walking across the country barefoot.

"People ask me about my feet, and how hard the walk is. The walk isn't hard," Zaleski said as he passed through this area this week.


"What's hard is when I'm walking along the side of the road, and a car will do a U-turn and a woman will get out and stand there and cry," he said.

"Then she'll come to me and tell me how her son came home diagnosed with PTSD, and then he went back in and volunteered for another tour overseas."

Zaleski, a native of Hampton Bays, N.Y., and a Marine from 1970-72, started The Long Walk Home in 2006 to raise awareness for the need for mandatory PTSD counseling for all military troops prior to discharge.
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Vet crossing US barefoot for his comrades