Veterans ride for lost brother, Eric Hall

Maybe this post should be titled, Out of Hopelessness, Comes Miracles? It's really amazing what Eric Hall did after he suffered so much back home. The sadness comes knowing he was not here to see it. He is somewhere in Heaven looking down and has God's ear to help his brothers. How do I know? Because that is exactly what is happening.

Leonard “Taz” Leary became a Chaplain for the Vietnam Brotherhood after suffering from PTSD. Joe “Blooper” Tine, President of the local Leathernecks MC is talking about it. If these are not miracles, nothing is.

There have been other stories on this blog about the reporting on Eric Hall from the time he was missing and everyone was looking for him, to when his body was found and what came later. Deaths like his tug at the heart of anyone becoming aware of them. They happen all too often. Yet somehow out of tremendous grief and anger, families rise above their own pain for the sake of other sons and daughters in need of help to prevent another parent from feeling the same kind of pain. In the process, other lives are saved because they understand that PTSD does not mean the end of life. It means they need help to heal to have a better life. They understand that all of it has a reason behind it and that reason is not because they are flawed, but because they are caring humans, exposed to horrific events in combat and felt the pain of others.

If you are a newer veteran, I'm begging you to get help to heal. If any pin head utters one single word against you, tell them science has proven PTSD, but they don't have a cure for idiots refusing to learn anything. If you are a Vietnam veteran, I can assure you that it is not too late to get help. My husband did and he's living life again. He's a Vietnam vet too. With one out of five coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan right now, they need all the help they can get and who better to help them than you? First you have to heal yourself and then you can help them. Make some miracles for your own family and then you can make some for other families feeling lost, alone and afraid.

Veterans ride for lost brother, Eric Hall
By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer

A memorial ride Saturday to raise awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder in honor of late U.S. Marine Eric Hall may have been led by his cousin, Adam Birge.

But many of the veterans participating in the ride said they felt like Hall's brothers, because they, too, know the horrors of war.

The intent of the Home Front Fight Motorcycle Ride — the second ride to be held since Hall, 24, died in Deep Creek on Feb. 3, 2008 — was to raise funds for the Eric Hall Memorial Foundation. The organization is dedicated to helping military personnel returning from war with PTSD, said Hall's aunt, Marge Baker of Deep Creek.

The foundation's goal is to establish a safe house or two to provide a refuge for PTSD victims, Baker said.

“Our family feels that if there were something like that for Eric, we would have been able to save him,” she said.

About two dozen people participated. After an hour's delay due to a torrential downpour, the riders embarked from the Black Widow Harley-Davidson/Buell dealership in Port Charlotte.

Often, due to the nature of combat, soldiers can't react to trauma until years later, said Leonard “Taz” Leary, chaplain for the Vietnam Brotherhood.

Leary said he didn't become aware that PTSD was the cause of his own anti-social traits until after Hall's death compelled him to review his VA file.

“I owe him my life,” Leary said.

Joe “Blooper” Tine, president of the Port Charlotte Chapter of the Leathernecks Motorcycle Club, said he experiences PTSD as “a startle reaction.” It could be set off by the sound of a helicopter or a 21-gun salute, he said.

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Veterans ride for lost brother, Eric Hall

Body found may be missing Marine Eric Hall

Body may solve missing veteran mystery
Officials awaiting coroner's report STAFF PHOTO / JASON McKIBBEN
A volunteer searching for missing Iraq war veteran Eric Hall Sunday found human remains in this drainage pipe in the Deep Creek area near Sulstone and Partin drives. The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office responded to the scene and removed the remains Sunday evening. The identity of the body has not yet been released. Hall has been missing since Feb. 3 when he left his aunt's home on a motorcycle which was later recovered near the site where the body was found.
By Kate Spinner

DEEP CREEK -- A badly decomposed body found Sunday in a culvert in Charlotte County is suspected to be that of missing Iraq war veteran Eric Hall.

"Everybody's kind of concluded that," said Bob Carpenter, spokesman for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

However, he said, a final determination will not be made until the body is analyzed by the county medical examiner.

Hall's mother, Becky Hall, said she wanted to wait for the medical examiner's report before reaching any conclusions or making comments.

Becky Hall also would not say whether such items were found.

Carpenter said he did not know when the medical examiner would make a determination. He also could not say whether shoes, a cell phone, or clothing belonging to Hall were found in the culvert or nearby.

Suspicion is high that the body is Hall's because the culvert was very close to an underground shelter Hall is thought to have built weeks ago.

A volunteer who was searching for signs of Hall contacted the Sheriff's office Sunday morning to report a strong odor coming from the culvert, according to a Sheriff's Office press release.
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http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080310/NEWS/803100312

This has to be the one time I prayed someone would turn up with homeless veterans. Pray for his family.


The count's public works department provided a backhoe for investigators to dig to the pipe and cut a hole in it. The body was found 40 to 50 yards inside the pipe.

Renewed Hope Eric Hall Is Still Alive

Missing Marine may have called again
Eric Hall, 24, is believed to have placed another phone call to a friend
CAROLYN QUINN, Charlotte Sun Staff Writer
7:27 p.m., Friday, February 22, 2008


The former Marine who vanished over two weeks ago during a flashback to his service in Iraq may have called an old friend a second time.

Eric Hall, 24, who left his aunt's house in Deep Creek on Feb. 3 and has not been seen since, is believed to have called a childhood friend and former girlfriend in his native Indiana after 6 p.m. Thursday. It is the second call he is believed to have made to the friend, although he did not identify himself either time.

"He is reaching out, and it just renews my efforts," said Becky Hall, Eric's mother, who came to Florida from Indiana shortly after his disappearance.
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linked from ICasualties.org