thedrifter
05-06-08, 07:31 AM
Purple Heart order honors stories, scars
Group supports veterans enduring wars’ wounds
By Nathan Phelps • nphelps@greenbaypressgazette.com • May 6, 2008
Lee Frangquist earned his Purple Heart in Korea. Joe Raisleger, Al Johnson, Gary Lapp and John Dederich earned theirs in Vietnam.
All five men share the bond of earning the Purple Heart and the pain of suffering combat wounds — both physical and emotional.
They are part of a local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Part social, part supportive and part legislative, the Military Order of the Purple Heart focuses on the experiences and needs of American service personnel wounded in combat.
They are reaching out and inviting the latest generation of American combat wounded — those injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror — to become members of the organization.
All five men have stories and scars that earned them a spot in the national organization.
They’ve dealt with issues such as guilt, because they came home from the war when their buddies didn’t, and the long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
While the organization serves as a social and community group, it also helps veterans find assistance or gives them the ear of someone who has been through the life-altering experience of war and injury.
“If you’re from Wrightstown and you’re wounded in Iraq you can come back and talk to your family, friends, neighbors … they’re really not going to associate with it,” said Dederich, a Marine from De Pere who stepped on a land mine in 1966. “They’re going to listen to you and be sympathetic and that’s going to be about the end of it.
“You can come to a group like this and we can relate: ‘Here’s how this person handled it,’ or ‘Here’s how he coped with the situation.’”
The group is seeking veterans of recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to join its ranks.
While many of those returning GIs, Marines, sailors, airmen and Coast Guard members may immediately head back to their lives outside the war zone, the lasting impact of being wounded in
combat may take years to come to the surface.
“They’re trying to get jobs, go to school, whatever it is, and don’t have a lot of time until they get 10 or 15 years into it and then they start thinking of it,” Dederich said. “With the medical attention in the more recent conflicts, there are an awful lot of people that become eligible.”
A handful of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have signed up for the group, but the organization is seeking more.
In the last several years the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines have awarded the Purple Heart more than 28,180 times, according to information from each of the branches.
“You’ve got to earn the Purple Heart to belong to this group, and there’s no other way in,” said Frangquist, who was wounded in July 1953 in Korea just a few days before the armistice was signed. “It’s kind of a haunting feeling at times because everybody’s got their own story, and it’s usually not good. That’s the unfortunate part of this.”
What these guys saw in combat isn’t something that necessarily fades or changes with time, said Al Johnson, a Howard resident who was wounded while flying a UH-1 Huey helicopter in Vietnam during one of his two tours there.
“Regardless of how long ago it was … just being in combat is enough to give you post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.
The Gillett native recounts the story of his injury.
“We were just on a re-supply mission and had taken off from a small outpost and someone opened up with automatic fire and I got shot in the leg — (the round) went through the door — (into) my left leg and my left hand,” he said. “At first I didn’t even realize it, it felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat.
“Then my hand started burning and I pulled my glove off and the dang bullet is sticking under the skin,” Johnson said. “I pulled that doggone thing out because it was so damn hot … It was an AK-47 round.”
Dederich picks it up: “There are things we talk about among ourselves that the average person doesn’t understand. Many times there’s a feeling of guilt that you survived.”
Joe Raisleger is an Army tanker wounded by an exploding mortar in Vietnam in March 1969. He has felt it.
“I have a little bit of guilt with the Purple Heart because my injuries were not life-threatening,” the New Franken resident said. “We went down to Madison and you see people where both limbs are off or they have mental problems, and I came home and I told my wife, ‘You feel a little bit guilty because I have all my limbs.’”
Johnson said bringing on new members may open doors to help and services they didn’t know were available.
“They might not even know there are ways of being helped out there,” he said.
The group is hosting a picnic following the May 17 meeting open to wounded service personnel interested in joining the organization.
New members joining by the end of June also are eligible for a free lifetime membership paid for by the state and national chapters, said Gary Lapp, a Green Bay resident who earned the Purple Heart twice and said he was wounded in combat three times serving on a tank in Vietnam.
For Lapp, Dederich, Frangquist, Raisleger and Johnson, the Military Order of the Purple Heart is an organization they want to see survive to help another generation of Americans wounded in combat.
“To pass the legacy on,” Lapp said.
