We're having the wrong conversation on abortion

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 14, 2022 

Rape is traumatic. So is forcing someone to deliver the offspring of the rapist. Now imagine it is a 10-year-old girl?

Man charged with rape of 10-year-old who had abortion after rightwing media called story ‘not true’

BUT IT WAS TRUE!

Why does it matter aside from the obvious that this child had sex forced on her when she was raped, and the laws from zealots would force her to deliver the rapist's offspring and the age of 10? Because this was reported on The Guardian!

Protesters rally at the Ohio statehouse in support of abortion after the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade on 24 June 2022 in Columbus, Ohio. Photograph: Barbara J Perenic/AP

Police say Ohio man confessed to raping a girl who went to Indiana for abortion, following the right’s attempts to discredit story

Gerson Fuentes, 27, who was arrested on Tuesday, appeared in Franklin county, Ohio, municipal court for an arraignment on Wednesday. A police investigator testified at the hearing that Fuentes had confessed to raping the girl at least twice.

The arrest came after rightwing media – and the Republican Ohio attorney general – had poured scorn on reports of the child’s abortion, suggesting it was “not true” and “too good to confirm”.

Now, while no one is trying to take away the rights of folks on the "right" to believe what they want, they seem to have been under the delusion they should be able to force what they believe on the rest of the country.

Imagine if they decided to have ten kids, but could not afford to have them, and laws were also passed to take away any social services they receive. You may think that is never going to happen but you need to think again because the "right" is also on the side of cutting social services to the poor and needy.

Imagine if they wanted to continue the pregnancy after a doctor said it would suffer from birth defects and would never be able to survive without constant medical care, but medical coverage was canceled because, yet again, the "right" seem to hate health care, along with all other social services they constantly slam and cut the budgets of.

Imagine this country adopted something like China when they had one child rule, replaced by allowing two children, and suddenly allowing three? Amnesty International has been fighting for the rights of people to make their own choices there. Will they have to do the same here and will we read something like this with China replaced by the USA?

"Governments have no business regulating how many children people have. Rather than 'optimising' its birth policy, China should instead respect people's life choices and end any invasive and punitive controls over people's family planning decisions," said the group's China team head, Joshua Rosenzweig.

While the "right" is all too willing to fight to take rights away because they don't like what people choose to do, they haven't noticed that they put their rights in peril from their own party. The rest of the people in this country fight for their rights and defend the rights of all others to make their own choices too! You know, the way it should be.

 

Who failed Nicholas Mavrakis and his family?

When you read this story, notice that it was known he had PTSD and had been deployed multiple times. The last listed deployment was in 2008. The question is, why didn't he get the help he needed to heal during all these years back home?

Did the Army fail him? Did the VA fail him? Did all the suicide awareness groups out there fail him? The truth is, they all did and so did the rest of us!

Greek-American Man Suffering from PTSD Kills Family in Murder/Suicide
Greek Reporter
Patricia Claus
June 25, 2021

The Greek-American man had served in the U.S. Army from April 1993 through July 2013 and retired as a staff sergeant according to US Department of Defense records. He had been deployed to Afghanistan from January 2002 to July 2002, and served in Iraq twice, from February 2003 to February 2004 and then again from September 2007 to November 2008.

Nick Mavrakis and his family. Mavrakis shot and killed his own family on Father’s Day in a murder/suicide. Credit: Facebook/Nick Mavrakis

Nicholas Mavrakis III, of Jackson Township, outside Canton, Ohio, allegedly shot and killed his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself in a murder/suicide on Father’s Day.

The shocking incident took place at the family home in Jackson Township, five miles from Canton, Ohio according to police and local media reports.

The Greek-American man was a U.S. Army veteran who had served in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Local police, in a post on Facebook, reported that Mavrakis, along with his wife Lesley Mavrakis, 37, and children Ace Mavrakis, 13, and Pippa Mavrakis, 5, “were found dead shortly after 4 PM Sunday in their home.”
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Cuyahoga County Jail bedsheets removed after too many suicides including veteran

Cuyahoga County Jail removing bed sheets from cells for mentally ill, isolated inmates to curb suicides

Cleveland.com
By Adam Ferrise
August 7, 2019

The move comes after eight inmates died in the jail in 2018, and another in 2019. Five of those inmates committed suicide, including Nicholas Colbert, who hanged himself in the military veteran’s pod in May.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Jail administrators ordered bed sheets to be removed from cells that house inmates considered to be at high risk for self-harm in an effort to curb suicide attempts in the facility.

