August is Purple Heart Month. Saturday, meeting at West Milton Church of Christ, veterans, mostly from the Vietnam War and all wounded, worked to help other veterans as part of an organization called Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH). The MOPH, according to literature from the organization offers help for veterans to get tuition assistance for themselves and family members, scholarships directly from MOPH, help with filing claims for disability, assistance with entering the VA health care system, help with transitioning out of military service, education on acquiring work, assistance with appealing a VA decision and more. Zina Steinsiek, president of the MOPH Lady’s Auxiliary, said Chapter 566 also takes hygienic supplies to veterans in medical care.
“It’s a different band of brothers,” said Mike Cook, West Point graduate with 28 years in the Army. “It’s a bunch of guys and a few gals who have that one thing in common,” he said. Cook said, after retiring and moving here in 1998, he became a civil court mediator, handling small claims usually over unpaid debts. Navy and Army vets took friendly jabs at each other, but as they sat around tables enjoying plenty of burgers and hotdogs, they shared their stories, their one thing in common.
Bill Sharon said he saw three tours in Vietnam after joining the reserves at 15 years old. “My step-father was in the Navy,” he said. “I knew I was a career man.” A major aspect of the Vietnam War was the fact of many soldiers being drafted by the government to serve. Sharon, as a volunteer who was active duty in ’58 and stayed in until April 1980, had a good relationship with the draftees. “I learned a lot from them,” he said. “Learning what was going on kept you alive,” Sharon said. He said he spent 21 years with the post office once he got out of the army, but his dreams took him back. “I’ve got PTSD bad,” he said. “I’ve jumped out of bed and dream of things that happened. I’ve got good days and bad, mostly good.” Chapter 566 commander, Norman Chapman, said, “Everyone who’s been in combat has PTSD.”
After MOPH business, the men joked about “time out cards” later introduced into the military for recruits under stress. They told stories of an Army band stopping by a Navy seaman standing on a corner at West Point and playing Anchors Away. They agreed the Purple Heart’s requirements for reception should be limited to blood spilled in combat.
Eustice Shiver, aviator and infantry officer, said he received his Purple Heart on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1967 after his helicopter was shot down. Shiver was another career man with over 28 years in service. Considering how one receives the medal, Shiver said, “I didn’t particularly want a Purple Heart.” In 1991, Shiver said he started teaching JROTC in high school, passing along his experience to new potential soldiers. As an aviator, he said, “We supported the infantry. We only thought about that.” So the MOPH continues to do as Shiver did, supporting the troops, the injured needing help.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Wounded vets to be recognized August