Ellie
Group supports veterans enduring wars’ wounds
By Nathan Phelps • nphelps@greenbaypressgazette.com • May 6, 2008
Lee Frangquist earned his Purple Heart in Korea. Joe Raisleger, Al Johnson, Gary Lapp and John Dederich earned theirs in Vietnam.
All five men share the bond of earning the Purple Heart and the pain of suffering combat wounds — both physical and emotional.
They are part of a local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
Part social, part supportive and part legislative, the Military Order of the Purple Heart focuses on the experiences and needs of American service personnel wounded in combat.
They are reaching out and inviting the latest generation of American combat wounded — those injured in Iraq, Afghanistan and the global war on terror — to become members of the organization.
All five men have stories and scars that earned them a spot in the national organization.
They’ve dealt with issues such as guilt, because they came home from the war when their buddies didn’t, and the long-term effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
While the organization serves as a social and community group, it also helps veterans find assistance or gives them the ear of someone who has been through the life-altering experience of war and injury.
“If you’re from Wrightstown and you’re wounded in Iraq you can come back and talk to your family, friends, neighbors … they’re really not going to associate with it,” said Dederich, a Marine from De Pere who stepped on a land mine in 1966. “They’re going to listen to you and be sympathetic and that’s going to be about the end of it.
“You can come to a group like this and we can relate: ‘Here’s how this person handled it,’ or ‘Here’s how he coped with the situation.’”
The group is seeking veterans of recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to join its ranks.
While many of those returning GIs, Marines, sailors, airmen and Coast Guard members may immediately head back to their lives outside the war zone, the lasting impact of being wounded in
combat may take years to come to the surface.
“They’re trying to get jobs, go to school, whatever it is, and don’t have a lot of time until they get 10 or 15 years into it and then they start thinking of it,” Dederich said. “With the medical attention in the more recent conflicts, there are an awful lot of people that become eligible.”
A handful of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan have signed up for the group, but the organization is seeking more.
In the last several years the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines have awarded the Purple Heart more than 28,180 times, according to information from each of the branches.
“You’ve got to earn the Purple Heart to belong to this group, and there’s no other way in,” said Frangquist, who was wounded in July 1953 in Korea just a few days before the armistice was signed. “It’s kind of a haunting feeling at times because everybody’s got their own story, and it’s usually not good. That’s the unfortunate part of this.”
What these guys saw in combat isn’t something that necessarily fades or changes with time, said Al Johnson, a Howard resident who was wounded while flying a UH-1 Huey helicopter in Vietnam during one of his two tours there.
“Regardless of how long ago it was … just being in combat is enough to give you post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.
The Gillett native recounts the story of his injury.
“We were just on a re-supply mission and had taken off from a small outpost and someone opened up with automatic fire and I got shot in the leg — (the round) went through the door — (into) my left leg and my left hand,” he said. “At first I didn’t even realize it, it felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat.
“Then my hand started burning and I pulled my glove off and the dang bullet is sticking under the skin,” Johnson said. “I pulled that doggone thing out because it was so damn hot … It was an AK-47 round.”
Dederich picks it up: “There are things we talk about among ourselves that the average person doesn’t understand. Many times there’s a feeling of guilt that you survived.”
Joe Raisleger is an Army tanker wounded by an exploding mortar in Vietnam in March 1969. He has felt it.
“I have a little bit of guilt with the Purple Heart because my injuries were not life-threatening,” the New Franken resident said. “We went down to Madison and you see people where both limbs are off or they have mental problems, and I came home and I told my wife, ‘You feel a little bit guilty because I have all my limbs.’”
Johnson said bringing on new members may open doors to help and services they didn’t know were available.
“They might not even know there are ways of being helped out there,” he said.
The group is hosting a picnic following the May 17 meeting open to wounded service personnel interested in joining the organization.
New members joining by the end of June also are eligible for a free lifetime membership paid for by the state and national chapters, said Gary Lapp, a Green Bay resident who earned the Purple Heart twice and said he was wounded in combat three times serving on a tank in Vietnam.
For Lapp, Dederich, Frangquist, Raisleger and Johnson, the Military Order of the Purple Heart is an organization they want to see survive to help another generation of Americans wounded in combat.
“To pass the legacy on,” Lapp said.
Ellie