Inmates who are mentally ill, being held in isolation or being held in a cluster of cells designated for military veterans will be given an additional blanket in lieu of bed sheets, according to the order.

Jail Administrator Rhonda Gibson ordered the change Friday, saying it is necessary to “increase safety for inmates who are of high risk of self harm," according to the order.

The move comes after eight inmates died in the jail in 2018, and another in 2019. Five of those inmates committed suicide, including Nicholas Colbert, who hanged himself in the military veteran’s pod in May.

Jail officials have struggled to curb suicide attempts, which tripled over a three-year period that included 69 suicide attempts in 2018. Cuyahoga County has refused to provide updated information on suicide attempts in 2019.
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Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia

Ohio's militias are armed and ready, with good intent they say

The Plain Dealer
By Brian Albrecht
July 28, 2019

But there are militias that say they support the government and exist to serve as a citizen’s defense force in the historical sense of these groups. Armed, yes, but also prepared and trained to respond to disasters or local community needs.

Members of the Irregulars of Ohio Reserve Militia take a break for a photo with personnel of the Life’s Little Adventures Farm in Wooster, where militia members cleared fallen trees and foliage in May to help the facility that uses rescued animals in therapeutic programs for children, and veterans recovering from PTSD. (Brian Albrecht/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This is the militia: Men and women clad in camos, carrying semi-automatic rifles, stalking the woodlands, shredding targets, prepping for worst-case scenarios.

And this is the militia: Two militia members arrested and charged in Cincinnati earlier this year for allegedly making bombs; a militia leader arrested and charged with firearms possession by a felon in April after a video showed his group detaining migrants in New Mexico at gunpoint; two members of a Illinois militia pleading guilty in January to bombing a Minnesota mosque; three Kansas militia men convicted last year of plotting to blow up an apartment complex where Somali refugees lived.

And this: Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia to help clean up tornado-ravaged areas of Dayton, and an overgrown farm in Wooster that offers therapeutic programs to treat traumatized families and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The recent history of private militias in Ohio and the United States has been fraught with confrontation and violence.
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Disabled homeless veteran beaten by teens in Ohio

Teens attack two homeless men with bats, rocks outside Wooster church

FOX 8 Cleveland
BY JEN STEER AND SUZANNE STRATFORD
JULY 26, 2019

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

WOOSTER, Ohio-- The Wooster Police Department is working to identify three teens who attacked two men sleeping on the steps of a church.

Officers were called to Trinity Church on East North Street just before 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

The victims said three teens, between the ages of 14 and 15, threw rocks at them, then took turns hitting them with bats. The men suffered cuts and scrapes. One was taken to the Wooster Community Hospital Emergency Room.

The men were sound asleep on the steps to get out of the elements.

“They’re both vulnerable, they have some disability, one guys a veteran,” said Pastor Franklin, who’s friends with the victims, “And they didn’t fight back at all."

Pastor Kevan Franklin says, every morning the church serves a free hot breakfast, where they also connect those in need with the proper resources and community services.
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Combat wounded veteran with PTSD got jail after failing to kill himself?

Failing Corporal Carson: Veteran with PTSD jailed for months after failed suicide

WKYC News
Author: Phil Trexler
June 3, 2019

Rather than help the vet, prosecutors brought what Deseray Carson calls an “outrageous” criminal indictment alleging eight crimes that did not happen to her or her children. Prosecutors also ensured his incarceration with a high bond usually reserved for killers and rapists.

Wife with 7 children left alone to fight zealous prosecutors for mental health treatment

STREETSBORO, Ohio — Army Cpl. Joseph Carson came home from Iraq with a Purple Heart.

PTSD came along, too.

And it all changed his life and the lives of his wife and seven children.

The flashbacks. Nightmares. The daily struggle.

And then came the 191 days he spent in the Portage County Jail - facing over 60 years in prison - after cutting his arm while trying to kill himself on Veterans Day.

His wife, Deseray, spent those six-plus months fighting for his release, pleading with prosecutors that her husband needed treatment, not confinement.

Those prosecutors and police saw it differently. They convinced a judge to hold Carson under a $500,000 cash bond, then charged him with eight counts of felonious assault, one count each for Deseray and their children. He was barred from speaking to his children.

