Vet Trip Heals Scarred

By:  Kevin Trainor/Managing Editor

Derrick Dawdy said “this is the big one.”  Dawdy, a combat veteran from early in the Iraqi War suffers from unresolved grief, and loss of his fellow combatants.  Others are affected from post-traumatic stress syndrome, (PTSD).  He is part of “Operation Freedom Bird,” an Arizona group that has selected fifty veterans currently in treatment to participate in a four day journey to the capital area.  This trip gives them the opportunity to share experiences, pay tribute to fallen comrades-in-arms in a supportive environment of fellow veterans, and concerned counselors.  Dawdy is headed on a tram with the other forty-nine to the areas where his buddies now rest.  It is going to be an important moment for him.  Such a moment he, and his counselor hope, will be an opportunity to finally close the door of grief, and the guilt of surviving, and go on to live in peace.

Every one of these combat veterans has a story.  Terry Stuart, Vietnam 1967-1968, told NoViewNews.com in the Arlington Cemetery Reception Area that this trip will help him come to terms with the violence he saw on duty.  His friend, Jack Briliat, Vietnam 1966-1967, added that, “it’s very helpful, veterans healing, we had a chance to go to the (Vietnam) Wall, leave items, and honor veterans who didn’t come home.”  

It is a clear, brisk day on the slopes of hills that is the last resting place for hundreds of thousands that have served.  Not all perished in combat, but if a service member dies in service to his/her country then their family can, if they choose, have their loved one buried in the sacred ground of Arlington National Cemetery.  No conditions.  Sadly restrictions have been put in place on who else may be buried here.  This due to the ever decreasing availability of land the cemetery encompasses.  It is estimated that sometime in 2020 space will run out.  This according to actuarial forecasts.  Arlington National Cemetery holds the remains of veterans going back to the Revolutionary War.  Those remains had been disinterred, and re-buried here.  The origins of the cemetery go back to the early days of the Civil War.  

The land had been part of the home, and property, of Robert E. Lee.  Lee was a West Point graduate, and made his name as an American military officer in the Mexican-American War as well as in Indian conflicts.  Lee, a career military officer in the U.S. Army, had also taught at the United States Military Academy on the Hudson.  Later he retreated to a home his family had held for roughly seventy-five years.  He was married to Anna Custis, whose father was a step-grandson, and adopted son of George Washington.  Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army in April of 1861.  His rationale was he “simply could not raise an arm in battle against his native Virginia.”  He finally persuaded Anna to leave Arlington House as he knew Union forces would soon occupy it.  For months Lee agonized, and refused overtures to lead the Army of the Confederate States of America, finally succumbing to the inevitable in early 1862.  This infuriated his old colleagues in the Union Army who fought with him, were educated by him, and who knew him personally.  To spite the Confederate General they buried Union war dead in his garden, and later all around his land.  This was the beginning of Arlington National Cemetery.

The fifty Arizona veterans, their lives scarred by war, may be, or not, aware of the cemetery’s origins, but it doesn’t matter.  This is a solemn place.  A holy place. One that grants solitude to so many who have sacrificed the most. "Operation Freedom Bird” was founded by an America West Airline captain, Pat Lynch, he himself a decorated Vietnam veteran.  The name comes from the term “Freedom Bird Flights,” which was applied to flights taking American service members out of war zones.  Originally, the vision was to bring surviving Vietnam veterans to visit the Vietnam Wall Memorial over Veteran’s Day.  This was in 1988.  Now, it is over four days which now also includes visits to the cemetery, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and the 9-11 Memorial at the Pentagon, in addition to the war memorials located on the National Mall.  “Operation Freedom Bird” underwrites air transportation, ground transportation, meals, and lodging costs.  96.5% of all donations to the organization go directly to the trip for the hallowed fifty.  Counselors come as well.  3.5% goes to overhead.  All who administrate, and are otherwise involved, are volunteers.

For Derrick Dawdy, the Iraqi veteran, this really is “the big one,” as he says.  It is finality.  A reunion with his comrades interred.  Their spirits are free and in peace, now, it seems so will he. 

“Operation Freedom Bird,” is an Arizona non-profit charity.  5020 N. Shea Av., Suite 140, Scottsdale AZ  85254  Contributions are welcome.