Veterans Day 2016

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

A Day of Honor

Appreciating Our Veterans Past and Present

A Day Of Honor Special Advertising Section Publisher

Richard J. Warren Editor

Matthew Chabe Print Sales Manager Todd Johnston

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CONTENTS 03 Galen Cole

WWII Purple Heart recipient reconnects with inspiration

06 A House Built For Honor

More than $800,000 in donations is helping to create a permanent veterans’ retreat in Lee

09 TOGUS

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Serving Maine’s veterans for 150 years

13 The Burden of Sacrifice

Maine volunteers carry memories of the fallen

16 Acupuncturists help veterans

cope with pain, stress

17 Women in Military

Maine veterans celebrate their growing ranks

18 Healing Waters

Veterans enjoy fishing outing on reclaimed Bangor pond

19 POWS and MIA soldiers

Remembered at recent Caribou ceremony

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The BDN will donate 10% of this section’s advertising revenue to The Summit Project: a nonprofit organization, formed to honor and remember our fallen soldiers.

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

WWII Purple Heart recipient

Galen Cole RECONNECTS WITH INSPIRATION

“I tried to find their families after the war,” Cole said of the fallen soldiers, adding that Pfc. William Golladay of Shenandoah he was not successful.

County, Virginia, was a superstitious fellow. When his trip toward the German That was until this year. heartland started near the end of World War II, he wanted to sit in the same seat he Four of Golladay’s nieces connected with Cole after the youngest of them, Nan usually occupied in his transport vehicle.

Langhorne, of Gibsonville, North Carolina, found out earlier this year that her uncle It was the spring of 1945.

Bill’s grave in Margraten Cemetery in But one day, Golladay — who had just Holland had been adopted by local Dutch returned to the 5th Armored Division, 46th resident Henk Dideriks.

Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Platoon from a stay in the hospital for frostbite — The cemetery, one of the largest in the found his transport seat occupied by Galen world, is in the town of Eijsden-Margraten Cole, a 19-year-old Army private from and is the final resting place of 8,301 Bangor, who had just joined the unit. Cole, American military personnel. now 90, had no problem giving up the seat to Golladay, a rifleman his same age but who “[Dideriks] said, ‘I know the whole story about how your uncle switched his seat,’” had spent more time in combat. said Langhorne, who added the family had Two days later, the day after Easter, the never heard about the switch. transport vehicle took fire from a German anti-tank artillery gun. Golladay and four Cole, as well, returned to the war zone of others seated beside him in the half-track his youth many times and met Dideriks were killed. Cole was wounded but survived, along the way. earning a Purple Heart.

BY NOK-NOI RICKER

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METRO NEWS PHOTO

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

continued from Page 3 “He places flowers on the graves three times a year — their birthdays, Christmas and Memorial Day,” Cole said of Dideriks, who adopted the graves of Golladay and a fellow fallen soldier from the unit.

“He has done that for 30 or 40 years,” after taking over for a couple who originally adopted the graves after the war ended 71 years ago, he said. There is a waiting list to adopt graves at the only American cemetery in the Netherlands.

After Langhorne connected with Dideriks, he contacted Cole, who united them all. Langhorne and her sisters — Emma Drummond of Staunton, North Carolina, and Laura Long of Edinburg, Virginia — arrived in Bangor in mid-June at Cole’s invitation, along with Emma’s husband, George Drummond. Their oldest sister, Caroline, was not able to make the trip.

“It took a while” to connect, Emma Drummond said with tears in her eyes, standing inside the Cole Land Transportation Museum, near a replica of the half-track that once carried her uncle. A special event was held for the Golladay relatives at the Perry Road museum, where a section is dedicated to the 5th Armored and the group’s lost brothers-in-arms. Dideriks was invited to attend, but the retired railroad man no longer likes to fly, Cole said.

The visiting sisters don’t remember their uncle Bill — they were born after his death — but they remember stories about him that their mother and grandmother used to tell.

“He was smart and funny,” Drummond said.

“He would play tricks on people, and he liked to do magic,” Langhorne said.