“My whole world stops,” Deseray Carson said. “A man who fought for his country, and was hit by a bomb, and has sacrificed so much, physically and mentally. It’s just heartbreaking what’s happened to Joe, our kids and myself. He just sits in jail. And for what?”

They were all home last November when Carson, 36, became enraged over alcohol. He struck his wife and shoved his son during the tirade, according to family and police reports.

But he did not attempt, the family said, to use the knife to harm them. In fact, no one was injured that day except for the Army vet.
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Who said Marines should not crawl? This one finished the race because he would not give up!

Marine running in honor of his fallen comrades crawls to the finish line of the Boston Marathon

CNN
By Amanda Jackson
April 15, 2019

(CNN)Micah Herndon proved that you never give up, no matter what, by crawling on his hands and knees to the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Micah Herndon crawls to the finish line in the 123rd Boston Marathon.

Herndon, of Tallmadge, Ohio, competed in the marathon as a tribute to the memories of three men he knew while he served as a Marine in Afghanistan. He told the Record-Courier in Portage County, Ohio, that whenever he feels like giving up he just repeats their names: Mark Juarez, Matthew Ballard and Rupert Hamer.

"I run in honor of them," Herndon told the Record-Courier. "They are not here anymore. I am here, and I am able. I am lucky to still have all my limbs. I can still be active. I find fuel in the simple idea that I can run. Some cannot."

Herndon crossed the finish line with a time of three hours and 38 minutes to complete the 26.2 miles. CNN affiliate WBZ said once he was over the yellow and blue line he was lifted into a wheelchair and given medical attention. He wore the last names of his comrades on tags on his running shoes.
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Soldiers killed in Afghanistan Identified

Pentagon identifies U.S. Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

By: CNN Newsource
Posted: Mar 24, 2019

TAMPA (WFLA/CNN) - The Pentagon has identified two U.S. soldiers killed Friday in Afghanistan. 

They are 33-year-old Sergeant First Class Will Lindsay of Colorado and 29-year-old Specialist Joseph Collette of Ohio.

Two defense officials tell CNN the service members died during a partnered U.S-Afghan Military operation.

The officials added that initial indications are that they were killed during a fight with the Taliban. Afghan troops were also killed in the incident.

This marks the third and fourth U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan this year.
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Veteran committed suicide on Facebook live

'PTSD suffering veteran', 33, shoots himself in the head on Facebook live after murdering a five-year-old boy and critically injuring his girlfriend

GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
Daily Mail
Luke Kenton
February 4, 2019

Jonovie Mclendon Jr., 33, executed himself live on Facebook on Friday morning
He killed a boy, 5, and critically injured his girlfriend, 27, before killing himself
A friend who served alongside him in the army says he thinks he had PTSD
The two victims' names haven't been released as an investigation continues
In the video Mclendon says 'it's been a long day' before pulling the trigger

Jovonie Mclendon Jr. (pictured), 33, committed suicide live on Facebook, on Friday. He pulled the trigger shortly after killing a five-year-old boy and critically injuring his girlfriend, 27, in Ohio

An army veteran who was thought to be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder executed himself on Facebook live after murdering a 5-year-old boy and seriously wounding his girlfriend on Friday.

Jovonie Mclendon Jr., 33, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on February 3.

Concerned family members dialed 911 saying Mclendon had told them he had killed his girlfriend, her son and was about to kill himself.

'He just called me a minute ago and said that he loved us and that he killed his girlfriend and her baby,' Mclendon's mother can be heard saying in the conversation.

In another call received by authorities, Mclendon told dispatchers he spent three-and-a-half years serving overseas and was 'just tired'.
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Fatal crash killed Iraq veteran, son and father

10-year-old boy, teacher, Iraq vet killed in 'very tragic' crash

LMT Online
HTV National Desk
November 30, 2018

Three members of the same family were killed in a single-vehicle crash on a rural Ohio road Wednesday night.

Investigators said an SUV careened off a road in Brown County and slammed into a tree, without leaving a skid mark. Everyone inside the vehicle was killed.

“It was the last thing on my mind that anything like that would ever happen,” said Rob Moler, who is related to all of the victims.

His father, Robert Moler, 83, was killed in the crash. He was a teacher and basketball coach at Bethel Tate High School. He retired after nearly a half-century at the school.

“Anywhere he went, they always knew dad,” Rob Moler said.

