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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DAV fight for post-9/11 caregiver benefits

Disabled American veterans fight for post-9/11 caregiver benefits 
CBS Radio Connecting Vets 
Jake Hughes 
June 22, 2017 

“It’s bringing to light that a lot of pre-9/11 families, caregivers and veterans like our family, are under served by the VA,” says Jason Courneen, adding that he and their daughters are the only way his wife is able to get through her day.

In 1998, a horrible accident befell Alexis Courneen. While serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, Courneen was struck by a crane carrying a buoy that caused traumatic brain injury and other injuries, leaving her entirely reliant on her husband and caregiver, Jason Courneen.

Now, she’s fighting to ensure she can get the same benefits as a service member injured after 9/11.

“We spent a good 10 years very frustrated, very isolated, while I was learning that it was okay to speak up to the doctors,” Jason Courneen says.

Currently, the Department of Veteran Affairs has the Post-9/11 Comprehensive Caregiver Program, which offers enhanced support for caregivers of eligible veterans seriously injured in the line of duty on or after September 11, 2001.

To qualify, service members must have sustained or aggravated a serious injury — including traumatic brain injury, psychological trauma or other mental disorder — in the line of duty, on or after September 11, 2001; and be in need of personal care services to perform one or more activities of daily living and/or need supervision or protection based on symptoms or residuals of neurological impairment or injury.

However, the program leaves out service members injured before 9/11, going as far back as Vietnam Veterans. A study released by Disabled American Veterans, a non-profit charity that provides a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families, highlights the disparity of care and attention given by the VA between pre- and post-9/11 veterans.

“It’s bringing to light that a lot of pre-9/11 families, caregivers and veterans like our family, are under served by the VA,” says Jason Courneen, adding that he and their daughters are the only way his wife is able to get through her day.

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Glad someone is thinking about the Forgotten Warrior Generation and families like mine!

Glad my husband and I are life members of the DAV and the Auxiliary!

Wounded Marine Gets New Home After 3 Tours in Iraq

Wounded veteran receives mortgage-free home in Oakland

Home at Last donates 7th home to wounded veteran

Click Orlando

By Amanda Castro - Reporter/Anchor

Posted: 12:59 PM, June 24, 2017

OAKLAND, Fla. - A house doesn't become a home until it's filled with family, love and -- as the nonprofit organization Home at Last works to include – honor.

The nonprofit dedicated its seventh home to wounded former Marine Corps Sgt. Seann Windfield Saturday morning in Oakland.

The veteran told News 6 he can't wait to move in and make his new home his foundation.

“I could say thank you a million times, however my family's actions and being good Americans will prove our gratitude," Windfield said.

Windfield, who served in the Marines for eight years, was overwhelmed as he looked around his new, mortgage-free home.

Windfield did three tours in Iraq before he was medically discharged in 2012 after hurting his back.

Now he's going through the tough transition from Marine to civilian.

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Vietnam Veterans of America honored 19 forgotten veterans

Vietnam Veterans honor forgotten, unclaimed remains with special ceremony at Fort Logan Cemetery

The Denver Channel 
Lance Hernandez 
Jun 23, 2017

DENVER – The Colorado Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America honored 19 forgotten veterans with a solemn ceremony at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

They were honors that the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines had earned, but never received.

“Our guiding principal was and is that never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another,” said Lt. Col. David Steiner, USAF (Retired)

Chapter member Jim Topkoff said they discovered that there were literally thousands of unclaimed remains spread around the country that had never been recognized and never been given a proper military funeral.

He said members of Chapter 1071 took on the Honors Burial Program a year and a half ago, because of the way they were treated when they left the military.

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