Witnesses take action after WWII veteran was beaten and robbed

World War II veteran beaten, robbed during his weekly walk after buying lottery tickets
By Rosemary R. Sobol and Mitch Smith
Chicago Tribune reporters
8:51 p.m. CDT, July 31, 2012

Porter B. Cross lost his dentures, wallet and hearing aid when three young attackers knocked him to the ground and beat and robbed him in broad daylight Monday, but the proud World War II veteran hung on to the lottery tickets he had just bought and stuffed into a pocket.

The 87-year-old retired postal worker was returning from his weekly walk to a neighborhood store to buy $25 worth of Pick 4 and Mega Millions lottery tickets when he was assaulted from behind.

"I don't know what happened," Cross, struggling to speak without the dentures that were broken during the robbery, said Tuesday from his bed in his West Englewood residence on the South Side.

"I know they broke my teeth and they hit me here," he said as he pointed to his still-hurting chest. "They hit me and they kicked me."

Two meat delivery drivers, Dennis Weekly and Aiman Samad, said they witnessed the midafternoon attack and followed the attackers at a safe distance before flagging down passing patrol officers.

"I saw the man lying on the ground and three males standing over him, going through his pockets," Weekly said. "I followed them about four blocks until police got there. I kept my distance so they wouldn't know."
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Congress passes bill for Marine families hurt by tainted water

Congress passes bill for Marine families hurt by tainted water
By Franco Ordoñez
Washington Correspondent
Posted: Wednesday, Aug. 01, 2012

This photo provided by Jerry Ensminger shows his daughter Janey, in an undated photo. Janey died of leukemia at age 9 not long after this photo was taken. Her father, former Marine master sergeant Jerry Ensminger said he believes she died due to exposure to contaminated water, while he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

WASHINGTON The day after Janey Ensminger would have celebrated her 36th birthday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a historic bill in her honor that would help thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families who were exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

Legislation that has languished for years could soon be on the president’s desk after the House followed in the Senate’s footsteps and passed the measure under suspension of the rules by a voice vote.

Janey was just 9 when she died of a rare form of leukemia. Her family struggled for years to understand how, or why, she fell prey to the mysterious illness.

It was her father, Jerry Ensminger, who helped uncover that his daughter was one of as many as 1 million people who were exposed to contaminated drinking water at the Marine base near Jacksonville.
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Fort Benning Sergeant defends Olympic gold in men’s skeet

Sergeant defends gold in men’s skeet
By Gary Mihoces
USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Jul 31, 2012

LONDON – Army Sgt. Vince Hancock became the first American man to defend an Olympic gold medal in skeet shooting by winning the event Tuesday afternoon at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Hancock, of Eatonton, Ga., shot a 148 to hold a two-clay advantage over silver medalist Anders Golding of Denmark. Nasser Al-Attiya of Qatar won the bronze with a 144 after winning a shoot off over Russia’s Valeriy Shomin.

With Hancock's result Tuesday and Kim Rhode’s on Monday, the United States swept the skeet gold medals.
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Vietnam veteran and Mom in hospital after attack

Elderly Woman, Vietnam Vet Son Beaten In Cobbs Creek Invasion
July 31, 2012
By Nicole Brewer

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — An open heart led an elderly woman to open her door, which in turn opened her up to a brutal attack.

“Shocking, very shocking. Couldn’t understand it, don’t understand it,” said neighbor Robert Rivers.

To make matter worse, police say 87-year-old Yvonne Gaines knew the suspect, possibly an old next door neighbor, who neighbors believe asked to use her bathroom, around 3:30 Tuesday morning.

“This is a neighborhood, people trust each other. They help each other,” explained State Representative James Roebuck.
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Battlefield Home

Nadia McCaffrey sent me the link to this film. I am very glad she did. The second title of this blog is Battle Stations Home because if you read this blog, you know the battles are too often much harder back here than there.

Battlefield Home
The Backstory....

Battlefield: Home is a feature-length documentary about the transition home by our troops and families after combat is over.

Each personal story unfolds the challenges that warriors, families and survivors often face in their attempt to "return to normal," amidst the systemic breakdowns faced by each service member. Whether faced by the challenge of medical, judicial or economics, "Battlefield: Home" shares their stories of survival when the war is over.

With a skeleton crew, and the desire to help, we traveled across the United States to hear these stories and give our Veteran and their families a voice.

Our warriors and families recognize that the war is not always the one fought overseas, sometimes the war is at home.