Also killed was Robert’s great-grandson, 10-year-old Cameron Moler. He was a student at Kilgore School in Mt. Lookout.

Cameron’s father, Nick Moler, was driving. He had been in the National Guard and served a tour in Iraq.

“Even one is terrible, but when you have three members of the same family, it’s very tragic,” said Ohio State Police Patrol Sgt. Shannon Utter.
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Female Firefighter takes on PTSD and Ironman!

Woman to compete in Louisville Ironman wearing firefighter gear for PTSD awareness
WDRB News
By Fallon Glick
October 5th 2018

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- If you think competing in an Ironman is tough, imagine what it's like in full firefighter gear.

That's exactly what Diana Woolf will be doing at the Louisville Ironman next weekend. The 47-year-old has been a firefighter for 23 years, and she’s raising awareness about PTSD among firefighters.

“I've lost friends. I mean, if my husband wasn't a firefighter, I probably would have lost him,” Woolf said while acknowledging her own PTSD. “And myself, I contemplated suicide at one point.”

Woolf found herself in hole she couldn't climb out of because her PTSD until she started competing in triathlons. In a way, it acted as therapy. Now, the Village of Highland Hills, Ohio, firefighter is gearing up, literally, for the Louisville Ironman.

“The jackets, the pants, I wear the liners, which is a huge portion of our gear," Woolf said. "It's like a thermal barrier, but it also contains a lot of heat, which is what makes it most difficult. I wear the helmet, and then I wear the air pack on my back."

She'll be wearing all 37 pounds of it during the marathon portion of the Ironman. She hopes to shed light on the silent killer, because she said most firefighters aren't talking about PTSD.

“They're not saying they're having problems, because it is such a sign of weakness, which is the point of why I'm doing this ... to show that you're not weak," Woolf said. "You complete a full Ironman in fire gear, and you can have PTSD, so just come out and say 'I have problems. I need help,'"

Woolf said, statistically, more firefighters die of suicide related to PTSD than line-of-duty deaths.
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Family of missing veteran lives changed

Family searches for answers after Army vet with PTSD vanishes
FOX 19 News
By Amber Jayanth, Reporter
July 24th 2018

Since his absence, the family lost their home and Isabella now has to work to help support her mother and other four children.

GREENFIELD, OH (FOX19)
A Greenfield Army veteran has been missing for nearly three months.

Now, his family is desperate for answers and hopes to bring him home.

The family tells us Harold Willis, who goes by the name Henry, lives in Greenfield but works in Hillsboro.

He never made it home May 3.

Melissa Willis just gave birth to her daughter Journey 10 days ago, but there wasn't much of a celebration because her husband and Journey's father and remains missing.

"He would have definitely been there," she said. "He never missed a birthday, never missed a holiday, He was always there. Always provided. He was a really good man."

Her husband of 18 years never would have missed the birth of their child.

Now, each day that he is gone breaks her heart a little bit more.

His oldest daughter, Isabella Willis, said he was last seen leaving his construction job in Hillsboro.

"He said he was coming home from a friend's house and he never made it home that night and he never picked up his check," she said.

Since his absence, the family lost their home and Isabella now has to work to help support her mother and other four children.
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Fake veterans charity collected millions

Just so you understand that ripping off people while claiming to be helping veterans is hurting them far beyond the ones who get caught. It is people like me who end up walking away because they cannot afford to operate anymore.

It is embarrassing to file my forms for Florida, since the IRS does not need a bottom line when you make basically nothing. Florida needs financial statements. Last year I lost over $3,000. I took in a whopping $120 for work I do 45 hours a week, with three books, over 300 videos and God knows how many posts done last year.

Most of my work is done on the phone, actually talking to veterans and families, or online. Most of the money I lost was for the cell phone.

OK, so, now maybe you get a better understanding how these people make millions for using veterans instead of helping them, and the ones actually helping, end up giving up.

We end up trapped behind the flood of fools screaming about veterans committing suicide, taking in millions and having fun pulling stunts while veterans lose hope. 

They cannot find us on Facebook or other social media sites because everyone is sharing the rumor while ignoring the end result. 

Anyway, had to get that off my chest. I have a full time job so, I can afford to do what I do. That is why it is so repulsive when people make it their full time job to rip off people by using veterans.

Fake veterans charity collected millions in donations from Ohioans
Springfield News Sun
By Max Filby - Staff Writer
July 23, 2018

One local nonprofit that has been impacted by misleading veterans charities is the Miami Valley Military Museum on the grounds of the VA Medical Center in Dayton.

