We can’t let him die alone
With the passing of Retired Master Sergeant Nicholas Oresko there were a few things that I believe should be brought up. One is about some of the hardest challenges that War Veterans can face is after the war is over. But even with our Nation’s increasing numbers of Combat veterans, there are things that people assume and take for granted that would never happen. For Retired Master Sergeant Nicholas Oresko it was outliving all of his immediate family .
I tried to imagine that I was in his place. Advance age with wife and children no longer living going into a high risk surgery. I mean with all of that retaining the will to live and not just ‘give up” would be extremely hard. It seems that there were others who shared this concern.
“They understood the type of person we were talking about and said, ‘We can’t let him die alone,’” Robitaille said, adding that people have come from as far away as Maine and Maryland to visit Oresko during the week. “He’s loved throughout the Army. He’s an American hero.”
Oresko had no living immediate family, but he was never alone at the hospital after being taken there earlier in the week from a Cresskill assisted living facility, Carbone said. Veterans and young members of various branches of military service were at his side, with more than two dozen at the hospital Friday afternoon before he was taken to have surgery.
“The kids held his hand and prayed with him,” Carbone said.
The support that he received in light of this heart breaking challenge is what makes this a story.
Category: Blue Skies
Great story and point.
Comrades in Arms: I suspect there’s a BUNCH of guys who are dying alone in VA hospitals. A couple of months ago, I was hospitalized at the VA hospital in Biloxi. After I got better, and was getting ready to be released and return to the Armed Forces Retirement Home, the other guy in my hospital room had a visitor, his son. I overheard the son tell his father that as he was driving up to the hospital, he passed the National Cemetery, which is on the same grounds as the hospital, and he saw someone being buried, but with NO people present. I don’t know whether or not he even received the military honors at his burial. I remember a while back when a report in the local news media made an appeal to the public for volunteers to attend the burial of a local veteran who had died, and had no family. As a result of that local news media report, there was a huge turnout for that veteran’s burial. I reckon there’s quite a few veterans who are in that situation, being all alone, with no family and few, if any, friends who are still alive. We even have similar situations in the Armed Forces Retirement Homes, both in Washington, D.C., and in Gulfport, Mississippi, which might explain some of the suicides that occur there. Many years ago, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a Viet Nam veteran was found dead in some bushes behind a convenience store, possibly frozen to death while passed out drunk. A group of Mormon Viet Nam veterans that I belong to learned he was to be cremated and unceremoniously disposed of in an unmarked pauper’s grave. A bunch of us got together, and wrote letters and made telephone calls to the local news media, plus local, state, and national government representatives and agencies. A nice Sunday-go-to-meetin’ suit was donated, a local funeral home donated its services and facilities, the Nineteenth Special Forces Group (Airborne) showed up, as did the VFW and DAV, and he got a royal send off, in fine style,… Read more »
Here at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetary where my son is buried, there is a group of volunteers that monthly do a service for all thos who were buried without family. In addition, the PGR and others attend burials for those who were homeless or whose families could not be located or could/would not attend. A friend found out about this and was actually unhappy. Her father is a vet, but was such a horrible father and husband and just an all around not nice person he is dying alone in a nursing home. She was upset that anyone would honor him in any way shape or form. Lets just say that had laws been different back in the day, he would have spent considerable prison time for what he did to his children. I explained that the idea is to honor the service to his country in uniform. It is less about him as a person than it is about the uniform he once wore with distinction. He had received a PH, had served in campaigns in Europe and the Pacific and it was in recognition of this that others are willing to stand for him. After reflection, she sees the merit. She knows he saved the lives of fellow soldiers who in all likelihood went on to be decent, productive husbands, fathers and friends. All she asks is for those others who are willing and able to stand for a veteran not judge the families who do not. Yes, recognize his service, but understand that not everyone who once wore the uniform had any other redeeming qualities. She now spends considerable time and resources volunteering for and with veterans. She understands that nice old man in a home who gets no visitors mat have not always been so nice. She is able to do for others, look past and ignore the person they may have been, and simply honor their service. Just as others do for her father. When I told her about this story, how so many came to honor someone they did not know, she was torn.… Read more »
Damn, it’s dusty in here again.
An excellent story, and excellent sentiments all around.
Sounds like this would a thing to have the local papers (if you can find any that honor vets).
And it also sounds likd I need to get off my fat duff and hie me to the VA hospital to visit any lonely vets.
@3.
Interesting and sobering take.
I believe we as a community sometimes overlook the fact that although a Vet did serve honorably or with distinction, they can also be less than honorable people in social or civil society.
Very sad, but very true.
Thank you for sharing.
With 20+ million vets out there, there is another point worth considering: in a group that large, some number will outlive their spouses and children.
Not all will be at VA care facilities. Many will be at local nursing homes and/or assisted living facilities instead.
They also might like some company.
Sometimes, people distance themselves from their families for unknown reasons.
And sometimes, they simply fall through the cracks.
Sitting here Sunday morning balling my eyes out…..
John Robert Mallernee – thank you for your service and for an incredibly emotional comment.