This Flag Day, Ask What Liberty and Justice For All Means to Our Veterans

Dear Editor: We say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag at school and at the start of town hall meetings and baseball games, but this Flag Day, think about the meaning of the words “with liberty and justice for all.” Congress didn’t formally adopt the pledge until 1942, when we were in the throes of war fighting tyranny, for our very liberty. Many who fought then had PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder), though we didn’t give it a name back then, other than shell shock, or much acknowledgement. Soldiers were just expected to soldier on. My uncle’s friend, who fought with him on D-Day, recognized years later that he had PTSD. How could he not, when he survived Omaha Beach by hiding under the bodies of his dead buddies? There have always been homeless veterans, dating back to wars in ancient times. This is largely attributed to the mental condition that many homeless veterans share, PTSD. A combination of better medical technologies and the longest fought wars in our nation’s history have culminated in more military members surviving severe injuries and returning home, but at a great cost. The number of Veterans coming home from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury is staggering. What’s more staggering is that 1 in 5, that’s 20%, of our homeless population are Veterans! How can we truly be the land of the free and the home of the brave when our brave are neither free nor home? Unfortunately, the amount of permanent housing for homeless and disabled Veterans is not keeping up with demand. If we commit the resources to send our troops to fight for liberty, then we must ensure that they can achieve personal liberty when they return to American soil. Homes For Heroes is working towards addressing this urgent need here in the Hudson Valley. We are in the final stages of building rental apartments that are being built specifically and only for our honorably discharged “Wounded Warriors,” our disabled and displaced men and women Veterans, who will be referred by the Veterans Administration. The design of Homes For Heroes revolves around an ambiance of serene anti-institutionalization, privacy, respect, dignity, and a strong support system. The eight apartments are under construction on the remaining portion of historic Camp Shanks, in Tappan, N.Y., a place made sacred as part of “Last Stop USA,” the largest encampment and port of embarkation in the world, from which over 1.3 million WWII GI’s left to fight the Nazis. Now, 70 years later, historic Camp Shanks can be a welcoming home for the men and women Veterans who did and will return damaged and wounded in mind and body and spirit from our longest war. Completion of the building is anticipated by this summer and we plan to welcome home our first Veterans on Veterans Day. This gives us a small window of opportunity to complete the furnishing of the apartments and the landscaping, none of which are funded. Our Veterans will be coming to Homes for Heroes homeless and with little or no belongings, so we are asking our Hudson Valley neighbors to pitch in with either monetary donations, new (unused) household goods and furniture, or that you consider donating gift cards, so that our volunteers can make purchases. Please call Sarah Wade at 845-735-0515, if you have any further questions, or mail donations to Homes For Heroes, Inc., P.O. Box 1648, Pearl River, NY 10965. For our Veterans who sacrificed so much for our American flag to proudly wave, where is their liberty? Where is their justice? If we pledge allegiance to our flag this Flag Day and every day, we must strive to ensure that liberty and justice is indeed for all, but most especially for our Veterans. Let’s welcome them home by making sure they have a home at Homes For Heroes. Pamela Sitomer, Nanuet resident Publicist/Grant Writer for Homes for Heroes, Inc. www.RocklandHomesForHeroes.Com Homes For Heroes, Inc. is a 501[c]3 Not-For-Profit Partnership of Joseph’s Home, and the Rockland Housing Action Coalition, Inc.