Operation Insight

This episode features Jim David from the St. Charles County Veterans Assistance Office. The office is located in O'Fallon's City Hall and is staffed by volunteers Monday-Thursday, from 9 AM to 4 PM. The volunteers are ready to assist you with your Veterans Assistance needs. Jim outlines what assistance the office can provide and how to utilize them. He shares how the office came together in St. Charles County and how the office works with the veteran/veteran family navigating the various veteran assistance resources or departments within the VA or branch departments. He shares past stories on how the Veterans Assistance Office has helped Veterans and their families with issues they are facing. He discusses the training the volunteers receive and how they work with the local Veterans Service Officer. The Veterans Assistance Office is always looking for volunteers to assist our veteran community.

Women have been serving in the military in one form or another for more than 200 years. They have had to overcome decades of obstacles in order to be allowed to serve their country, and are now deployed in ever-increasing numbers, in combat roles and in leadership positions all around the world. Today, women make up 16% of the military, and nearly 10% of veterans are women. The SCCVM showcases the artifacts, uniforms, photos, and especially the stories of numerous brave women from World War Two through the present day. Our guest this week is the museum curator, Marcia Higgins, who will discuss highlights of the items on exhibit in the museum and tell stories about these women of valor.

Combat medics play a unique role in the military. Not only must they be experts in battlefield medicine, but they must also remain proficient in combat tactical skills. They frequently witness injuries and death and are often exposed to the personal threat of trauma. Medics run towards the danger to render aid to those injured while exposing themselves to enemy fire. While under attack, medics must fight alongside their fellow soldiers. Combat medics and corpsmen felt the best way to serve and save lives was alongside the troops.

While they can easily rationalize, they cannot save everyone, which causes high levels of stress. Because of this double-duty role, combat medics often face stressors that other military specialties do not. Military medics are at high risk for burnout, compassion fatigue, combat stress, and medic PTSD.

Tonight’s guest is MSG Matthew Sims, who served our country as a combat medic. In 2005, during his deployment to Iraq, Matt regularly placed himself in harm’s way. Matt was awarded three Purple Hearts. Though retired, Matt continues to serve today.

The United States entered World War II soon after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Despite the late entry into the war, Merchant Mariners were dying months before America joined the Allied Forces! During the war, 733 American cargo ships were lost. There were 243,000 mariners who served, and 9,521 perished while serving.  Roughly four percent of those who served were killed. This was a higher casualty rate than that of any of the American military branches during World War II. Merchant Mariners were the lifeline for our fighting troops, supplying virtually everything our armies needed.

When they enlisted, they were promised all the benefits of the other military branches. The reality was that mariners received no government benefits, paid income taxes, and earned money only when their ships were at sea. If their ships were torpedoed, they stopped getting paid the moment they hit the water! They were off the clock when swimming for their lives. And when they returned to civilian status, they were denied a lifetime of military benefits, including health care, money for college, and low-interest loans. Merchant Mariners possessed an unusual variety of courage and gave their lives for their country as valiantly as those in the armed forces did, without benefits.

The Merchant Mariners were unsung heroes! This is the story of Charles Hoffman, who served as a Merchant Marine from 1943 to 1945.

Angela Peacock joined the Army immediately after high school in 1998. Angie was strong, tough, and a born leader. She was ready, willing, and able to do anything a man could do. After a stint in Korea where she was assaulted, SGT Peacock was deployed to Iraq in May 2003. She began driving supply convoys in an area known as the Triangle of Death. The routes in the Triangle were very dangerous, and many KIAs occurred there. They said, No woman in combat? No front lines for women? Baghdad was the front lines!

We are honored to host Terry C. Bryant, Commander of the State Korean War Association, and GySgt Harry Hope, who fought at the Chosin Reservoir.

The Korean War was fought from 1950 until 1953 and pitted the United States, South Korea, and their U.N. allies against North Korea and the Chinese Communists. The invading North Korean troops captured Seoul within three days. That marked the first of four times the city would exchange hands. The tide turned that September due to a surprise amphibious landing that General MacArthur executed behind enemy lines at Inchon, the port for Seoul. When U.N. troops then pushed deep into North Korea, rumors began to swirl that they would be home by Christmas.

When China entered the war in October in support of North Korea, American troops began the longest retreat in U.S. military history. The U.S. troops were never able to recover. The Korean War was one of the deadliest wars in modern history, with nearly 40,000 U.S. soldiers killed and another 100,000 wounded.

Nearly 200,000 U.S. Troops are deployed around the world, many in harm’s way. For every troop deployed, there are multiple family members, including mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, and foster mothers, trying their best to support and comfort the troops. Blue Star Mothers concentrates on providing emotional support to its members. Even when we are not at war, military families often deal with stresses such as frequent moves or the absence of a parent. Deployment to war creates additional issues for a family to handle. A Blue Star Mother knows “the hardest battles” are often fought on the home front and are emotional, and much harder to win. And any parent will tell you, there are no safe places to be deployed.

Our guests today are Kathy Schulte and Tracy Lee, the local Blue Star Presidents. Tracy and Kathy are intimately aware of the emotions and stress our troops and their families experience while serving.

On June 2nd, 1969, the Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans was cruising through the calm, moonlit waters of the South China Sea. Just days before, the Evans was on the gun line, throwing countless shells at targets in South Vietnam supporting ground troops. The Evans had just earned its second Vietnam Service Medal for combat operations in 1969.

On this night, the Frank E. Evans joined forces with SEATO naval forces to conduct war games and a show of force in the South China Sea. During the mid-watch, however, with the commanding officer fast asleep, the Evans made a navigational error, and an Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne, a much larger ship, struck it and sliced it in half as a result. The bow section of the ship would sink beneath the waves in ten minutes.

This is the story of the collision as told by a survivor, MMFN Joe Mulitsch. The Evans was his first ship.  Joe escaped, but 74 of his shipmates perished that night, fifty-three years ago.

Ella Mateja was eight years old when she began selling lemonade as a way to raise funds for our brave veterans and first responders. She was inspired by her grandpa Ken and his brothers, all of whom served in the military. Ella has dedicated herself to running the lemonade stand every year until she graduates. In the last seven years, Ella's little lemonade stand has helped raise funds for the Missouri Military Memorial Foundation, Fallen Heroes Dream Ride, Missouri Patriot Guard, St. Charles County Veterans Museum, BackStoppers, and the local VFW.

It has been amazing how the community has come together to raise nearly $120,000 to remember her heroes; our fallen military personnel and first responders. One hundred percent of all donations go directly to the organizations.

Bill had a belief that serving your country was important. After briefly considering joining the Marines and amidst strong opposition from family, Bill settled on the Air Force. Bill was stationed at Pease AFB for five months after joining. While there, Bill volunteered for Sentry Dog School. Bill said, “We knew by volunteering for Sentry Dog School, we were also volunteering for Vietnam.”

Dog handlers were in high demand in Vietnam, and Bill was assigned to Phan Rang Air Base. Bill served in the 35th Security Police Squadron. Phan Rang was located about six miles inland from the South China Sea and about ninety miles north of Saigon. "When I got to Vietnam, there was extensive dog training. The dogs were being trained, handlers were trained with the dogs, and there was sentry training." Bill served a harrowing nine months from February 1967 to November 1967 as a dog handler in Vietnam.