WWII artifacts, including a Japanese helmet, lower right, at the Miami Valley Military History Museum located in Building 120 on the Dayton Veterans Administration campus. TY GREENLEES / STAFF

A government watchdog and six state attorneys general are taking aim at fake veterans charities, including one that collected more than $11 million from Ohioans from 2014 to 2016. A Florida-based nonprofit called “Help The Vets” was recently found to have spent less than five percent of donations on charity, with the other 95 percent going to the group’s founder and paid fundraisers, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Now, the fraudulent charity is one of several that finds itself in the crosshairs of the Federal Trade Commission and the state attorneys general of Ohio, Florida, California, Maryland, Minnesota and Oregon. The FTC and the six attorneys general have launched a campaign called “Operation Donate with Honor” to combat giving to charities falsely claiming to be helping veterans and members of the military.
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Huey vandalized at American Legion

Vandals damage helicopter used in Vietnam War
Columbus Dispatch
Marc Kovac
July 3, 2018

NEWARK — Local veterans are offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of vandals responsible for damaging a Vietnam-era helicopter that’s been displayed at schools and in parades for decades.

The UH-1 “Huey” helicopter was used in the Vietnam War for about five years and subsequently for stints by the U.S. Navy and the Ohio National Guard before it was transferred to Newark about 30 years ago for display.

Sometime over the weekend, vandals broke out two of the windows on the chopper, which was parked at the American Legion Post 85 on Wilson Street in Newark, said Mark Rehl, president of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 55, District 1.

“It’s very upsetting,” he said.

The aircraft, which rides atop a customized boat trailer, has been used as a mobile historic display at community and school events, with frequent appearances during parades. It’s also been a help to local veterans, some suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from their service years.

Anyone with information about the weekend vandalism of the aircraft is encouraged to contact the local Vietnam Veterans of America chapter at (740) 927-6272.
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Vietnam veteran shocked to discover he was dead for 30 days

Dayton veteran wrongly marked deceased by VA
Dayton Daily News
June 1, 2018

DAYTON
A Dayton man was recently shocked to learn he was deceased when he received a letter of condolence from the Department of Veteran’s Affairs addressed to his late wife.

Alfred Wilson joined the Marine Corp in 1967, sent to Vietnam in 1968, and was discharged with medical retirement in 1969 for being shot in the leg.

Wilson was married for 44 years to his wife who had a stroke back in October 2017 and later passed away in March.

He received the letter addressed to his wife from the VA in the mail stating he was dead and had been so for the past 30 days.
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Sgt. Louis Loftus Passed Away

Akron-area Afghanistan War veteran dies at 30
Beacon Journal/Ohio.com
By Brandon Bounds
March 30,2018

“He was an absolute jewel. He did everything for me.”

That’s just a taste of how Lynn Loftus described her grandson, Louis Loftus.

Louis, 30, died Tuesday because of heart complications, according to his grandmother. Despite living a relatively short life, she said, he made a tremendous impact on the world and those around him.

An Afghanistan War veteran, Sgt. Louis did two tours in the U.S. Army and was strongly affected by his experiences there. His was featured on national television several times talking about his service.

Louis served two combat tours in Afghanistan, serving with the 82nd Airborne and the 173rd Airborne. He was honorably discharged in November 2010.

In 2010, he gave an emotional interview with NBC Nightly News about losing a friend in combat.

“I’m kind of numb to it,” Louis said of his friend’s death in the television report. “I don’t really feel much. I pray for his family. I pray for his soul.”

Tears flowed as he began to break down emotionally.

“I try not to think about it. Because when you think about it, then I get like this,” he added, choking on his words.

NBC News documented his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder in a special that aired in 2012 after a reporter followed Louis for two years.
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Sgt. Louis Loftus Point Man breaks down talking about the lives lost.
From 2010

Sgt. Loftus: Dealing with life during and after war
Rock Center
October 04, 2012

Two years ago, Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel met Sgt. Louis Loftus on a battlefield in Afghanistan. Since then, Loftus has allowed NBC News to document his life as a soldier and a citizen. Loftus is one of 100,000 returning veterans that is being treated for PTSD. NBC’s Richard Engel reports.