Drummond said later that the sisters found his magic kit at the family camp.

Golladay followed family footsteps to the Massanutten Military Academy in his hometown of Woodstock, Virginia, where he graduated in 1942 at the age of 16 or 17, and was enrolled in the

LINDA COAN O’KRESIK | BDN JUNE 15, 2016 WWII VETERAN GALEN COLE, 90, HUGS EMMA DRUMMOND, NAN LANGHORNE, AND LAURA LONG (LEFT TO RIGHT), NIECES OF WILLIAM GOLLADAY, WHO DIED IN WWII.

University of Virginia before the draft took him to war and Europe, the sisters said.

After listening to Cole explain the route taken by the 5th Armored, nicknamed the Victory Division, and what happened after the attack that killed their uncle, the sisters remarked that time was not on his side.

“He had five more months, and the war would have been over,” Langhorne said.

The deadly blast knocked Cole and others out of the vehicle and into a ditch and took the lives of Golladay; Pfc. George Blackard of Perry County, Arkansas; Pfc. Simon Brewer of Clark County, Nevada; Staff Sgt. Claude Newton of Ray County, Missouri; and Technician Fifth Grade Alfred Southard of Rooks County, Kansas.

Golladay and Blackard are buried in Holland.

Cole only knew his lost comrades for a couple of days, but their deaths stayed with him over the last seven decades. They are among the reasons he works so hard to advocate for veterans and to teach each generation about the sacrifices soldiers and their families make.

While in the ditch, “I prayed to my God that if I was allowed to return home, I would do my best to help my community and my fellow man and leave both better than I had found them,” Cole told the sisters.

“You were meant for something bigger,” Langhorne told him as she gave him a hug.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

A House Built For HonoR Paul House and Bill Emery share a love of the outdoors.

According to reports, Lee is the smallest town in America to suffer multiple Iraq war casualties.

“Bill is a logger and I was a logger so we’d bump into each other in the woods,” said House.

“Paul was one of the first ones here after Blair was killed,” said Bill Emery. “And he was here six days a week after that. He helped me a lot, preparing for what was going to happen next.”

Both men were raised in Lee. “I went to school with Paul’s brothers,” said Bill Emery.

“I graduated with Bill’s wife, Quie,” added Paul.

“It’s a family that you don’t want to belong to,” added Paul House. “But it’s good that you have each other to talk to and share what you’re going through.”

Both men also raised families in Lee. “I taught Blair (Emery) Spanish for two years at Lee Academy,” said Paul’s wife, Dee House. “I saw him every other day.”

“Blair and Joel (House) were in sports together,” said Bill Emery.

Soon after Joel’s death, the Houses attended a military memorial service at Fort Hood.

They felt great comfort in being around other military families. Paul and Dee started thinking about how they could provide such comfort and support to veterans with a program here in Maine.

And after high school, both Blair and Joel signed up for the military. Both made the rank of sergeant and both were deployed to Iraq. Sgt. House served with the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. Sgt. Emery was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington with the 571st Military Police Company, 97th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade.

“Paul approached me with the idea of bringing veterans up to Maine for a retreat,” said Emery. “And I thought it was a great idea.”

Sadly, both sons would make the ultimate sacrifice to their country.

On June 23, 2007, 22-year-old Joel House was killed by an improvised explosive device (IED).

Just five months later, the town of Lee lost its second resident when an IED went off near 24-year-old Blair Emery’s vehicle.

House in the Woods became a non-profit in 2010, welcoming its first group of veterans that May. Folks around the Lee area opened their camps to host military members who served in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf War, Korean War and Vietnam War. Programs include moose, deer, bear and bird hunting as well as fishing, trail riding, kayaking and canoeing.

The veteran’s families are also invited.

“My dad was in the Navy so I know what it’s like to give up your dad or your mom for up to a year at a time,” said Dee House. “It’s been a priority for us to provide an opportunity for families to have quality time together. Family is so precious to us.”

To date, more than 500 veterans have participated in House in the Woods programs.

