Geoff Coenen
Well-known member
Stephen Michael Lynch (RIP) 101st Airborne
June 3, 1948 – June 24, 2014
This has been another sad Memorial Day. My cousin Steve and I were close growing up. We lived together on a farm outside Middletown, NY and no more than a quarter apart until I went away to college. Even though he was married, Steve was drafted in 1968 and sent to vietnam. In the fall of 1968 his unit was over run by the enemy and a RPG killed the other two other soldiers in their fox hole. Steve's foot was blow off and he managed to put on tourniquet which saved his life.
After being stabilized he was evacuated in a MedEvac helicopter to a Navy hospital ship off shore for further treatment. Then flown to Alaska and eventually to Valley Forge VA hospital in Pennsylvania. A week after he was hit he was back in the USA. Steve father, my uncle and I drove to that hospital and it was the saddest place I have ever visited. Nearly every soldier in the hospital was 18-20 years old as most were amputees. We both were crying.
They classified the patients as BK for amputee below the knee. AK above the knee. BE for below the elbow. BK above the elbow. Some had no legs or no arms and the saddest were those with no legs or arms. Completely helpless. There was anguish, screaming, pain and crying. The nurses tried to keep the soldiers docile with Morphine and many became addicted as did Steve.
Months after "rehabilitation" Steve was scheduled to meet with a VA psychiatrist. And that was an utter failure as that doctor was Asian. Steve told me he could not relate or speak to a gook about his experiences and problems. For decades thereafter his life spiraled down ward. His wife and young daughter finally left him after a couple of years. He blew up the original motor in his mother's 1963 Corvette and put that engine in a wheel barrow by the side of the road. Steve had lost interest in everything and spent decades in and out of soberness and drug addiction. On August 24, 2014 he overdosed on heroin and fentanyl and was finally at Peace.
I still own that same 1963 Corvette today and think of him every time I drive it. It had brought me much success and I miss him. God bless him.
June 3, 1948 – June 24, 2014
This has been another sad Memorial Day. My cousin Steve and I were close growing up. We lived together on a farm outside Middletown, NY and no more than a quarter apart until I went away to college. Even though he was married, Steve was drafted in 1968 and sent to vietnam. In the fall of 1968 his unit was over run by the enemy and a RPG killed the other two other soldiers in their fox hole. Steve's foot was blow off and he managed to put on tourniquet which saved his life.
After being stabilized he was evacuated in a MedEvac helicopter to a Navy hospital ship off shore for further treatment. Then flown to Alaska and eventually to Valley Forge VA hospital in Pennsylvania. A week after he was hit he was back in the USA. Steve father, my uncle and I drove to that hospital and it was the saddest place I have ever visited. Nearly every soldier in the hospital was 18-20 years old as most were amputees. We both were crying.
They classified the patients as BK for amputee below the knee. AK above the knee. BE for below the elbow. BK above the elbow. Some had no legs or no arms and the saddest were those with no legs or arms. Completely helpless. There was anguish, screaming, pain and crying. The nurses tried to keep the soldiers docile with Morphine and many became addicted as did Steve.
Months after "rehabilitation" Steve was scheduled to meet with a VA psychiatrist. And that was an utter failure as that doctor was Asian. Steve told me he could not relate or speak to a gook about his experiences and problems. For decades thereafter his life spiraled down ward. His wife and young daughter finally left him after a couple of years. He blew up the original motor in his mother's 1963 Corvette and put that engine in a wheel barrow by the side of the road. Steve had lost interest in everything and spent decades in and out of soberness and drug addiction. On August 24, 2014 he overdosed on heroin and fentanyl and was finally at Peace.
I still own that same 1963 Corvette today and think of him every time I drive it. It had brought me much success and I miss him. God bless him.