Vietnam Veteran "I know my purpose, I know my destiny"

Vietnam vet had the Purple Heart - now he can fly the flag
Twin Cities News
By Mary Divine
POSTED:10/30/201

Richard Jenkins, left, a Vietnam vet and Purple Heart recipient, talks on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014, with his neighbors Joe Williams, center, and Jason Lange, who put up an American flag and a Purple Heart flag in Jenkins' yard in Newport.
(Pioneer Press: Jean Pieri)

His favorite Bible verse is Psalms 37:23-25: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."

"I have never looked back," Jenkins said. "You have to have an impact. To change the lives of people, that's with the grace of God.

The Rev. Richard Jenkins didn't receive a warm welcome when he returned from Vietnam.

Jenkins, who received a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds to his leg, said there were no yellow ribbons, no ticker-tape parades, no standing ovations.

"I had such anger," said Jenkins, 72, an Army draftee who now lives in Newport. "I didn't volunteer for any of it."

Two of his neighbors are doing their part to right that wrong. Jason Lange and Joe Williams recently bought a flagpole and installed it in Jenkins' front yard to honor his sacrifice and celebrate his service. They also gave him an American flag and a flag that honors Purple Heart recipients.

"What he's done for us, for our families, is a lot more than we did here," Williams said.

For 30 years, he has volunteered as a chaplain at Minnesota prisons. He is an advocate for veterans, serves on the board of Black Veterans of America and counsels those with post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition he was diagnosed with 25 years ago.

"I came back with the survivor's guilt: 'Lord, why me?' " he said. "The longer I live and the veterans that I have crossed paths with, I know that God has allowed me to come back for a purpose. I know my purpose, I know my destiny.
read more here