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

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More than $800,000 in donations is helping to create a permanent veterans’ retreat in Lee “When you see them come, after a couple of days you see them transform into a different person almost,” said Emery.

“That’s what’s amazing to me about it.”

“People would hear about House in the Woods and want to see what we’re doing,” explains Dee. “Paul would take them up and tell them about the building and how we were

One of those visionaries is Fujitsu General America, a Fairfield, New Jersey company that makes ductless cooling and heating systems.

“It was just such a powerful story,” said Thomas Carney, Fujitsu General America’s director of sales. Carney and a group of engineers traveled to Lee last spring. They visited the cemetery where Joel and Blair are buried as well as the construction site.

The five-year plan for House in the Woods always included some sort of permanent structure. And while Paul was on board from the start, Dee took a bit more convincing.

“Back in the day, Paul would say, ‘We’re going to have a veteran’s program, we’re going to build a building.’ And I would say, ‘Yeah, tell me how that’s going to work,’” said Dee, laughing at the memory. “I wasn’t always a believer. And obviously, I’ve stopped doubting him.”

That’s because work is now in the final stages of an 80 by 90 square foot lodge, office, and storage complex on more than four acres of land in the woods of Lee. There will be six bedrooms all with a bathroom and shower. The entire complex will be wheelchair accessible.

“We were always hoping for this, but it’s come along a little quicker than we thought,” said Emery.

Emery’s boss, Brian Souers of Treeline, did all of the site prep and tree cutting of the lot.

Lane Construction heard about the project and donated all the cement. “This is a humongous building,” said Dee House. “It’s probably the second tallest building in the town of Lee next to the high school.”

“I’ll tell you what, it’s been on my mind every day since then,” Carney said. “I get emotional just thinking about it. Driving through Lee with all the flags, it’s what my vision of America is.”

BLAIR EMERY (LEFT) AND JOEL HOUSE (RIGHT)

HOUSE IN THE WOODS

After two Lee families lost their sons in the Iraq war, they were inspired to create a space offering comfort and support to veterans and military families.

Fujitsu agreed to donate 26 state-of-the-art cooling and heating units for the building, a value of more than $150,000. “I would say this is the biggest charitable project we’ve ever done,” said Carney. ‘We knew this was the right thing to do.”

The S. Douglas and Rita C. Sukeforth Charitable Foundation agreed to loan the remaining dollars needed to complete construction. “No interest, no deadline to pay it back, just a handshake and a thank you,” said Dee House.

The Houses and the Emerys hope the House in the Woods lodge will be completed by early spring. They plan to start offering retreats there in early summer.

As word got out, the donations came in.

“We used to always joke about it when we first started,” said Bill Emery. “It’s like a car—we started in first gear, then it was in DEE HOUSE WATCHES AS A DOZEN CEMENT TRUCKS DELIVER CEMENT FOR THE FOUNDATION. second gear, now we’re in an airplane.” He going to help more veterans. And you could see the pauses to chuckle. “It’s really taken off.”

To date, more than $800,000 has been donated to the House twinkle in their eyes. They attach on to that vision and And they’re not done yet. want to help make it happen.” in the Woods building project.

“People you don’t even know will come up with pretty large checks,” said Emery. “It’s pretty amazing.”

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

continued from Page 7 “There’s a piece of property that adjoins ours, about 50 acres,” said Paul House. “We want to clear a portion of that to expand our parking lot and then we want to plant apple trees, put in some horseshoe pits and volleyballs net.”

“Possibly some camper sites,” added Dee House. Both families admit it’s been a whirlwind couple of years.

“When that building is done, we’re gonna be by the fireplace in the great room, sitting on the couch with our feet up and saying to ourselves, ‘How in the world did this happen?”

said Paul House.

“That’s why we call it our ‘miracle building.’

The day that we found out Joel was killed, one of the things I said was, ‘God doesn’t make mistakes.’ So it’s not really surprising about what’s being done. We’re actually ready and even anxious to see what’s next.”

Nine years after Blair’s death, Bill Emery said he still “kind of takes it just as it happens.”

