Wounded Veterans Get Much-NeededHelp (NAPSA)—Just as World WarII veterans cameto their aid after they were newly blinded in Vietnam,five purple-heart recipients— Tom Miller, Mike Lewis, Buddy Spivey, Sid Ordway, and Roy Kekahuna—and other membersof the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA) are doing their part to help a new generation of veterans. These five are now assisting a group of several dozen young men and women whohave suffered eye casualties in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). They are living up to their organization’s motto, “Blinded Veterans Helping Blinded Veterans.” The Vietnam veterans provide counseling and practical assistance to help the newly blinded sort through the range of emotions that affect them on a daily basis. “We are talking, in many cases, about kids 20-21 years of age who have lost their sight from contact with an improvised explosive device, or from any incident in which shrapnel has entered the eye,” said Miller, who was blinded by a landmine explosion in 1967. “We hope to help these veterans andtheir families, who have sacrificed so much, meet the challenges of blindness and access the services that will allow them to lead productive lives, both in the short and long term.” Miller has served as BVA’s Executive Director in Washington, D.C. since 1994. The effort to support veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began in early 2004 with a series of conference calls involving newly blinded veter- BVA Executive Director Tom Miller reaches out to young veterans who have lost their sight in Afghanistan or Iraq. ans, their families and the blinded veterans from the Vietnam era. The telephone meetings have, in many cases, resulted in additional one-on-one conversations and personal visits to the OEF/ OIF veterans. “The originator of the conference calls was Bob Kozel, a VA blind rehabilitation outpatient specialist in the South Texas Health Care System,” said Miller. “Bob knew that we older guys could perhaps communicate and highlight the importance of the rehabilitation process better than anyone else because we have lived through it ourselves.” BVAis not a governmententity and is funded through the generous contributions of countless Americans who rememberthe sacrifices of our nation’s blinded veterans. BVA is currently seeking some 115,000 men and women in the United States who are unaware of their eligibility for services and benefits. For more information, call 800-669-7079 or visit www.bva.org.
