Veteran shares struggles for Suicide Prevention Month

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. –  Private Wendell Strode, of Bowling Green, shared his struggles with PTSD to help others goin through the same pain for Suicide Prevention Month.

“We moved to this place in 1961 when I was in the eighth grade. My dad was what some people would call maybe a country Baptist preacher. Church was always a part of our life. The family unit was always special. I’m one of 13 children, but when I was four, my mother died. Mother’s Day is a hard day for me. I enrolled in western when I got out of high school. About a year later I was drafted. I might’ve been 20. I guess I was 20. I was infantry in Vietnam. I was there in November of 1968 and then got wounded in March 1969. Every day, our infantry company would get in some kind of skirmish. We would be fired on by Vietnam soldiers. Occasionally we would get into a fire fight with the North Vietnamese army.”

One day in ‘69, Wendell thought he met his match when a gunshot hit his shoulder and shrapnel pierced his leg.

“I didn’t know what was going on. And, I had shrapnel in my leg. And couldn’t walk. But when I fell, and those mini guns fired, they sprayed the area. And I could see it coming right at me, and I thought, “Well goodbye, Wendell.”

But that wasn’t the end for Wendell. He survived, returned to the states, married, lived 30 years in peace but then one night out of nowhere came the memories. 

“A lot of Vietnam veterans reflect back to experiences that they may have had in the military. We were able to keep them out of our mind, but then most of us in 30 years, 40 years started revisiting all of that. It was just as real as when it happened 40 years prior to that. In my particular case, it was mostly at night. PTSD started coming back and haunting me. One particular incident was the first time that I killed someone. They had weapons, and they were running the other way. We yelled at them to stop, and when they didn’t stop we started shooting at them, and one that I drew a gun on, I shot him. Shot him right in the head.”

With memories haunting him at every turn, Wendell wanted to cave-in to the temptation of suicide, but he pushed through with the help of his remaining brothers in arms and his family.

“I was able to have counseling, and some medication and have been able to have a good life, an acceptable life. I think I’m still a pretty good fellow, and a pretty good husband and a pretty good dad and a pretty good Grandad. If what I started experiencing 15+ years ago would have happened to me after I got back from Vietnam, I don’t think I would have had much quality of life. The last statistic that I recall, there are around 22 Vietnam veterans a day committing suicide. Suicide is a thought that creeps in. I think it’s very important, especially on the Saturday when 9/11, 2001 will get a lot of publicity to make certain that America is aware of that, that America provides support, and that can be in a multitude of different ways. Sometimes it can just be to show interest. I have on my Vietnam veteran cap, and I encourage my grandchildren, and I would encourage all Americans, when you see somebody that’s wearing a cap to go up there and get them a special thanks for serving their country. Many, many many veterans have never been thanked. That can go along way just to help with suicide prevention.”

Wendell says that sharing his story was hard at first, but now he never shies away from delving into his tribulations knowing that opening up can help another hurting brother. 

“It’s been therapy for me, it’s been therapeutic so to speak for me. I have a wife, and we have two daughters, and our two daughters have four children and God is good.”