Emery knows the good work House in the Woods is doing for veterans and their families, and he’s looking forward to the many more that will benefit once the complex is complete.

“I always say, ‘We tried to make two wrongs a right this time.”

CONSTRUCTION SUPERVISOR STEVE ST. LOUIS DISCUSSES A PROJECT WITH GORDON BOYINGTON, HOUSE IN THE WOODS’ PROJECT MANAGER AND RESOURCE DEVELOPER. FLASH THE BEAGLE WAITS PATIENTLY.

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

Togus:

Serving Maine’s veterans for 150 years Editor’s note: This statement was given by U.S. Sen. Angus King on Sept. 16 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Veterans Affairs facility at Togus.

ourselves to taking care of the veterans who have taken care of us. That is our promise to uphold; it’s what they’ve done at Togus for the last 150 years, and it’s something we must all continue to strive for each and every day.

BY U.S. SEN. ANGUS KING

The men and women who serve our country in the military deserve the highest quality care when they return home. And for the last 150 years, the Veterans Affairs (VA) facility at Togus has set the standard for excellence in veterans’ health care.

The caregivers at Togus always go the extra mile to provide quality and timely medical services to those who have served America.

And on this remarkable milestone, we have an opportunity not only to celebrate and reflect on that work, but also to recommit

And while Togus does a fantastic job in Maine, one area that the VA can and must do better on at the national level is the appeals process for disabled veterans seeking treatment. A disabled veteran doesn’t deserve a place on a waiting list, or to get caught up in a VA backlog — they deserve timely and quality care. But, too often, bureaucratic failures are unfairly penalizing veterans across the country and here in Maine.

Today, there is a backlog of more than 450,000 appeals cases with veterans waiting an average of four years to complete the entire

process and receive a final decision. That is unacceptable, plain and simple. There is an old saying: “Justice delayed is justice denied” — and no veteran should be denied the services they’ve earned.

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Military Order of the Purple Heart. Together, we will all keep pushing for this bill — because our veterans fought for us, and we have a responsibility to fight for them.

Our veterans deserve a full, fair and timely review of their appeals, and that’s why I’ve joined with a bipartisan group of senators and congressmen to introduce The VA Appeals Modernization Act. Our bill would eliminate bureaucratic hurdles that are contributing to this backlog and it would do so by creating a new process that provides veterans with clear appeals options. This will help veterans better navigate the process so that it best fits their needs and can be expedited.

The good news is that supporting our veterans is not a partisan issue. And while Democrats and Republicans often can’t seem to agree on the time of day, this is a case where we all agree. We may not always agree on the specific policies, but we all have the same goal. The VA Appeals Modernization Act has cosponsors from both parties, and I’m hopeful that we can get this commonsense fix across the finish line to support disabled veterans in Maine and across the country.

To me, this fix is just common sense. It’s no accident that the bill has the support of a long list of veterans service organizations, including the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the American Veterans, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the

As we celebrate and reflect on the 150-year legacy of Togus and its support for Maine veterans, we also re-dedicate ourselves to Abraham Lincoln’s commitment to care for those who have borne the battle. That’s what Togus has been doing for a century and a half, and it’s something I will continue to fight for in the Senate.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

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The Burden of Sacrifice Maine volunteers carry memories of the fallen

BY MATT CHABE

“How are we going to remember the sacrifices that people made?

It began one fateful day in 2012. Labor Day, to be exact.

I want to be able to say, ‘We’re not It was happenstance, really. Dave Cote, then a U.S. Marine officer in Monterey, Calif., was going to forget your son or daughter.” invited last minute to hike Mt. Whitney by friends, a group of U.S. Navy SEALs. They had an open spot, and Cote embraced the chance to summit the 14,505-foot peak, the tallest in The project’s mission, he said, is to honor Maine’s newest war casualties and the faithful spirit of all Mainers. In the project, surviving the contiguous United States. families unearth and donate memorial stones that uniquely represent their loved ones.

