{"id":63435,"date":"2018-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/09\/unmc-veterans-mark-holiday\/"},"modified":"2022-09-02T17:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T22:24:15","slug":"unmc-veterans-mark-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2018\/11\/09\/unmc-veterans-mark-holiday\/","title":{"rendered":"UNMC veterans mark holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day. <\/p>\n

It’s a date Wayne Mathews, associate professor and director of research in physician assistant education, in the College of Allied Health Professions, typically marks each year.<\/p>\n


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\nWayne Mathews, left, during the Vietnam War with a buddy while patrolling just off the coast of Vietnam near Da Nang.<\/span>
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\n<\/TABLE>“I definitely do,” he said. “I have a little Vietnam Veterans pin I always wear on that day.”<\/p>\n

UNMC Today and the medical center remind our readers of the holiday by highlighting just two of the many veterans who work or attend classes here at UNMC.<\/p>\n

Mathews served in the U.S. Navy from 1972-76, taking part in minesweeping operations in Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin, and combat support. But his most memorable service came in 1975 when the Navy helped evacuate Saigon.<\/p>\n

Normally a radar communications specialist, Mathews was pressed into service helping with medical triage on a ship bursting with thousands of Vietnamese refugees.<\/p>\n

“It was the first time I ever saw a child casualty,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That was the thing that shook me up more than anything else.”<\/p>\n


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\n<\/TABLE>But that assignment inspired his interest in medicine and science. Upon coming home, “I went to school here and worked at the VA hospital and came to this PA program at UNMC, where I graduated in 1981.<\/p>\n

“It’s been quite an adventure,” Mathews said.<\/p>\n

Jonathon Sample, advanced simulation specialist at iEXCEL, is another veteran who has found a home at UNMC. He joined the U.S. Army Infantry on Sept. 15, 2001 at age 17.<\/p>\n

“I had already taken my ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test) and physical, I was just waiting to sign a contract when the September 11 attacks were carried out,” he said. He signed up as a senior in high school, and went to basic training after graduation.<\/p>\n

“By September 2003, I was deployed to Ramadi, Iraq,” he said. <\/p>\n

He earned a Purple Heart for injuries received in combat in July 2004.<\/p>\n

He later also served in Afghanistan until June 2011.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military is a tradition in his family: “My father did three tours with the USMC (the Marines) in Vietnam, received three Purple Hearts,” Sample said. “My older brother had one tour in Iraq as a U.S. Army infantryman and earned a Purple Heart as well. My older sister was deployed to Panama for a humanitarian mission with the Iowa National Guard.”<\/p>\n

Please feel free to honor a veteran who works or attends school at UNMC, or a family member, in the comments below.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highlighting two of UNMC’s many veterans as national holiday nears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":63436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-college-of-allied-health-professions","department-iexcel","department-physician-assistant","department-unmc-front-page","department-unmc-today-todays-headlines","author_override-kalani-simpson-unmc-public-relations"],"yoast_head":"\nUNMC 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