Veterans Day 2016

Nov. 9, 2016
www.LakeNewsOnline.com
11

BLANKINSHIP
VETERAN VOICES
from page 9
ship, the 5th Marines were heading
home in April 1991.
Its kind of exciting, going home.
On board, the mail is more consis-
tent and you get letters from home.
Back then, we had these things
called VHS tapes. Thats how we got
the news. We watched the parades
and the homecomings. They made
it look so good. And you cant wait.
Mother Nature and Americas
force for good had other plans
though.
Miles and miles away, one of the
deadliest tropical cyclones on record
hit southeast Bangladesh on April
29. The 1991 Bangladesh cyclone
and storm surge killed at least
138,000 people and left some 10
million homeless.
The ship was sent to the area to
provide humanitarian relief. It
emptied out its supplies to help the
desperate people there.
We drank water and ate rice and
beans because we gave everything
else we had on the ships, Blankin-
ship recalls.
You know how blue the ocean is.
That clear blue, crystal blue water.
Before we could even see land, the
ocean turned brown from the de-
struction. To see the ocean like
that was weird. The death and de-
struction was worse than the war.
We were seeing people in these
banana boats begging, pleading
for help. Their whole area was just
gone. It was incredible destruction
and so far from the whole war
thing. Youre up because youre go-
ing home and then this hits you. Af-
terwards, I didnt care about going
home anymore. It was a lot to ab-
sorb. We have hurricanes and yeah
its bad, but you know itll get bet-
ter. Because of the society we live in,
well make it better. Those poor
b!@#$%^s dont have that.
Back underway to the States
again, ship life wore on.
Youre kind of trapped together
and theres not much to do but
think about it all and think, and
think and think and think.
There were no celebratory crowds
upon their return - the Marines
were dropped off the coast and
took smaller boats one evening
into Camp Pendleton instead of
coming into harbor at San Diego.
Later being discharged, there was
a short class on resume writing
and he was out the door.
He struggled to get a job right out
of the military and ended up getting
hired as a bouncer at a bar.
To escape his thoughts, he began
drinking, getting drunk most nights.
It was his escape.
Old friends from outside the mil-
itary didnt understand, didnt get
it.
You have stupid friends who
just ask you how many people you
killed. They dont understand, and
its not an easy thing to talk about,
he says.
Years went by until he got help
from the VA and was diagnosed
with PTSD. He is now listed as 50
percent disabled from PTSD but
works at Michaels Steak Chalet in
Osage Beach.
While PTSD is a hot topic now,
when he got out of the service in
1992, it was not something anybody
talked about, says Blankinship.
Its a real disease that affects peo-
ples lives. Theres never a break-
through. Theres no magic pill to fix
it. Its not something that can be
cured. Its learning to live with it, he
says. The biggest misconception is
that people think were all crazy and
violent. And there are some who are
violent, but its really all depression,
sadness, guilt, what ifs. Its all indi-
vidual. There are some Marines
who are really gung-ho, but were all
human. Were all Marines, but were
all individuals too and we all han-
dle things differently.
Years after starting therapy,
Blankinship still attends Green
Team sessions, talking with other
veterans. At one time going three to
four times a week, now its about
once a week, depending. At work,
he didnt want to tell them at first
why he had so many VA appoint-
ments, worried about what people
would think.
I was hiding all of it, but even-
tually I got over that, he says.
While a majority of the military
does not get PTSD, he encourages
veterans to talk to somebody if
theyre having any issues.
It took somebody telling me.
The thing is youre f!@#$% up, but
you dont know it, he says. But its
not you. If anybody gets anything
out of this article, its to go talk to
somebody. The VA saved my life. Id
probably be dead now if not for
them.
If there are any veterans who
would like to talk with Blankinship,
you may contact him at Michaels
Steak Chalet, 573-348-3611.

BASSETT
from
page 8
pitched it at me," Bassett
recalled.
It exploded, sending
shrapnel in every direc-
tion. In anticipation of the
explosion, Bassett had
pushed himself as far into
the deep, powdery snow
as possible.
"I was lying facedown
so the grenade didn't do as
much damage as it could
have, but it did hit quite a
bit of my face," he said.
Medics wouldn't reach
him for about an hour.
"As the tanks were going
past in both directions, I
was lying there afraid one
of them might see me and
fire something more dead-
ly at me. I tried to cover
myself with snow as much
as I could, but stuck the
muzzle of my riffle deep in
the snow so the medics
would be able to find me.
"I took off my steel hel-
met and let my face bleed
into it so I could stick my
face down inside to get a
little warmth from the
blood. I was so cold lying
there, but I could not move
around to try to get warm."
He never knew when the
medics arrived, but his first
memory was waking up in
a warm aid station.
"They tried to take my
coat off but the sleeve was
frozen with blood and they
cut it off to find I had been
shot in the arm and didn't
even know it," Bassett said.
At the hospital in Leige,
Belgium, medical person-
nel used a magnet to pull
pieces of the shrapnel from
his face. The deeper pieces
of metal would take years
to work themselves out.
After being discharged
from the hospital, Bassett
was returning to his com-
pany and were met with
several GIs proclaiming
that the war had ended.
They threw copies of "Stars
and Stripes" with the head-
lines "World War II Has
Ended!"
There were several mo- A NSER! !
V Y
ments of silence on the LOAN E ODA
train, followed by cheers
R ANR TH UT T
TEETTE EM
and tears. O
He spent the next sever- E
V B H
al weeks working at a E KT
mountain ski resort in Zell AR EC
am See, Austria. He earned CH
money by selling ski equip- Berkshire Hathaway
ment that had been con-
fiscated from German ski HomeServices
troops.
From there he went to Lake Ozark Realty
New Jersey where his sis-
ter, Theone, who through extends a heartfelt
various channels had
learned her brother was
onboard the ship. He went
to Camp Kilmer, N.J.,
thank you
where he was issued dis- to all the men and
charge papers, given some
money for transportation women who fought
home.
His parents had moved for our freedom, as Lake Ozark
from Des Moines to Lake
Ozark. He bought train well as those who Realty
and bus transportation to
what would become his continue to serve. 573-365-6868
forever home.
"And as you know, I am 101 Crossings West Drive, Suite 202, Lake Ozark, MO 65049
still here, and enjoying bhhslakeozarkrealty.com
every bit of it," he con- 2014 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently owned and operated franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc. Equal Housing Opportunity.
cluded.

VETERANS DAY
Thank you for your service.

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