Hitting the trailhead at midnight, they summited at dawn. It was there that Cote realized Project volunteers — hundreds, according to Cote — carry the engraved stones and the the SEALs had been carrying stones in their packs, a new rock for each fallen SEAL in the stories they represent on physical challenges across Maine and beyond. Following the journey, volunteers write post-event reflection letters to the surviving families. past year. They placed the stones in a secret crevice on the summit.

The image stuck with Cote. The memory kept resurfacing. About a year later, he had formed the basis of an idea to keep the memories of the fallen alive. He called it The Summit Project.

“At the end of the day I come back to this notion of remembrance,” said Cote, a 16-year veteran and current military reservist.

Recent journeys have included a frigid March dip into Branch Lake, a 118-mile trek through the 100 Mile Wilderness, and countless other hikes, memorials, runs and events to carry the stones. At times, the project partners with like-minded organizations as well as Gold Star families themselves.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

ASHLEY L. CONTI | BDN WITH MEMORIAL STONES IN THEIR PACKS, PARTICIPANTS MAKE THEIR WAY DOWN BORESTONE MOUNTAIN IN PISCATAQUIS COUNTY AS PART OF THE SUMMIT PROJECT.

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

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continued from Page 13 For Cote, the mission runs deep. A Bangor native and a 1997 graduate of Bangor High School, he said early exposure to veterans left an impact.

“As a kid, I had the opportunity to greet troops with the troop greeters at Bangor International Airport,” he said. “It was a big influence. I realized at an early age that there’s a large population of veterans here in Maine. I wanted to support them — I think that’s part of being a Mainer.”

For volunteers, the experience is as palpable as the impact it has on families.

“During the challenge there were many times I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I carrying a 35-pound medic bag with an 11-pound stone?,’ said one volunteer. “But I kept going because I realized that I would not — and could not — want it any other way. That’s what I’d want if I didn’t make it back.”

“The most humbling moment of the day for me was receiving hugs and thanks from [the service member’s] mother and father,” said another. “You could see in their eyes how much [it] meant to them and their family.”

Cote said there are three pillars to the project’s vision. The community needs to take care of living veterans, he said; the wounded and ill need to be taken care of; and the fallen need to be remembered.

“These deaths are tragic and unplanned,” he said. “A lot of these people wanted to come back to this great state, buy a house, start a family. My motivation is to keep their memories alive by remembering them as people so their stories can continue to inspire and lead.”

“We’ve found that The Summit Project inspires people to serve, to act,” he said.

“It changes lives.”

GLORIA AUSTIN | BDN LORNA HARRIS AND HER FATHER, JAMES TROUTT, CARRY LORNA SON’S STONE ON THE FIRST AARON HENDERSON MEMORIAL 5K RUN/WALK, WHILE JAMES CARRIES A STONE CARVED WITH THE WORD ENDURANCE.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

Acupuncturists help veterans cope with pain, stress

BY DAWN GAGNON

As they filed into the kitchen area at Grace United Methodist Church on a September day, about a dozen veterans, active duty military personnel and family members each took a seat at one of the folding chairs set up in a circle.

Marking four years of service this month, the Bangor clinic is one of four in Maine.

It, along with those in Portland, Augusta and Brunswick, provides acupuncture services at no cost to veterans, active military and their family members on a weekly basis.

There, each found an alcohol prep pad with which to disinfect their outer ears in anticipation of the placement of five thin acupuncture needles.

The treatment used at the veterans’ clinic was developed in the 1970s by Dr. Michael Smith at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, New York, for treating people in substance abuse programs, according to the clinic’s website.

“It’s called auricular acupuncture,” said Marie Arnberg, one of five state-licensed acupuncturists who have volunteered their time and expertise to operate the Bangor Veterans’ Acupuncture Clinic.

This simple use of five needles in each ear is commonly referred to as the National Acupuncture Detox Association, or NADA, protocol. While the treatment has been shown to alleviate withdrawal symptoms, it

also provides relief from pain and generalized psycho-emotional distress, such as PTSD and flashbacks, according to NADA.

