A veteran’s story

When we think of stories to tell on Veterans Day, we usually think of combat. But veterans have served in a variety of roles in the U.S. military.

Victor Holly, project technician, human resources-records and information, served in the U.S. Air Force. He was sent to the Philippines. This was in 1991.

Victor Holly, in a dark hat, in line for a meal, following an evacuation from the Filipino island of Luzon to the aircraft carrier USS Midway, 1991. (Photo used with permission, midwaysailor.com)

He loved it. Beautiful island, great people. He was working on “electronic counter-counter measures.”

“We jammed the people who were trying to jam us, that we were jamming,” Holly said.

A lot of fun. But remember the Philippines, 1991?

“Mt. Pinatubo,” Holly said.

The volcano was about to blow. The U.S. evacuated Clark Air Base. The convoy encountered Communist rebels. “People on the side of the road with guns, yelling at us, calling us out by name and our units, telling us they are going to get us.”

At last they made it. Safe, right? But then . . .

UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, M.D., and students take the “Give Them 20” challenge.

“You go outside, and there’s this papery stuff falling out of the sky. You look up and you see this plume going up. You see the clouds just open up. And the plume goes right up through because the pressure’s just blowing everything away. And it just keeps going and going and going and going. And you notice the sky keeps getting darker and darker and darker. And it’s, where’d the lights go? I know we paid the bill. Where are the lights? And it’s just gone.

“I understand what the end of the world’s going to be like. I get it now.”

That wasn’t even the big one.

On June 15, the earth rumbled. The air choked with sulfur. Rocks fell out of the sky. Rain. Lightning. A typhoon hit at the very same time.

It was dark as night. It looked like the end of the world.

And somehow, he made it through.

It’s not the only time. Holly cited the stat that 22 veterans a day die due to mental health issues. “By the grace of God,” he said, “I could have been one of those 22.”

A supervisor helped him get a medical discharge, for clinical depression, which helped him get help.

“I understand where they are coming from,” he said. “I’ve got one suicide attempt under my belt.”

He hopes his fellow veterans and servicemen also have access to such help, so they, too, can get through times when it seems like the world is ending, when everything looks as dark as night.