Photo By Cpl. Michael Lockett | Donald Bramer is a former Marine, living at the Alexander Nininger State Veteran's...... read more read more
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Marines with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit visited the Alexander Nininger State Veteran’s Nursing Home outside of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., April 27, 2012, as part of a community outreach program during Fleet Week Port Everglades.
“When you’re a veteran, and [Marines] come back and listen, it makes them realize we still appreciate them, that they’re still part of the family,” said Capt. C. Faith Zimmerman, assistant logistics officer with the 26th MEU. Eleven Marines and sailors with the 26th MEU took the opportunity to visit the center, home to more than a hundred veterans who require assistance in their day-to-day lives.
“We provide services for veterans that need physical, spiritual, or mental help, and for those who cannot function in their own homes,” said Oscar L. Correale, therapy supervisor at the center. The structure, about ten years old, is home to veterans of conflicts ranging from World War II to Vietnam, and provides a home for 120 of them, in addition to services for veterans living in the surrounding area.
It’s not unusual for groups of volunteers to come through, said Correale. “We get a lot of support from the community. There are groups that come from churches [and] from schools.”
But it’s special when it’s a group of service members.
“You get to hear their stories, straight from the horse’s mouth,” said Zimmerman. The residents of these homes are often the spiritual forefathers of the Marines of today, men who fought their way ashore at Iwo Jima, or slogged through the jungles of Vietnam. “I think they see, in you, a flashback of themselves when they served the country,” said Correale.
In the end, the trip was an opportunity for 26th MEU Marines to interact with veterans, to listen to them, to talk to them, to feel the bond that reaches across the years. It is said, “Once a Marine, always a Marine,” but rarely is it so well demonstrated as watching the young veterans of Afghanistan talk with men whose wars ended long ago in the far reaches of the Pacific.
“It’s a good chance to interact with those who came before us,” said Zimmerman. “You hear about these places in boot camp, and now you get to hear their stories from when they were there.”
| Date Taken: | 04.27.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.29.2012 19:18 |
| Story ID: | 87571 |
| Location: | FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 175 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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