We are now looking for assistance in completing this most important story. Talented friends have contributed their time and skills to assist, but we are still lacking some essentials.

The film will be released on-line so that it will reach those who can help. The focus and goal of this film is to increase awareness, and help support those who have supported us a nation.

This is a film of strength, courage, honesty, heartbreak, and hope...it is the story of us.

'One percent of our population serves in the military, one percent defends this nation, is it too much to ask that we take care of that one percent?'

Thank you.

Anita Holsapple, MS - Director/Producer/Creator (USMC BRAT) read more here

Fort Hood Sgt. died after high speed chase

Local Man Killed When Truck Hit Tree During Police Chase Identified
KWTX
HARKER HEIGHTS
July 30, 2012
A man who died when his truck crashed into a tree as he attempted to elude Harker Heights Police early Saturday morning was identified Monday as Fort Hood Sgt. Timothy Stephens, 28, of McMinnville, Ore.

Stephens died after a chase that started just after 2 a.m. Saturday when Harker Heights Police attempted to pull over a speeding and swerving truck in the 300 block of Indian Trail Drive.

At first the driver appeared to be stopping, but then the truck sped up and headed onto Clore Road, police said.
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Death of Fort Hood soldier under investigation after fourth deployment

Shooting Death Of Fort Hood Soldier From Central Texas Under Investigation
KWTX
July 31, 2012

FORT HOOD

An investigation was underway Monday into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Fort Hood Sgt. Clinton Truman Kunze, 29, of Moody, who was a veteran of four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Kunze died of a gunshot wound on Thursday at Fort Hood, but no further details were provided.
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Marine from Palm Bay Florida killed in Afghanistan

Brevard County Marine killed in action
July 31, 2012
By Arelis R. Hernández
Orlando Sentinel

A Central Florida Marine was killed Sunday during combat operations in Afghanistan, according to the Department of Defense.

Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan W. Gifford, 34, of Palm Bay was killed in the Badghis province of the country where his Marine battalion was stationed.
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PTSD families still last to know when their battle begins

On June 24, 2012 I had to ask Why did we let Trever Gould die? because after all these years, it was a matter of why they are still committing suicide.

Trever's Mom was asking the same question. She left this comment on the post I did.

Hello I am Sheri Johnson Trever Gould's mother. A person does not know how hard they can ache until they lose a child. It hurts even more knowing my son did not get the help he need when he asked for it. He always acted strong around me because he was trained that way and thought he was my protector. We need to help our soldiers that come home and even the ones that are deployed. They need to be heard we need to be heard. I would give anything to hold my son one more time and tell him how much I love him, but I can't do this anymore and I want to change things so other parents and spouses can hold their loved ones every day.

I tried to comfort her, let her know that it was not her fault and then she left this comment.

I do blame myself and feel I failed him. My son should be sitting here right now with his family not in a urn. I feel I should of forced him to go get help, but I thought he was dealing with things he acted so tough. When I seen those papers and it was in black and white that he did ask for help and I did not know it. It makes me ache even more. I pray that things change so other parents do not need to feel this pain I feel. I do know now there are others out there that want the same thing and together we can make a change. This is my sons memorial site on Facebook I am working on getting the word out there and making a difference.
Trevor Gould Memorial
I am sorry you and your husband lost a nephew to PTSD also and that your husband suffers from it also.
Sheri Johnson

But if this story has any lessons it is the fact that when combat veterans survive combat but cannot survive being back home, the families blame themselves. That's a fact.

Trever's sister Brittney DeBlieck sent me another email about a petition they have to try to prevent other families from suffering the same way.

Trever Gould
by Brittney DeBlieck

(edited email)
On June 21, 2012, our brother, our mom’s one and only son, and a wonderful uncle took his own life. There would be no more family get-togethers, no more holidays, no more parties for him, and no more of us being able to see his great smile. He held the weight of the world on his shoulders and it became too much. Iraq changed him and the military changed him. We didn’t understand how much it had changed him until it was too late.

A week before he took his life our mom tried real hard to help and get him the help that he needed. Unfortunately, justice failed him. But what from what we know now, it would have been hard to save him. We didn’t understand what had been going through his mind and how much he was truly hurting.

We were very shocked and didn’t understand. The day after he was gone, we tried going through his military paperwork he had in his room and what we found was even more shocking. While being stationed in Texas with the U.S. Regular Army he had threatened to attempt suicide multiple times. However, no one was ever told us this, no one told our mom and the military did not follow-up with his condition. We found paperwork stating that he had threatened suicide. However, on the same paperwork it stated he was not suicidal even with him stating he was. He didn’t receive help he needed. We were never aware of this and wished we knew we did, because maybe it would have been possible to help save Trever’s life. We know that he had asked for help, but are unaware how much he really got.

