These veterans are our neighbors, family members, and friends, and we need to step into their distress. We are losing individuals to mental health issues that could be helped with education, counseling, service animals and medication. Too many veterans in our country are going through life either numbing themselves or reacting to pain they cannot process.
It's not an exaggeration to say that America is a traumatized nation. That is, military suicide rates are four times higher than deaths that occurred during military operations." According to the USO, "In 2021, research found that 30,177 active-duty personnel and veterans who served in the military after 9/11 have died by suicide-compared to the 7,057 service members killed in combat in those same 20 years. Army veterans rose 46% in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same time in 2020. Members of the "Greatest Generation" did not have the language for the internal scars of war that we have today, like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). And I'm sure my dad endured things he could never speak of again. My father raised me on stories of kamikaze planes and torpedoes hitting the hull and of the death and horror all wars create. Receiving that photo was a tender moment for me because a plaque dedicated to that heroic ship hung on the wall of our family home when I was growing up. Navy of those days, and she was a beauty. She was one of the super-dreadnought battleships in the U.S. Not long ago, someone sent me a photo of the USS Pennsylvania as she looked during World War II. It just made sense that the Fourth of July was one of his favorite holidays and that he continued to fly a flag in the yard until the day God took him home. My dad was thankful to God that he came back at all, unlike many who made the ultimate sacrifice during that horrific war.
He was so happy to get back home that he kissed the ground when he finally arrived stateside.
My dad was also one of those World War II veterans Tom Brokaw called the "Greatest Generation."ĭad often talked about being on the USS Pennsylvania in the South Pacific and his war experiences as a young man. The pastor of three small-town churches, he was a circuit rider of sorts, who tended these congregations and groups of Christians throughout our region of Pennsylvania. Remember, We Are the Land of the Free Because of the BraveĤ:00PM EST Tim Clinton ( Unsplash) My dad was the kindest man I've ever known.
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