Bad News

In January, 1987, I was in Naples, Italy, awaiting the birth of my oldest son (Buttboy).

 

I was staying in the TDY barracks there.  I was actually stationed in Sigonella, Sicily, but all military birth were in Naples.  So two weeks before my due date, I was flown to Naples via a C-130.

 

Buttboy was already a couple of days late.  I was just hanging around waiting for him to be born.  I went daily to the hospital up the hill for the docs to make sure everything was cool.

 

On this day, I had been out goofing off with a bunch of friends and came home to find a note on my door from the Red Cross saying they needed to get in touch with me.

 

Now, everyone in the military knows that when the Red Cross is trying to find you, it is never a good thing.

 

I immediately started panicking.  I was trying to figure out what was wrong. 

 

I finally made it up to the Red Cross office to speak to them.

 

I walked into a small office and sat in the only chair available.  A nice lady came in and took my hand and said everyone was going to be okay, but...

 

My brother had been in a bad accident.  He was alive, but severely injured.

 

He had been hitch-hiking on I-5 just outside of Salem.  He was on the shoulder and there was little traffic.  He later told me he was walking backwards and saw the semi in the fast lane.  There are 3 lanes on each side at that point of the freeway.

 

He realized the semi was not going to stop, so he turned around and kept walking.  That is the last thing he remembers.

 

There was a pickup behind the semi that Brother did not see.  The driver of the pickup said the semi swung over and clipped Brother with the front hub of his tractor.  It caught Brother behind the left knee and tossed him over the guardrail.  His shoe was left on the tarmac, he was hit so hard.

 

The semi continued on down the road, taking out the guardrail for about 100 yards.

 

The driver stopped to help Brother, but radioed on ahead to the weigh station.

 

The semi was stopped at the weight station by State Troopers.  He didn't even know he had hit Brother.  He had fallen asleep at the wheel.

 

Brother was in the hospital for several weeks.  To this day, he can barely stand for more than a few minutes.  He can only walk a few yards before he has to stop and rest.

 

My brother is a veteran.  He was in the Navy during the time Berlin Barracks were bombed.

 

The VA has told him they cannot help him.  The Social Security Administration has denied him disability.  And he can no longer fight the bureaucracy.

 

So my brother is almost homeless.  We all help support him, because no one else will help him.

 

He was willing to die for his country, but his country won't help him in his time of need.

 

That is so wrong.