“The ear is a map of the body,” so many problems are being treated with contact to these points, Arnberg said.

The needles are placed and left in for 30 to 40 minutes, during which the lights are dimmed and soothing music is played. The needles then are removed by the volunteers, who work in pairs, and properly disposed of.

Those who have undergone acupuncture at veterans’ clinics have reported benefits that include increased mental clarity and alertness, improved ability to cope with situations, better sleep, reduced aches and pains, less anxiety and depression and fewer flashbacks.

That has been the case for U.S. Army veteran James Pitman, 42, of Garland, who served in the military from 2000 through 2014, when he was deemed 100 percent disabled from combat-related injuries.

His official role was in communications but he often wound up serving as a convoy commander. During his years of service,

ASHLEY L. CONTI | BDN JAMES BUTLER (LEFT) GRIMACES AS MARIE ARNBERG PLACES ACUPUNCTURE NEEDS IN HIS EAR DURING THE BANGOR VETERANS ACUPUNCTURE CLINIC AT BANGOR’S GRACE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.

Pitman was on six combat rotations, including in Kabul, Afghanistan.

“I’ve been blown up to the point of being knocked out 42 times,” Pitman said in a telephone interview.

Pitman said acupuncture helps with his PTSD and high blood pressure, eases tension in his neck and spine, and also soothes his arthritis and occasional inflammation from past injuries.

“I used to take 23 pills a day,” he said.

Now, Pitman is down to the occasional painkiller, thanks to a combination of treatments that also include equine therapy and medical cannabis. “I try to go once a week, if I can,” he said, referring to the acupuncture clinic.

Vietnam veteran Jim Thiel, former chairman of the nonprofit Maine Injured Workers and Victims and manager of the locally popular Rockin’ Ron and the New Society Band, goes to the clinic weekly, except when he’s wintering in Florida.

Thiel, who has lost more than 400 pounds, said acupuncture helps with his back and knee pain as well as other aches. “These people here are wonderful. They’re here and they get us going, get us moving,” Thiel said.

For information, visit the clinic website at bangorvetsacuclinic.org.

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

Maine veterans celebrate the growing ranks of

women in military

BY NOK-NOI RICKER

When Winterville resident Sheri Drake joined the Air Force in 1981, she was told by her male superiors that “they’ve come a long way” in making women equal to the men with whom they served.

“But they hadn’t,” Drake said at a Maine Women Veterans event in September, hosted by Maine American Legion Women’s Advisory Committee and other veteran groups at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center.

She said when she served, “you had to be one of the guys to be a part of the team.”

It’s different for her daughter, Staff Sgt. Justine Drake of Old Town, who serves with the 101st Civil Engineer Squadron based in Bangor and recently graduated from the University of Maine in Orono with a degree in civil engineering.

“It’s pretty awesome and rewarding, and I work with a great group of people,” Justine Drake said. “It’s awesome to see other women in the engineering field, to see them swinging hammers [and] in the other fields, [such as] navigation as pilots. It’s really amazing to see.”

While positive strides have been made, Adria Horn, director of the Maine Bureau of Veterans Services, said one of the reasons she was selected to lead the bureau is that “our state acknowledged that [women] were not getting the services” entitled through service.

Horn, who has five deployments under her belt and is a mother of two, said women veterans of today have to lead the way for women veterans of tomorrow.

She encouraged women veterans to enroll with Veterans Affairs and to let officials know when there are problems with the system, which she herself has done.

“We’re not part of the solution if we’re avoiding the problem,” Horn said.

Later, Horn said, “I want you to enroll in the VA for your daughters.

We need to do this and we need to change this now.”

She also suggested that the women get involved with veterans social groups such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Disabled Veterans of America, which all had tables at the gathering. Embrace A Vet, the Career Center, Women Veterans Health Care, Betsy Ann Ross House of Hope, and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Angus King and U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin also were in attendance.

Adjutant Tamera Howard-Doliber of Belfast’s Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post 3018 said she wouldn’t know what to do with herself if she didn’t have the VFW. “It gives me a sense of pride,” Howard-Doliber, who served 20 years in the U.S. Army and deployed three times, said before the event started. “When you get out, you feel like you’re lost. You’re almost empty. As a member you feel like you’re still doing something important and you’re giving back.”

