As another Memorial Day weekend draws to a close, one cannot help but notice a sad confluence of events.
In the midst of the worst pandemic our nation has seen in a century, we remember and honor those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in all our wars and conflicts, but we also find ourselves grieving for those who survived the fight against a visible enemy only to lose the battle against an invisible enemy: the coronavirus.
This virus does not distinguish between a soldier who “just” performed his duties honorably and one who is the recipient of our nation’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. Nor does the virus care whether its victim fought in Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea or even as far back as on the beaches of Normandy.
However, it has been established that, because of more prevalent, serious “underlying medical conditions,” older adults are at higher risk for severe illness and possible death from COVID-19.
In addition, the Centers for Disease Control warn that those who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility are “at high-risk for severe illness from COVID-19.”
Should we then expect to see more veterans from World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars succumb to the coronavirus?
The Memorial weekend edition of the New York Times printed 1,000 names of victims of the virus along with their ages and a brief “obituary” – 1 percent of the nearly 100,000 Americans who have died of coronavirus.
A quick scan of the names reveals at least 30 persons who, from their “obituaries,” are clearly veterans, age 70 or more – at least 10 of them are 90 or more. There are probably many more who are elderly veterans, but whose service cannot be established from reading the short obituaries and who are part of the other 99,000 lives lost.
In fact, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1,000 veterans have been killed by the coronavirus.
The New York Times adds, “That figure does not include the more than 550 deaths of patients in homes for veterans run by dozens of states that have overwhelmed a veterans’ care system already under stress.”
Supporting the CDC warnings, The Stars and Stripes writes:
The toll of the virus on military veterans has been particularly harsh. They are older, have underlying health problems, and many reside in facilities that have been breeding grounds for the disease.
In “There Are No Flag-Draped Coffins,” Elliot Ackerman writes that such rising number of deaths among our veterans prompts the need “to revisit our enduring commitment to their care.”
Ackerman cites a 2019 Government Accountability Office study, reporting “768 deficiencies at 274 community-living centers and state veterans homes, with problems spanning infection control, resident assessments and quality of care.”
At two of those veterans’ homes, the Soldier’s Home in Holyoke, Mass., and the New Jersey Soldiers Home in Paramus, N.J., at least 145 elderly veterans have died in two tragic outbreaks of the virus in the past several weeks.”
In “They Survived the Worst Battles of World War II. And Died of the Virus,” Ellen Barry focuses on the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home where, “of the 210 veterans who were living in the facility in late March, 89 are now dead, 74 having tested positive for the virus. Almost three-quarters of the veterans inside were infected.” “It is one of the highest death tolls of any end-of-life facility in the country,” Barry adds. “The virus has now spread in more than 40 veterans’ homes in more than 20 states, leading to the deaths of at least 300 people.”
Barry illustrates the sad state of affairs at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home by recounting the sad ending of a former resident at the Soldiers’ Home, James Leach Miller: “A man who had rescued Japanese kamikaze pilots from the sea. A man who carried memories of a concentration camp,” a man who survived what was for Americans the bloodiest battle of World War II, only to die at 96 of complications from the coronavirus at Holyoke Soldiers’ Home.
Then there is the story of Robert Hopp, who served two and a half tours in Vietnam, received a Purple Heart after he was hit by enemy fire while in a helicopter. “Everyone else aboard the chopper died, but Hopp managed to climb into the pilot’s seat and flew to safety.”
Hopp, however, was no match to the coronavirus and, at 70, was “one of at least 79 residents of a veterans’ home in Paramus, N.J., to die from COVID-19, making the state-run facility one of the nation’s worst hot spots for the virus.”
There are many more stories (here, here and here) of brave men who survived the horrors of war only to lose life’s battle to a virus in a veterans home.
We include these veterans in our thoughts and prayers this Memorial Day.
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The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.