Fort Benning Pvt. Felix Hall's Murder Remains Unsolved

The story of the only known lynching on a U.S. military base
Washington Post
By Alexa Mills
September 2 2016

The government never solved his murder.

Pvt. Felix Hall’s body hung in this position for about six weeks. His feet rest on the dirt that he dug out of a ravine wall in an effort to release the pressure of the noose around his neck. Photo by Sgt. Robert Templeton, Fort Benning Military Police Detachment, U.S. Army, March 28, 1941. (Department of Veterans Affairs records) (US Army/US Army)

FORT BENNING, Ga. —Pvt. Felix Hall was strung up in a jack-knife position in a shallow ravine. A quarter-inch noose, tethered to a sapling on the earthen bank above him, dug into the flesh of his neck. His feet, bound with baling wire, were attached by a second rope to three other saplings, and his hands were tied behind him.

Hall succeeded in kicking loose his legs and freeing his left hand. Then, while he still had breath, he desperately scraped dirt loose from the ravine wall, trying to scoop out enough of the sienna-colored earth to build up a mound beneath his feet that he could stand on “to take the strain from his neck,” the FBI would later report. He got the dirt up to the arches of his dangling feet. But the earth was soft and loose and ultimately not enough to support his weight.

When investigators eventually arrived on the scene and examined his body, he’d been suspended in this position, in the woods of Fort Benning, for more than six weeks. Maggots were eating his flesh.
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Navy Cross Recipient Staff Sgt. Cliff Wooldridge Leaving Corps

Hero Marine who killed Taliban fighter with his hands leaves the Corps
KCEN
Jeff Schogol
Marine Corps Times
September 01, 2016

After shooting four enemy fighters, then-Cpl. Wooldridge ran out of ammunition and ended up in a life-and-death struggle with a man who tried to pull the pin on a grenade attached to Wooldridge’s vest.

Navy Cross recipient Staff Sgt. Cliff Wooldridge, who killed a Taliban fighter in hand-to-hand combat, has left the Marine Corps after spending nine years in the service.

Sgt. Clifford Wooldridge, receives the Navy Cross on May 18, 2012 for combat actions in Helmand province, Afghanistan, while attached to 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, in 2010. Photo Credit: Photo by Cpl. Sarah Anderson.

“I enjoyed my time in the Marine Corps,” Wooldridge told Marine Corps Times. “It’s had a huge impact on my life. I’m going to miss the men I’ve served with and miss being in the fight with them.”

Wooldridge, 28, said his last day in the Marines was Tuesday. He said his time in the Corps made him appreciate life and not take it for granted.

“It made me a man and I am forever grateful for the men who mentored me and led by example,” he said.
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Pennsylvania National Guardsman Helped Heart Attack Victim Live

Pa. Army Guard Soldier aids heart attack victim
Pennsylvania National Guard
By By Sgt. Shane Smith
Joint Force Headquarters
September 01, 2016

His quick and decisive actions garnered praise from witnesses and fellow Soldiers.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Pfc. Fred Vandenheuvel was enjoying dinner with fellow Guard members at a Greensburg restaurant when he witnessed a man collapse. With a background in law enforcement and as a first responder, he leapt into action.

Pfc. Fred Vandenheuvel, a member of the Pennsylvania Army

National Guard’s 252nd Engineer Company rendered aid to a

man who suffered a heart attack while dining in a local

restaurant.

(Courtesy Photo) (Photo by Courtesy Photo)

“At first I wasn’t sure what had happened,” recalled Vandenheuvel, a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 252nd Engineer Company. “The man wasn’t moving. I thought he may have had a heart attack.”

The man was still conscious and complaining of intense chest pain when Vandenheuvel first reached him. Vandenheuvel was asked to call the man’s wife.

“I told his wife where we were, what had happened, and asked if her husband had any prior medical history or heart issues,” he said. “She told me her husband has a history of heart problems.”

Vandenheuvel called 911 and remained on the line with paramedics until they arrived.
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National Vietnam Veterans Foundation Shuts Down

Reminder" This is not Vietnam Veterans of America 



Veterans charity that gave less than 2% of revenue to veterans closes its doors for good
CNN
By Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
September 1, 2016

"Tom Burch has resigned from the Foundation and NVVF is shutting down completely, " Kaufman wrote in an email to CNN. "All fundraising has ceased and the only thing being done is the distribution of blankets, personal care kits and related items in the warehouse."

New York (CNN)The National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, a zero-rated charity that was the object of a CNN report in mid-May, has closed its doors for good, according to one of the charity's executives.

In an email to CNN, David Kaufman, the charity's vice president, says the Veterans Foundation "has severed all ties" to the organization's president, Thomas Burch, who along with serving as president of the charity also has a full time job as a government lawyer with the Veterans Affairs agency in Washington.
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Charities Sensationalizing PTSD For More Donations?

Gee do you think the same thing is going on here? Exactly how does talking about an issue like PTSD help anyone unless they actually start talking about what will make lives better?

There has been so much BS in the US, UK, Australia and Canada about PTSD Awareness for so long now that if someone is not aware of what it is, then they never will be. What I really want to know is, why do they need so much money to talk about a problem or deserve the money when they are not doing anything to actually address the problem? Any clue? Considering work on PTSD and our veterans started over 40 years ago, none of this is new but they act like they just discovered it. They sure as hell haven't cured it.

Military charities accused of sensationalizing post-combat stress to get more donations
Civil Society UK
Fundraising
Hugh Radojev
2 Sep 2016

A spokeswoman for Walking with the Wounded said that Parker’s comments were supported by the rest of the organisation. She also said that he made the comments because he wanted the whole military charity sector to be more “transparent and open” with the public.

The chief executive of Walking with the Wounded has told The Times that some military charities “sensationalize” the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on returned veterans in order to raise more money from the public.

Ed Parker, chief executive of Walking with the Wounded, is quoted in an article in The Times today saying that military charities are exaggerating the problem of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in returned veterans in order to continue raising money from the public.

In The Times' piece, Parker said that the way PTSD is being used by military charities to raise funds has gotten “out of hand” and could be disguising the fact that many veterans are suffering from other issues, such as alcoholism and anxiety. The chief executive of the charity, which runs expeditions with Prince Harry and supported over 600 veterans last year, said that military organisations know that the “PTSD label has become one that is very engaging… You are always going to slightly sensationalise how you fundraise.
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