Sheri Drake agreed. She is now the commander of the American Legion post in Eagle Lake and hopes one day her daughter will join.

“We have captains and colonels and we’re all equals when you’re a veteran,” she said.

The women at the gathering were treated to a lunch, manicures, haircuts, and foot or back massages all donated by local companies, said organizer and Navy veteran Joy Asuncion, who is an Honor Flight Maine board member.

At the end of her keynote, Horn mentioned that the next generation of women veterans will live under new rules for combat since the Department of Defense officially lifted all gender-based restrictions on military service in January. One member of the Maine veterans group announced that her cousin was one of the first women to be selected for combat training from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and “hopes to be the first female tank commander.”

That news drew a loud round of applause from her fellow veterans. bangorvetsacuclinic.org.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

Healing Waters:

Veterans enjoy fishing outing on reclaimed Bangor pond

BY JOHN HOLYOKE

On a warm mid-September afternoon, Bill Braniff stepped to the end of a casting platform overlooking a small, weedy pond and began the rhythmic ritual that has enchanted fly fishermen for hundreds of years.

Backcast. Pause. Cast. Wait. Watch the water for signs of action. Repeat. Eventually, that’s followed by a smile and a joke about the one that got away — or perhaps was never there at all.

That last part is perhaps most important. Braniff, a 71-year-old from Bucksport, admits that finding enjoyment in anything — let alone fishing — was elusive.

He retired from his post-military job a decade ago and became reclusive.

“I’d been stuck in the house with [post-traumatic stress disorder] for years,” Braniff said. “Never went out. Never did anything.”

But since March, thanks to the efforts of volunteers of Project Healing Waters, he’s begun the journey back from the experiences that have haunted him since his time serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Braniff was an infantryman — “A tunnel rat,” he said, using the name for the harrowing job that he and his comrades performed, searching and destroying the extensive tunnel system the Viet Cong had built.

In March, he heard about Healing Waters through his local Veterans Affairs office. The national program’s goal, according to its website, is the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing, activities and outings.

Braniff learned there was a new Healing Waters chapter in Bangor and began attending meetings. On Monday, he joined a group of volunteers and participants who enjoyed a bit of fishing and a cookout at a small pond on the grounds of Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center.

Nestled between athletic fields, walking trails and a parking lot on the Dorothea Dix campus, the pond isn’t visible from nearby Mount Hope Avenue. A thick ring of cattails surrounds it, while a mowed path offers the only access to a new dock that serves as a casting platform.

Maine Game Warden Jim Fahey said the pond has a history as a fishing spot, which helped lead to its rejuvenation for use by Project Healing Waters and potentially Dorothea Dix patients.

“I knew this pond existed because [back in the 1980s] Fred Kircheis, a former [Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife] fisheries biologist, used to bring bass back for the [former Bangor Mental Health Institute] patients to fish for,” Fahey said.

Fahey helped spearhead the effort to stock a few dozen bass in the lake, and many volunteers and Dorothea Dix employees have helped by sprucing up the grounds and adding the dock.

Fahey said a chance meeting with Jeff Spaulding, the co-leader of the Bangor Healing Waters chapter, led to the pond’s reclamation effort throughout the summer. Spaulding, a 34-year-old disabled Marine veteran who lives in Orono, said fly fishing has played an important in his life, and he wanted to share the activity with others.

“It’s just so calming,” Spaulding said. “It gives you something to do when you’re stressed out or depressed.

You get on the river, and everything kind of goes away except for the fishing. It gives me something to focus on other than the bad things.”

Fahey spoke to officials at Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center to see if they’d allow the pond to be stocked again, and since then, employees of the center have pitched in in a number of ways, including mowing grass and making the pond accessible. The DIF&W and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have also played key roles, Fahey said.

