Vietnam Veteran Went From Hamburger Hill to Facing Homelessness

Veterans in need? They’ve got friends, indeed
East Bay Times
By SAM RICHARDS
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2017

Metsiou served in the Army’s 101st Airborne “for 366 days in 1968 and ’69,” he said. “I’m one of the lucky ones who made it back from Hamburger Hill,” referring to a battle against the North Vietnamese in May 1969 in which 400 Americans died and which drew criticism from some lawmakers for its questionable strategic value. His landlord consented to give him until New Year’s to find a new place to live.

Disabled American Veterans Chapter 154 vice commander Sean Poynter, of Pittsburg, unloads a child’s bicycle at the new home of Vietnam veteran Richard Metsiou, 68, in Antioch on Friday, Dec. 30. Richard Metsiou and his wife, Zitta, were facing eviction from their home in Pittsburg, but with the help of Shelter, Inc. and the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 154, the couple were able to move into a new home in Antioch. They are also raising three adopted grandchildren. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

ANTIOCH — Finding a place to live can be an expensive challenge in the Bay Area, and for Richard Metsiou, a Vietnam veteran battling cancer and a bad credit score, an almost impossible one.

So when his longtime landlord died and her family chose to sell the Pittsburg house where he and his family have been living, he had to act fast. Metsiou needed a little help from his friends, and he got it.

Some of them were friends he’d never met before.

“A friend of mine came to me and said Richard was in a bind,” said Sean Poynter, of Pittsburg, who knows Metsiou from the Mount Diablo Disabled American Veterans post in Pittsburg, where he is senior vice commander. “I put it out in an email, that a fellow (veteran) needed some help, and all these guys showed up.”

On Friday, eight members of veterans groups from East Contra Costa County, and from Shelter, Inc. of Contra Costa, a nonprofit whose main mission is fighting homelessness, were unloading trailers in front of a house on West 10th Street in Antioch, where Metsiou, his wife, Zitta, and their three adopted grandchildren will soon live.

But before that, Poynter called Shelter, Inc. for help, and it came though big time, he said. The agency helped find an affordable house with an owner who could deal with Metsiou’s credit issues.

“They’ve been absolutely great,” said 68-year-old Metsiou, who is physically weak and also battling post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Hamburger Hill Vietnam Veteran Joe Ybarra Honored

Hamburger Hill veteran Joe Ybarra of Colton honored as ‘Hometown Hero’
The Sun
By Ryan Hagen
POSTED: 05/10/16

COLTON
Joe Ybarra will always remember May 10.

U.S Army Sgt. First Class Chad Bliss says a few words before awarding Army Veteran Joe L. Ybarra of Colton, with the Silver Star medal for his service in the Vietnam War, during a hometown hero banner ceremony in Colton Tuesday.

JOHN VALENZUELA — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

It’s the day he was born, and it’s the day in 1969 that he and others began the Battle of Hamburger Hill, where his actions earned him the Silver Star.

And May 10, 2016 is the day 50 friends and supporters surprised Ybarra outside the Stater Bros. on Washington Street with a banner recognizing him as a “Hometown Hero.”

After months of work by his family, the celebration — which included a reception afterward with a caterer, DJ and more — wasn’t a complete surprise, said Ybarra, who arrived wearing a dress shirt and tie.

“It’s overwhelming,” Ybarra said after the ceremony. “I have a lot of family and friends I haven’t seen for years, and for them all to come today, I’m honored.”

Colton, one of many local cities to hold a “Hometown Hero” program, has put up nearly 200 of the banners since it began the program in earnest in 2013, said Deputy City Clerk Sabdi Sanchez, who manages the program.

The banners, displayed on thoroughfares, honor veterans and active-duty military personnel from the city.

Ybarra, who turned 67 Tuesday, volunteered for the paratroopers and wound up in the “Screaming Eagles” of the 101st Airborne Division.
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Vietnam Veteran Father OEF-OIF Son Led Same Unit

Father, son lead Army unit 4 decades apart
Associated Press
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE
June 14, 2014

FORT CAMPBELL, KY. — Like many soldiers, Lt. Col. Patrick Harkins has a veteran father who knows firsthand the stress of wartime deployments. One big difference is that Harkins' dad led the very same unit of paratroopers known as the Iron Rakkasans into combat decades earlier.

While the military has long had family legacies — and featured them prominently in Father's Day celebrations — the Harkins' achievements stand out. Capt. Charles Emmons, a spokesman for the brigade, said it appears to be the first time a father and son have commanded the same unit decades apart.

Patrick Harkins, 41, has led the 3rd Battalion of the 187th Infantry Regiment into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan four times since Sept. 11, 2001. His father, retired Col. Bob Harkins, led the same regiment four decades ago in Vietnam during Operation Apache Snow, more commonly known as the Battle of Hamburger Hill.

"It's a really unique situation," Emmons said.

The family legacy reaches back to World War II. Patrick Harkins' grandfather, Sgt. Clyde Patrick Harkins, served with the 279th Combat Engineers and was attached to the 101st Airborne Division, which also contains the Rakkasans. He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and later died of his injuries. Patrick Harkins' brother, Army Lt. Col. Gregory Harkins, 43, is stationed in Italy.
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