thedrifter
02-28-09, 07:06 AM
Published on: Saturday, February 28, 2009
Concert offers moving tribute to fallen Marine
Military veterans, local residents, and family and friends of former U.S. Marine Eric Hall somberly took to their feet under a star-filled sky as folk singer John Flynn sang the song, "Semper Fi."
Flynn wrote the song in honor of the 24-year-old Hall who died last March.
Hall suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and was found dead in a drain pipe in Deep Creek March 9.
The Eric Hall Memorial Concert, held Thursday evening at Laishley Park in Punta Gorda, featured Flynn and local musician Jim Morris. Both men donated their time to help raise awareness of PTSD and to raise funds for the Eric Hall Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization that Hall's mother, Becky, and her family formed to help fund resources for veterans returning from war zones.
"The fund is set up with the Charlotte Community Foundation," Becky Hall said. "We are raising funds specifically (to) assist veterans with our biggest goal to set up the Eric Hall House," she said.
The safe house, she explained, would be a place where returning veterans could share camaraderie and get help processing claims. They would also be able to access a number of resources that can help veterans with PTSD.
"There is a huge list of organizations in the private sector that can help, not just the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs)," she said.
Becky Hall said that she wants to use her son's death, a wound that is still very fresh in her heart, in a way that can help others.
"Eric was very lost in the system," she said. "I don't want it to happen to anyone else. My family and I decided to take what has happened and make it better for someone else."
Flynn said that he wrote the song after hearing Hall's story through a friend who worked at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Hall had been treated there in 2005 for injuries suffered in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"When my friend heard about what had happened to Eric, he wanted the story told somehow and asked me to write a song," Flynn said.
Since that time, Flynn has formed a friendship with the Hall family and wanted to be part of the effort to bring to light the issues returning veterans face.
"The song has struck a chord with those who have heard it," he said. "It was a story I needed to tell."
The song "Semper Fi," the Marine Corps Latin slogan meaning "Always Faithful," tells the story of how former Marines and veterans in and around Charlotte County refused to give up the search for Hall. Eventually, Hall's body was found by Marine Corps veteran Charles Shaughnessy. He helped coordinate search efforts when Hall disappeared from his aunt's home in Deep Creek.
"Marines leave no one behind," Shaughnessy said.
Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can make a tax-deductible donation to: The Eric Hall Memorial Fund, c/o Charlotte Community Foundation, 1675 W. Marion Ave., Suite 111, Punta Gorda, FL, 33950.
Checks should be made out to the Charlotte Community Foundation with "Eric Hall Memorial Fund," written in the memo line.
BY SHARIE DERRICKSON
Sun Correspondent
Ellie
Concert offers moving tribute to fallen Marine
Military veterans, local residents, and family and friends of former U.S. Marine Eric Hall somberly took to their feet under a star-filled sky as folk singer John Flynn sang the song, "Semper Fi."
Flynn wrote the song in honor of the 24-year-old Hall who died last March.
Hall suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving in both Afghanistan and Iraq, and was found dead in a drain pipe in Deep Creek March 9.
The Eric Hall Memorial Concert, held Thursday evening at Laishley Park in Punta Gorda, featured Flynn and local musician Jim Morris. Both men donated their time to help raise awareness of PTSD and to raise funds for the Eric Hall Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization that Hall's mother, Becky, and her family formed to help fund resources for veterans returning from war zones.
"The fund is set up with the Charlotte Community Foundation," Becky Hall said. "We are raising funds specifically (to) assist veterans with our biggest goal to set up the Eric Hall House," she said.
The safe house, she explained, would be a place where returning veterans could share camaraderie and get help processing claims. They would also be able to access a number of resources that can help veterans with PTSD.
"There is a huge list of organizations in the private sector that can help, not just the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs)," she said.
Becky Hall said that she wants to use her son's death, a wound that is still very fresh in her heart, in a way that can help others.
"Eric was very lost in the system," she said. "I don't want it to happen to anyone else. My family and I decided to take what has happened and make it better for someone else."
Flynn said that he wrote the song after hearing Hall's story through a friend who worked at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Hall had been treated there in 2005 for injuries suffered in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"When my friend heard about what had happened to Eric, he wanted the story told somehow and asked me to write a song," Flynn said.
Since that time, Flynn has formed a friendship with the Hall family and wanted to be part of the effort to bring to light the issues returning veterans face.
"The song has struck a chord with those who have heard it," he said. "It was a story I needed to tell."
The song "Semper Fi," the Marine Corps Latin slogan meaning "Always Faithful," tells the story of how former Marines and veterans in and around Charlotte County refused to give up the search for Hall. Eventually, Hall's body was found by Marine Corps veteran Charles Shaughnessy. He helped coordinate search efforts when Hall disappeared from his aunt's home in Deep Creek.
"Marines leave no one behind," Shaughnessy said.
Anyone interested in contributing to the fund can make a tax-deductible donation to: The Eric Hall Memorial Fund, c/o Charlotte Community Foundation, 1675 W. Marion Ave., Suite 111, Punta Gorda, FL, 33950.
Checks should be made out to the Charlotte Community Foundation with "Eric Hall Memorial Fund," written in the memo line.
BY SHARIE DERRICKSON
Sun Correspondent
Ellie