Screaming Eagle Craig Morgan Redneck Yacht Club

Former soldier Craig Morgan convenes his 'Redneck Yacht Club' at Thirsty Cowboy
Cleveland.com
By Chuck Yarborough, The Plain Dealer
March 6, 2018

"This came about after we lost Jerry," said Morgan, who also heads the family business and farm in Tennessee. "I knew it was important that the family not try to suffer individually, that we needed to share our anger, hurt and pain, and stay focused on God.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Craig Morgan likes to take risks. Kind of the thing you'd expect from a guy who was a forward observer in the field artillery for almost 10 years on active duty and another six in the Reserves in the Army, then quit to pursue a music career.

Craig Morgan, the former soldier-turned-country singer best known for "Redneck Yacht Club'' and "That's What I Love About Sundays,'' is at Medina's Thirsty Cowboy on Friday, March 9.(Christopher T. Martin)

"I had an opportunity to write for a publishing company and I thought it would be a good experience," said Morgan in a call to his place on 50 acres in Alaska's Mat-Su Valley, north of Anchorage. "I wanted to be able to say at least I tried it."

That didn't mean it was an easy choice for the country singer-songwriter who's at the Thirsty Cowboy in Medina on Friday, March 9. Walking away from the pension that awaited him after 20 years of service was tough, made more difficult by the "camaraderie" with soldiers he felt as a staff sergeant who was eligible to be promoted to sergeant first class when he got out.

The Army instills an "esprit de corps" in its soldiers, Morgan said.

"It's a teaching, a sense of gratitude," he said. "One thing about military personnel: Even in my generation, there's a sense of pride in their country and a humility in their service.

A soldier since 1995, Morgan was twice attached to the famous 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles" as well as the equally well-known 82nd Airborne Division, the "All American Division," the unit in which World War I Medal of Honor winner Alvin York served.
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Man died at bus stop...he was homeless

​Homeless advocates worry about cold after man's death at bus stop
WLWT 5 News
Richard Chiles
December 27, 2017

CINCINNATI
As police confirmed the death of a homeless man at the Government Square transit center, advocates for the area's homeless population mobilized in anger and determination.

Maslow's Army, a nonprofit who worked closely with the man, identified him at Ken Martin. Although the cause of death hasn't been officially confirmed, the cold seems to have likely been a factor.

"It is heartbreaking. That's one of the reasons we are here is to prevent that from happening. 

So it is always heartbreaking when someone doesn't take advantage of the space that we have to offer here and chooses to be out on the street and in the cold."

Homeless Marine veteran Tim Stockton looks at the Government Square death as a harsh reality of the bitter cold.

"This could have been me," Stockton said. "You don't leave nobody out on the streets."

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Dayton VA Medical Center Christmas Eve Service

Veterans come together for Christmas Eve vigil

WDTN 2 News

Kristen Eskow

December 24, 2017

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Veterans and their families gathered for an annual service Sunday night to honor veterans and those currently serving our country.

The Dayton VA Medical Center hosted its annual Christmas Eve vigil. As Christmas carols filled the lobby, it brought back memories for veterans like Marvin Schroeder.

“We were all brothers and sisters separated from our own families,” said Schroeder, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam war.

Schroeder recalls those Christmases spent with his family of fellow soldiers.

“We made the celebration all together, and we really made the best of what we had,” he said.

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

Chaplain Rome said he knows the feeling all too well. A veteran himself, he remembers spending Christmas in Iraq.

“It was just a difficult time, it was lonely away from home,” he said. “But yet we’re serving our country and so we just kind of band together and do the best that we can.”

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Homeless Veteran Escaped Fire But Has Nothing Left

Homeless vet in hospital after barely making it out of burning building
WTOL 11 News
December 13, 2017

“I got nowhere to go for emergency purposes. Nowhere. I just lost everything. All my clothes, everything. I got nothing more, nothing.”

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) 

A veteran is now homeless and in the hospital after barely making it out of a burning building in central Toledo Wednesday morning.

The fire occurred on Palmwood Avenue near Collingwood Avenue around 2:30 a.m.

Crews say they arrived to find the building totally engulfed, with flames shooting out of the windows and roof of the building.

Homeless veteran Rex Davis says he and about seven other people were squatting inside the building when the fire started.

Davis said the blaze started when an ember from the fireplace caught a mattress on fire.

“I opened up the fireplace and something popped out and landed on the mattress and burned it up. I crawled out from the basement. I couldn’t see,” he said.

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