Cooperative Living August 2018 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 72, No. 8
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
MARY HOWELL
Communications & P.R. Coordinator
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: www.co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Chairman
FLETCHER B. JONES
Vice Chairman
PATRICIA S. DOREY
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; Wade C. House, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry C.
Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W.
Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
To advertise in Cooperative Living, contact:
Amanda Cunningham (804) 290-2184
National Advertising Representative: AMP,
611 South Congress Ave., Suite 504,
Austin, Texas 78704 * 800-626-1181
Member of AMP network of
publications, reaching more than
9 million homes and businesses.
PRESSRUN . . . . . . . . . 526,064
COOPERATIVE LIVING (USPS 473-300) is
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combined March/April and November/ December
issues, by the Va., Md. & Del. Association of Electric
Cooperatives. POSTMASTER, address changes
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ADVERTISING published is accepted on the
premise that the merchandise and services offered
are accurately described and willingly sold to
customers at the advertised price. Neither this
magazine nor the electric cooperatives in Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware endorses any products or
services advertised herein. If any readers encounter
non-compliance with these standards, they are
asked to inform the Editor.
Binding Wounds,
Visible & Invisible
A veterans-support organization is issuing a national call to arms to
make sure that those who served in uniform receive the help they
need to heal on the outside ... and the inside.
W
oodrow Wilson Reeves was my
great-uncle. His story, like millions
of other veterans, is as extraordinary
as it is typical.
Born in a small town in west-central Georgia
almost 100 years ago, Wilson was named for the
president who sent American troops " over there "
to Europe, turning the tide that led to victory
for the Allies in The Great War. When another
great war ensued 20 years later, the first one was
renamed World War I. Wilson would end up
being sent " over there, " to fight in World War II.
He joined the Army in late 1940, and married
his sweetheart Kathleen the next year while on
leave. By the time America joined the war effort
in December 1941, Wilson had been promoted
from private to corporal to sergeant, and then to
staff sergeant. Early in 1943 he was sent overseas
and would end up serving with valor for the
balance of the war, fighting in North Africa and
in the invasion of Italy, where he earned a bronze
star. Two months after D-Day, in August 1944,
his outfit landed at Normandy, and joined the
long, arduous march across Europe, liberating
France and defeating Germany. Through it all
he suffered but one physical injury, relatively
minor, shrapnel to his left leg, from which he
fully recovered.
In April 1945, as the war in Europe was
nearing its end, he was promoted to second
lieutenant, later serving as part of the occupation
force in Germany. After discharge in January
1946, he returned home to Kathleen and a happy
marriage that would last another 65 years, to a
civilian life that would see him become an
executive with a large book publisher, and to a
second military career with the Georgia National
Guard, where he would rise to lieutenant colonel.
At his passing in 2010, at 90, he was truly
a man whose life had been as full in
accomplishments as in years. Seemingly, the
definition of a charmed life. And yet ...
As a platoon leader, Wilson had helped
liberate Nazi concentration camps. Whatever
horrors he witnessed were not shared with family
back home. Nor did he share much more
about his wartime experiences than the basic
details above.
2
The Baby Boom of 1946-'64 was fueled by
returning veterans, anxious to start families. Wilson,
though, was not, and he and Kathleen never did,
remaining childless. Older family members said
it was because of what he had seen ... over there.
Two steps down the generational ladder, I
knew my middle-aged, later elderly, great-uncle
as friendly and smart. Did he suffer from posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD)? It sure seems
that his wounds were not confined to the scar on
his left leg from the mortar shell fragment that
hit him during the Battle of Monte Cassino in
early 1944.
Thankfully, Wilson came from, and returned
home to a large and supportive family, with a
loving wife and a wide, warm circle of friends.
Not everyone is so fortunate.
And that's where No Vet Alone comes in.
No Vet Alone provides veterans and first
responders with physical and mental
rehabilitation, and peer support, to help them
cope with or overcome depression, PTSD, and
other mental and physical issues. A key focus
also is preventing suicide; PTSD, anxiety
and excessive alcohol use are often involved
in suicides, which far too often take the lives
of veterans, at a rate of about 20 per day
on average.
No Vet Alone is one of the programs offered
through Project Hero, a non-profit organization
that uses sports and community-based activities
to help vets and first responders heal. Project Hero
has helped participants reduce or eliminate
prescription drug use, reduce PTSD-related stress
attacks and pain, and improve general health,
fitness and sleep.
This year, Veterans Day, Nov. 11, falls on a
Sunday. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
has declared Friday, Nov. 9, as National No Vet
Alone Day. Communities across the country will
be holding celebrations of veterans during Nov.
9-11, and spreading awareness of the physical,
mental and emotional needs of vets and first
responders, plus ways to address them.
If you would like to help, and for further
information on Project Hero and its No Vet
Alone program, go to ProjectHero.org or
NoVetAlone.org. 
www.co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.ProjectHero.org http://www.NoVetAlone.org http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living August 2018

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