This is a story that I find hard to imagine yet even harder to have to report as an actual event. Thomas Dale Harrison was a Green Beret, truly one of “America’s Best”. For those of you who are not familiar with this highly elite originating group of our United States Special Forces, you should know a little about them. Please read the following information on the Green Berets. Hopefully you will realize the real loss of one of these men to a VA snafu. What a tragedy this loss is and a horrific mistake by our own government at the cause.
An American Hero Lost
The Army Special Forces would forever be
linked to JFK; members of SF served in the honor guard at
his funeral in November of 1963, with one of the soldiers
spontaneously placing his beret on the grave at the end of the
ceremony as a mark of respect. President Kennedy's legacy would be
further remembered when the Special Warfare Center and School at
Fort Bragg, NC would be named the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special
Warfare Center and School. The
Special Forces in the Sixties would go through a period where they
captured the public's imagination, beginning with the best selling
book The Green Berets by Robin Moore in 1966. The
paperback book became a best seller, followed by the surprise hit
song Ballad of the Green Berets, by Staff Sergeant
Barry Sadler, an SF soldier who had served in Vietnam and received
the Purple Heart for wounds, which would ultimately become the
number 1 single record in the US for 1966. GI Joes, bubble gum
cards, comic books, and Mattel toys would all celebrate Army Special
Forces during the craze. Finally, the ultimate honor would be
accorded the force in 1968 when John Wayne would produce and star in
the action film The Green Berets, with David Janssen
and Jim Hutton. The strongly anti-communist, and pro-South Vietnam
film, was a labor of love by Mr. Wayne, a stanch supporter of the
war, who was openly disgusted by the anti-war protest movement in
the United States at the time. All of this would have a profound
effect on many American youths coming of age.
Veteran takes his own life over VA error
By Sharon Woods
Harris
Published:
The Pekin Times, Friday, August 1, 2008
The walls of Thomas Dale Harrison's meager apartment
on Sheridan Road in Pekin were covered with reminders of the years he spent
as a Green Beret with the U.S.
Army
in the Panama Canal region during the Vietnam War era. Pekin Police
detective Rick Von Rohr said Harrison was very proud of his service to his
country. His living room was covered in memorabilia and prized possessions
from his service. Times had been tough for Harrison over the past several
years. Often, he could barely afford to put food on the table with the small
Veteran's Administration benefits he received. He had no other income.
Harrison was a diabetic who suffered from high
blood pressure, so he could not work.
Even with all that, Harrison, 59, was living a happy life until the first letter came, said Tazewell County Coroner Dennis Conover said, recounting an earlier conversation with Harrison's sister. The VA letter demanded the repayment of $43,000 from Harrison that the VA alleged he was overpaid. Ironically, the letter told the man (who spent part of his life defending the nation) that he could pay by cash, check or credit card. Eventually the VA cut off his veteran's benefits, said Conover, but the letters kept coming. That, said Harrison's brother-in-law, Bill Maquet of Manito, was the “last straw” for Harrison. Harrison spent his last moments of his life writing three notes - one to his sister, and two to the Veterans Administration on the back of two letters from the VA demanding payment. The notes were found next to his body June 3. “(Expletive) you, you can't get money from a dead man,” said one of the notes to the VA. The other note simply said, “Zero income - thanks a lot, dumb ass.” The note to his sister asked that he be cremated and buried at the foot of his grandfather's grave because he had no insurance for burial. Harrison then took a .22 caliber handgun, put it to his forehead and fired. “I'm not happy with (the VA),” said Maquet, who came to an inquest into the cause and manner of Harrison's death Thursday at the Tazewell County Coroner's Office. “It was the last straw - I'm not happy.” Maquet said he asked his wife to stay home because he didn't know how in depth the inquest would be, so he came to be there for Harrison. “It takes a while to grieve this out,” he said. The coroner's jury ruled that Harrison's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner of death was suicide. There were no legal or illegal drugs in his system. Conover said the sad thing is that Harrison's family was working with the VA and believed they were close to a resolution of the situation. “I think this is one of the bigger tragedies for a man who loved doing his military duty as much as he did,” said Conover. “It was clearly his only claim to fame. “‘You can pay by check, money order or credit card'? “This man hardly had enough money to put food on the table and they cut off his benefits.”
