Homeless Vietnam Veteran

Well, I just got back from volunteering at a Philadelphia charity called the University City Hospitality Coalition (UCHC) that feeds the homeless. I am planning a fundraiser for them that will be held on Nov. 14th for my Wharton management class; I went down there to get a feel for what the charity was all about and to make a video about it to help raise awareness for the event. I was humbled by what I saw.

An elderly homeless man in his 60s saw us filming and called us over. He was well built, 5' 10, and was wearing a green Eagles cap and a matching rain jacket. He looked up from his plate and said "You think you're pretty smart don't you?" He seemed a little gruff and his question was pointed. I don't answer, he does not wait for me to. I sat down next to him and he started telling me about his life, what he told me blew my mind.

I ask him what he did. He turns to me, his aged blue eyes flare up with intensity:

"I served two tours in Vietnam, I was a CID. My job was to bring the bad guys, our guys back" he says. I did my job and got made up as a sargeant real quick. "One time I was asked to fly deep into this one village to pick up this guy; he had raped a woman, killed her and then her family. I cuffed him, but the lieutenant Colonel told me to cut him loose. Told me they weren't worth it. I couldn't do that, this man was a murderer.

But in the end it didn't matter, our position was ambushed. It was a massacre. I carried 8 grenades on me, by the end of it I was left with one. I remember the killing, the death."

He goes on for a bit and describes the war in chilling detail, but eventually he turns to what brought him to the volunteer center. "I came back from Nam and got a degree at Temple and Rutgers, got my SEC licensee and went to work for H&R Block. I did well for myself, but something snapped and I started getting flashbacks from Nam all of a sudden. I went cookoo, lost everything and that's why I'm here."

His story chilled me to the bone. This guy wasn't a bum, he's just like you or me (except he actually put his life on the line for his country), it could have happened to Uncle Eddie. To think that he'd gone through so much, and yet still seemed so happy to be alive. Kind of puts a lot of things into perspective. I've got to respect a man like that.

If you're in Philly and think you'd like to help out, write to me at [email protected], call me at 267 266 2220, or send me a message on here and I'll give you the details on how you can help out. Some of these guys did everything for us, we should give a little something back.

If you'd like to send whatever you feel is right, head to this link:

http://uchc.phillycharities.org/