While he was stationed in Texas he wanted to be home with his family and we recently were told by one of his close friends who was stationed with him, that if a soldier said they needed help that they wouldn’t be able to go home. This doesn’t make sense. While give them the choice of either being able to go home and not get the help versus having to stay at the base to get the help. A soldier is going to want to go home to be with his family not many others would want to choose to stay. They have been away from their families for so long, and want to be with them again. He like many soldiers had trouble getting back into the civilian life and never got the full chance to be able too. Many soldiers like Trever, have trouble getting jobs, being able to sleep right, enjoy life, and be the person they used to be. He would keep to himself more.

Since we lost Trever we have learned so much more about him now than we did before. We really didn’t know how much he was truly hurting inside and how much Iraq changed him. My brother wanted others to believe he was strong and didn’t want to be seen as weak and was too proud to ask for help. He didn’t want to be seen as broken. After coming home he never went to anyone to get help. He wanted to be seen as a strong soldier like many of them do. We have learned our soldiers are not getting the help they need and deserve. My brother was suffering inside from many troubles. When my brother came home from Iraq he was different but tried to not let a lot people know. Very few people knew he had troubles. Unfortunately, with him passing we have truly learned how much our soldiers are truly affected. It is just so sad that it takes something like my brothers story to make us realize what we need to change. We miss Trever very deeply and in his honor, our mom and our family and friends hope to help others and save other soldiers by getting my brother’s story out and show how much soldiers need the help and give them a chance at life and show them they are truly loved and cared about.

We didn’t tell Trever as much as we should have how much he was truly loved and I feel like I failed him as a big sister and have helped him like he should have. There are so many of the “what if’s”. What if we were there with him, what if we could have gotten him the help he deserved, what if we knew how much he was truly hurting inside could have we helped save his life. That will probably never change, but we want to get something changed so this does not happen to others.

Our soldiers are changed in the military and the Purple Star Veterans and Families Organization couldn’t have said it any better. They explain, “Military training does a thorough job of conforming and compressing the hearts and minds of young adults entering the armed forces...Because Veterans are trained to be self-reliant and to “complete the mission” at all cost, it is unacceptable for many of them to ask for help or to receive assistance when offered. Historically, this has been a major barrier to receiving care and continues to be the case with present day Veterans”Veterans Families.org.

We wish to help other soldier’s who helped protect and serve for our country, especially the regular Army. We believe they deserve to have more help given to them. This needs to be stopped. More military related suicides are occurring more than ever. Many like Trever, are proud and do not want to admit they need the help. And when we spoke to a VSO we were told it is the soldier’s responsibility to get the help. This is wrong. Many soldiers’ feel they need to be strong and do not want to accept they need help. However, if we can show them and help them get the help they need, maybe we may be able to help save a soldier’s life that helps to defend and protect our lives. We do not want this to happen to other parent’s or significant others, to have them lose their loved one from taking their own life. They have the right to know if their soldier is thinking about hurting themselves and are hurting inside. By family members knowing of their soldier’s condition, they have a chance to help and possibly save their loved one.

Families are the last to know how much they are hurting but they are also the last to know what they need to in order to avoid losing them after war. So why did we let Trever Gould die? Because families have been the last ones given the weapons to fight for the warriors.

Girls laughed at Vietnam Veteran they slashed with knife

UPDATE Girls Plead Not Guilty to Attacking Vietnam Vet on 6 Train

What’s so funny?! Girl gang ‘laughed’ at Vietnam vet stab
By HELEN FREUND, ANTONIO ANTENUCCI and DAN MANGAN
Last Updated: 2:14 AM, July 31, 2012

The wolf pack of drunken girls who slashed a Vietnam vet on the subway after he told them to pipe down were “all laughing” when they attacked him, the man recalled yesterday.

“I’m born and raised in New York City, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” said stabbing victim Ralph Carnegary, 63, who already suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his Vietnam War service.

“They were so young, I would have never thought it would escalate like this,” he said of the seven girls busted in Sunday’s brutal attack.

“I just kept backing away from [the one with the knife], and she kept slashing at me, and then I grabbed the knife out of her hand,” Carnegary said.

“They were all laughing, they thought it was funny.” Read more