2/503d VIETNAM Newsletter August 2009 / Issue 4 For the men, and their families, of the 2d Battalion, 173d Airborne Brigade (Sep) ~ We Try Harder! SSG Larry Pierce Memorial Highway The State of California will be Dedicating the SSG Larry Stanley Pierce Memorial Highway on Monday, September 14, 2009, at 1000 hours in Wasco, CA. SSG Pierce received the Medal of Honor while serving with HHC 1/503d, and he is buried in Wasco, CA. Please forward this info to other members of the 1/503d. Contact person at the City of Wasco, CA, is: Mr. Danny Brown and his email is:
[email protected] . Jarad Montie (MOH) KIA Jarad will be awarded the Medal of Honor and it will be presented to his mother on September 17, 2009. He was a friend of Barb and me back in 1999, and then we lost track of him. We were shocked when we found out that he was killed in action. There will be an article written about him in our next Newsletter (South Carolina 173d Chapter). He was and is loved and he will be missed. We spoke to his mother in order to lend her support. Barb also found his father and e-mailed him too. Barb is attempting to see if we can attend the award ceremony at the White House. I believe she's attempting to contact the President to see if she or I can attend. Keep your fingers crossed for this attempt. Much love from both of us. Jim “Top” Dresser, A/HHC/2/503d Our Newsletter Please send all stories, opinions and other submissions, including photos (JPEG), to
[email protected] This Newsletter will be issued periodically. If you do not wish to receive the Newsletter please send a note to the above email address. Airborne! A Little Ditty About Vet Health Care As a disabled veteran, the local VA clinic here in Florida sent me to a nearby neurosurgeon to diagnose problems I was having with my lower back. Turns out there are two herniated disks back there which need tending to – there are countless Sky Soldiers with this same problem -- Messrs. Fleming and Sturges, I’m thinking of you. This surgeon, who looked like Elvis Presley with all the baubles and bangles he was wearing, was hard selling me on the needed operation – his new Beemer out front did need a waxing. It turns out the VA will cover his radical procedure which includes implanting a screw in my spine, at a cost to the VA of upwards of $150,000., he told us. The VA, however, does not cover the less invasion, dramatically less expensive and newer, outpatient laser procedure he was offering, at a mere $50,000., he said. Not trusting this particular doctor, based more on his sales tactics than his appearance, my wife and I went on a search and find mission for the laser option offered by others. We found a local doctor laser expert who accepts Medicare, Eureka! And, the cost is only $30,000. Now we’re getting somewhere, my wife and I thought. He added, while Medicare covers much of the operation, there will be a “facilities usage fee” which we must absorb. Thinking it might be a couple thousand dollars which we could pull together, we were close to signing up. “How much is that?” , my wife asked. “Seventeen-thousand dollars,” he said. We said “thanks” and hung up. That must be one hellofa facility. Page 1 of 8