Hear the words "war veteran" and what comes to your mind? Maybe a slightly old, slightly chubby man grinning under his khaki or navy cap, and marching in a parade down Main Street? Or maybe a wan-faced, elderly man in a wheelchair, still hampered by combat wounds, also wearing a military cap, and enjoying the show?

There are 7,200 war veterans in Orangeburg County and thousands more in neighboring counties, still getting medical care at VA hospitals and clinics. Over a dozen ex-servicemen give hours, some every day at the local clinic, to aid them., They provide rides in VA ambulances to the hospital in Columbia and help with paperwork at the district VA clinic on St. Matthews Road. One, Jerry Sims, makes and serves them coffee four mornings every week. He has done this for three years.

Jerry grew up in Orangeburg, where his father worked for HyGrade Meats. Not long after high school, Selective Service came calling and sent him to Fort Jackson to train, then to Vietnam as a Pfc specialist. This was 1966. He had turned 20. For the next two years, he learned more about shooting rifles, operating radios, firing machine guns and maneuvering in combat tactics ... until early one morning, he had been relieved from his front line guard post and begun the trek back to headquarters when an explosion stopped and dropped him to the ground. A buried Claymore mine had exploded into hundreds of shrapnel, which penetrated his knees, his buttocks and stomach.

Removing the metal scraps

In seconds a medic kneeled to help him with a field examination and a shot of morphine. Minutes later, a helicopter had him aboard, and within 30 minutes at a field hospital a few miles away. Surgeons removed metal scraps from many open wounds. The next day a big hospital plane carried him to Japan, where total surgery extracted dozens more and stitched the openings together. He improved but still suffered stiff pain and could not walk.

A month in a large ward with many other wounded brought some but not complete healing. Together they helped one another's morale, and sweated out the nightly screams from pain and shock suffered by the severely hurt G.I.s in the next ward.

In April 1968 he and a planeload of recoveries flew back to Fort Gordon, Ga. After a check-in exam, he was allowed two weeks to come to Orangeburg, with orders to return for more months of healing. After more months, whirlpool stimulation and exercises, his service release came in October 1968.

New life, new opportunities

Much more mature, ready to make his life count, he went to Midlands Technical College in Columbia to earn a degree in automotive mechanics, then returned to his old workplace, Greenwood Mills. One year later he joined his Uncle Willie Jennings at Jennings Corner (now College Corner) Exxon station, where he worked from 1968 to 2002. He married and raised two children.

"I had joined some veterans organizations," he says. "Now, with more time to spare, my interest increased. Gradually, I realized I wanted to help other veterans who had come back with physical or mental problems, some they had not realized they had."

When he was told to contact the Veterans Volunteer Services at the VA Hospital, the staff checked his records, health, etc. The St. Matthews Road clinic sent word it would be pleased to see him. "We decided to have me come four mornings a week to brew and serve coffee for the waiting patients. The Volunteer Services furnished the coffee pots, cups and everything else. As, when I started, I get there about 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday and host a kind of coffee klatch in the waiting room from 8 until 1. It's great to get to know all these men and talk over experiences.

"I feel sure many of my fellow volunteers feel the same way. Nearly a dozen set aside a full day to driving clinic patients up to the Columbia hospital for specialized care our smaller clinics can't offer: Andrew Gibbes, Lonnie Kuttz, Wayne Felder, Caro Joy and Lamar Fersner. These drivers aren't just from Orangeburg but from St. Matthews, Neeses, Elloree, etc.

"Others are, Aubre Johnson, Glenn Sweat, Gerald Bedenbaugh, Lewis Fogle, Rodney Hughes, Harry Kinard and Julian Pou. They wait while the veterans are treated, then drive them home again.

"Brian Stepphen does a very useful service at the local clinic by helping the patients fill out all applications and other papers."

"These men served in World War II, Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf and more recently the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Now they get a lot of fun and satisfaction out of helping fellow servicemen. They say that pride comes before a fall, but for us, it's not pride, just some more satisfaction to our lives."

T&D Correspondent Thomas Langford can be reached by telephone at 803-534-2097. Discuss this and other stories at www.TheTandD.com

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