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Veterans still face fight after leaving front line
By Hayley Kappes
Correspondent
Published November 9, 2009
TEXAS CITY — John Roberts is on a mission to increase national support for veterans health care issues, at a time when U.S. servicemen and women are returning from war with high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Roberts, the national service director of Wounded Warriors Project, spoke at the Texas City Rotary Club’s annual Veterans Day Salute on Sunday afternoon at the Rotary Pavilion in Nessler Park.
The program began with a moment of silence for the victims of the Fort Hood shootings last week.
The shootings made for an even more solemn remembrance of Veterans Day this Wednesday, Roberts said.
“It was just an incredibly unfortunate event,” he said. “Those soldiers were getting ready to go to combat.”
Retired Army Cpl. Carrol Lyons, of Texas City, and his grandson, Matt Gorom, attended the veterans salute Sunday.
Gorom said he feels an overwhelming sense of pride for Lyons, who fought in Japan during World War II.
“The shootings hit hard because it was the Army and it was so close to home,” Lyons said.
Every generation of warriors has faced a different set of obstacles after returning home, Roberts said. Today’s soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are facing overwhelming levels of post-traumatic stress disorder.
More than 300,000 men and women have suffered traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder from exposure to roadside bombs on multiple tours, Roberts said.
“I have dealt with some men and women who have been deployed upwards of eight times,” he said.
Roberts, retired staff sergeant in the Marine Corps, underwent four years of rehabilitation after sustaining wounds in a helicopter crash in 1992 in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope.
He had third-degree burns on 80 percent of his body, rendering his left leg paralyzed and his right arm nearly severed.
Since his medical discharge from the Marine Corps, Roberts dedicated his work to fighting for veterans rights, working for Disabled American Veterans and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs before joining the Wounded Warriors Project.
The project’s objective is to raise awareness and support for the needs of physically and mentally injured veterans.
Their focus now is on getting the Veterans Health Care Bill passed in the U.S. Senate, Roberts said.
Veterans of different wars have faced different circumstances upon returning from combat, Vietnam veteran and retired Army Sgt. Wilfred Robinson said.
“We didn’t get any recognition when we came home,” Robinson, of Texas City, said. “No one was there to greet us at the airport.”
The public, regardless of political affiliation, now has more respect for returning soldiers, Robinson said.
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