CIA Honored "Smokejumpers"

They were smokejumpers when the CIA sent them to Laos; they came back in caskets
The Washington Post
By IAN SHAPIRA
Published: June 25, 2017

Leary, the University of Georgia history professor and Air America expert, wrote the CIA a letter urging the agency to give the three men Memorial Wall recognition as far back as 1993.

Their families didn't know they were in Laos, and didn't know that they'd started working for the CIA in addition to their jobs with the U.S. Forest Service.

The CIA Memorial Wall uses stars to honor those killed in the line of duty.

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

They were young firefighters-turned-CIA operatives working thousands of miles from home in a remote corner of Southeast Asia. David W. Bevan, Darrell A. Eubanks and John S. Lewis, all in their mid-20s, were on a mission to drop supplies for anti-Communist forces in what was then known as the Kingdom of Laos. But on Aug. 13, 1961, the CIA-operated Air America plane carrying the men tried turning out of a mountaintop bowl near the Laotian capital of Vientiane and one of its wings hooked into a ridge.

The C-46 "cartwheeled into little pieces," according to the book, "Smokejumpers and the CIA," published by the National Smokejumpers Association. The CIA operatives died, along with Air America's two pilots.

When their families were told they'd been killed in Laos in a plane crash, they were stunned.
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Amputee Afghanistan Veteran is Now a "Road Warrior"

Disabled veteran surprised with special wheelchair
WCYB 5 News
Ellie Romano
Posted: Jun 24, 2017

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. - Jeremy Young was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 where he fell victim to a blue on green attack.

One of his Afghani counterparts opened fire on him and his comrades.

Young was shot 13 times and suffered severe nerve damage and had to amputate his leg.

Now, he has a new form of transportation.

The Road Warrior Foundation gifted Young with a massive wheelchair that can work in tough terrain.

"I couldn't believe that was for me. I wanted one of these chairs since I got hurt, and the first time I saw it I was like 'do you know how cool it would be to own one of those.'" Young explained.

The organizers of this surprise where very particular in choosing the right recipient.

Road Warrior's Mid-Atlantic Regional Director said they denied about 15 candidates before finding Young.
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500 Homeless Veterans Found Home and Hope in Pensacola

500 homeless vets housed through VA, Pensacola program
Pensacola News Journal
Kevin Robinson
June 25, 2017

"If it wasn't for the psychiatrist and the case workers and HUD-VASH, I probably would have fell backwards. They're all proud of me because of where I'm at now compared to how I used to be."
Billy Gillard

Billy Gillard's welcome to Vietnam was a hail of enemy gunfire.

The 18-year-old U.S. Marine Corps infantryman was deployed to Vietnam in 1968, the bloodiest year of the war. When his plane landed, Gillard's first instructions were to grab his duffel bag and sprint for cover. From there, Gillard spent restless nights unsure where or when the next attack would come. He lost brothers in arms suddenly and violently, and still can't shake the memories of the dead and wounded.

He made it home physically whole, but he left some piece of himself in the jungle.

"Now, I have a psychiatrist, and they recognize it's (post traumatic stress disorder)," Gillard, now 68, said. "Back then it was like, 'What do I do now?' ... . There were a lot of battles I was fighting by myself when I got back here."

Gillard turned to drugs to cope. He went through three marriages, more than a decade in prison and 15 years drifting from place to place without a home to call his own. In 2008, he realized he was tired of the way he was living, and this time, there was someone there to help.

Gillard is one of the hundreds of local, formerly homeless veterans who have been able to obtain housing through the HUD-VASH program.
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Huey's Still Coming to Rescue of Vietnam Veterans

Vietnam Veterans give therapy rides to fellow Vets in 1968 Huey Helicopter
KTVU News
Leigh Martinez
June 25, 2017

That was the start of his mental healing process and Raquiza now volunteers every weekend with the Huey Vets and recruits veterans from all battlefields to take therapeutic rides and discuss military PTSD.

On the tarmac at the Bud Field Aviation Hanger, there’s a sound familiar to all Vietnam Combat Veterans. The deep, loud ‘thud, thud, thud’ of a Huey helicopter.

This distinct sound meant supplies, medic rescue, and most importantly, that they were going home.

"I wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for a UH1 helicopter taking care of me,” said US Army pilot Randy Parent, one of two pilots commanding the EMU 309.

Today, veterans claim the Huey continues to save their lives. The EMU 309 is a Bell UH-1H Huey helicopter restored to its 1968 Vietnam War configuration. The all-volunteer team of Huey Vets now maintain the EMU 309 to provide therapeutic flights above the San Antonio Reservoir to veterans suffering the after-effects of war.

Geoff Carr and Peter Olesko bought the Huey helicopter in 2003. Carr mortgaged his house to restore it.

“I knew if these go out of service, they can become beer cans and lose their history,” said Carr.

It has turned the lives around for two veterans, who credit the aircraft for starting their PTSD recovery.

"You hear that expression 'Coming home' and I think it's different for everybody, but if I was going to use that expression, I'd say ‘coming home’ for me was getting back in this chopper and flying it again,” said Andy Perry, who flew the Huey 309 during the Vietnam War for the Royal Australian Navy, fighting alongside American troops.

Perry and U.S. Army Sgt. Faustino Raquiza both received silver stars for their roles in Vietnam. Raquiza was awarded two silver stars.

"The silver star doesn't mean anything to me,” said Raquiza.

“I know people make it a big deal -third highest ranking star in the United States military, but I rather be understood; understood for what I'm going through and not patronized. It's hurtful."

Perry and Raquiza said they had no idea what they were returning home to after their service in Vietnam.

"I was booed at the airport, they threw stuff at me, I was called a baby killer, women killer,” said Raquiza.
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America's Forgotten Heroes - No Longer from Huey Vets - EMU, Inc on Vimeo.

PTSD Missing Veteran James Ivy

Police: Milwaukee man last seen a week ago in Fernwood
Chicago Sun Times
CHICAGO NEWS 06/25/2017

Police are asking for the public’s help in finding a Milwaukee man who last last seen a week ago in the Fernwood neighborhood on the Far South Side.

James Ivy, 69, was last seen about 10 p.m. on June 17 in the 10300 block of South State Street, according to a missing person alert from Chicago Police.

Ivy is a retired veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder and may be headed back to Milwaukee via Amtrak, police said.

He is described as a 205-pound, 6-foot-1 African American man with brown eyes, black hair and a medium complexion, according to police.
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