Fahey and Spaulding said they’d like to improve the pond, perhaps by deepening it and making it even more accessible to casting along the shoreline. To do that, some additional volunteer work in the months and years ahead would help.

“We’re looking for people with [earth-moving] equipment to help out with the pond,” Spaulding said. “Anybody who wants to donate time to work around the pond, people who know how to fly fish, who want to teach fly tying, teach fly fishing [would be welcome].”

Braniff hopes more veterans also discover the power of Healing Waters. After all, the program has worked for him.

“I’ve always been kind of a loner,” he said. “Now I’m trying not to be a loner.”

Watching his interaction with volunteers and fellow veterans over a post-fishing barbecue, it’s obvious he’s not just trying.

He’s succeeding, one outing, one cast, one fish at a time.

“I knew in my mind I had to get my ass up off the couch or step away from the computer or the TV,” Braniff said. “I was doing nothing. My wife was working, and I was doing nothing around the house. I was convinced by people at the VA, and myself, to go out and get off my butt and do something worthwhile with my life.”

Those wishing to volunteer their time or equipment to help Project Healing Waters, or veterans who want to learn more, can contact Spaulding at jspaulding13@gmail.com or (802) 598-4664.

GABOR DEGRE | BDN

A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016

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NEVER FAIL TO HONOR YOUR PEOPLE. WHEN A TRUE LEADER’S WORK IS DONE AND HIS AIMS FULFILLED, THEY SHOULD SAY AND BELIEVE, “WE DID THIS OURSELVES.” George S. Patton

POWs and MIA soldiers remembered at recent Caribou ceremony

BY CHRISTOPHER BOUCHARD

Caribou’s annual POW/MIA ceremony in September featured a keynote speaker who is not only a veteran, but also an owner of Virtual Managed Solutions, a local call center.

C.B. Smith, born in Presque Isle, served in the U.S. Air Force and said he is proud to contribute to the area’s economic development through his business, which was recognized by the “Best Places to Work in Maine” program earlier this year.

Unlike most keynote speakers, Smith’s speech had a visual component, involving a table set by members of the Loring Job

Corps Honor Guard as Smith described each item’s relevance.

“The slices of lemon remind us of their bitter suffering.”

A bell sounded once before Smith described the symbolism behind each item.

The speaker described the bottle as representing the strength gained through faith, and the single red rose as the blood that was shed in order to preserve the freedoms of the United States.

“The table, as you see, is a place of honor,” said Smith. “In setting this table we acknowledge those missing from our celebration today. The table is small, symbolizing the vulnerability of a lone prisoner against his captors.

Remember that.”

“The cloth is white, symbolizing the purity of intention in responding to the nation’s call to arms.”

“The burning candle,” Smith said after the bell chimed once again, “is reminiscent of the light of hope that lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors to the open arms of a grateful nation, and the everlasting hope of a reunion with the missing.”

“The chair is empty for the missing and fallen are not among us today,” Smith said, before the bell was rung again.

Smith told the audience that as he worked on this narrative, he spent time reading first-hand accounts of captivity from former POW’s, and learned of their “struggles, anxiety, and despair.”

“The glass is inverted for those who can not toast with us today,” continued Smith.

“I also spent time talking with family members of a former POW,” said Smith.

The bell sounded once more.

“Through their descriptions of torture, I read and I heard of something that they all had in common. Something I believe they shared individually, and that’s fortitude: a strength born of defiance, developed and nurtured in a hope or a prayer.”

The speaker described an example of fortitude which he heard from the family of a deceased POW, who was a native to Aroostook County. As the man realized he only had a few seconds before he was to be beaten and captured, he stuck his rifle into the ground and fired, so it couldn’t be used by his captors.

“In my mind’s eye, I could see this man standing there,” Smith said, “with his chin out, his shoulders back, and his chest up, saying ‘What are you going to do to me?”

The POW/MIA Ceremony also featured a 21-gun volley by the American Legion Riders of Madawaska, Chapter 147, along with a performance of the National Anthem and Amazing Grace.

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A DAY OF HONOR • Bangor Daily News Special Advertising Section • November 11, 2016