[Ohio-talk] Editorial featuring blind veterans

[Sammons, Elizabeth]

Colleagues,

Those of you attending the NFB convention, I hope it went well. I received the below article highlighting 3 blinded veterans, two of whom are Latino, by the way, and thought I would share. Unfortunately I lack time and did not get the full reference/attributes on this article, forwarded as it was from a listserve I am on.

Happy Veterans Day to all,
Elizabeth













                Feature Writer Romeo Edmead - No Regret for Vets



                To close out the month of May, I wrote a column paying homage to all

                our fallen service men and women in recognition of Memorial Day. At

                the end of that piece I talked about a follow up for Veterans Day,

                when we would publish an article about living veterans and their

                stories. The 3 men we spoke to were all active during Vietnam, and

                shared separate tales of survival and perseverance. The fact that we

                only spoke to men from the same era is not in any way discriminatory,

                it is just that these are the people we found who were willing to

                share their stories.



                There was no apprehension in his voice when Douglas Elliott reflected

                on his journey, which goes back more than 4 decades to May 2, 1966. It

                was 5 months after he celebrated his twenty-first birthday, when Mr.

                Elliott of Grinnell, Iowa was building a wooden bridge to make a

                passageway for 3 American tanks that were trapped. He actually spotted

                the enemy and chose not to open fire, and that decision turned out to

                be a costly one. "I was walking along the road and they blew me up,"

                said Elliott. "I never lost consciousness--just my eyesight." With

                fragments all over his face, Mr. Elliott had to crawl to safety with

                the assistance of an officer.



                Almost 4 years later on April 7, 1970, Alpidio Rolon, a native of

                Puerto Rico, found out what it was like to walk a mile in Mr.

                Elliott's shoes. Rolon, only 20 at the time, said he remembers it like

                yesterday when that grenade exploded about eight feet away, waking him

                up at about two in the morning and discovering that he had been

                blinded. "I started screaming medic, medic," said Rolon. "Then I heard

                the captain say 'Tell him to shut up!' I did, because if I didn't

                they'd be able to find us and get us." After about an hour he was

                air-lifted to a hospital, and several weeks later he was transported

                to a rehabilitation center.



                Mr. Rolon and Mr. Elliott had no problems with the services they

                received in the aftermath of being injured. "A few weeks later a guy

                gave me a cane and took me to the room for physical therapy," said

                Rolon. "After the third day, he said 'I'll see you tomorrow, but I'm

                not coming to get you.' He told me, 'I expect you at 10 in the

                morning,' and I often tell people that the approximately 200 meter

                walk to get there was the longest walk of my life."



                Mr. Elliott was not only pleased with his rehab, he is even more

                complementary of the financial benefits he received. "I'm glad that

                the country pays me some money," said Elliott." I've always worked and

                I believe that blind people should work because that's what I fought

                for. I'm a guy without a high school diploma, but the government was

                able to help me get a masters degree and I like that." Mr. Elliott

                used his college education and applied it to social work, from which

                he is now retired.



                After losing his sight, Mr. Rolon has spent his years fighting to make

                Puerto Rico a better place for the blind to live. "I've basically been

                an activist and a militant in terms of rights for the blind here."

                Speaking about Mr. Rolon, Mr. Elliott said, "I don't know him hardly

                at all, he's just one of my heroes."



                Neither Mr. Elliott nor Mr. Rolon are acquainted with Roberto Diaz,

                another blind Veteran who resides in Naugatuck, Connecticut. Whether

                they know it or not, all 3 men have several things in common. They

                have no regrets, and just enjoy helping others. Mr. Diaz, who did not

                lose his sight during combat, recently became blind as a result of

                being electrocuted on the job as a fire fighter. Now he is working to

                obtain his college degree, with aspirations of becoming a teacher. "I

                want to teach the kids no one else wants to teach," said Diaz.

                "Essentially last stop before jail schools. Between me being a street

                guy all my life, serving the country, working as a fire fighter, and

                being bilingual, I don't anticipate not being able to connect with

                these kids."



                This week, many people will be connecting in honor of Veterans Day,

                and no matter what era they served, it all contributes to our freedom.

                Mr. Diaz said, "On Veterans Day, I make it a point to toast those that

                have gone before me, those that I was with, and those that are there

                now." Mr. Rolon can certainly appreciate that sentiment of respecting

                the past but also not dwelling on it. He spoke about his tour of duty

                and summed it up rather precisely. "I never look back at that and

                regret that," Rolon said. "I work on a 24-hour plan and I'm going to

                do what I can do today and let tomorrow take care of tomorrow."



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