Veteran's Outreach

When Danny Riddle woke up in a hospital in April 1974, the only thing he knew was his name. His ear was lying on his shoulder and half his head wasn’t there.  A lot of surgery and rehabilitation followed, but even that couldn’t make up for the fact that he couldn’t remember a thing about his tour in Vietnam.  To compound the situation, he could not get his military records, no matter how he tried—including approaching a congressman.

“My DD214 only says ‘general discharge,’ and you can see that ‘medical discharge’ has been crossed out,” said Riddle. “I don’t understand it. It’s one of those things.”

Sometime later he ran into a military nurse, “Marcia” in Lockport, Ky. She showed him a photo album of him in the hospital. He thought she might be able to help him get his records, but when he tried to look her up again, she had vanished.  “It’s a mystery to me, but I just have to trust God.”

Fast forward to 2010. A few months ago the 58-year old vet suffered another loss when his house burned down and he was homeless. He approached a veteran’s organization of which he was a member, and a member offered to donate a motor home for him to use. The donation was not without strings, however, as the organization said it needed $6,000 so it could count it as a donation.

Disheartened, he searched and found a motor home for $3,000 and turned to the Veterans’ Outreach office in Lexington, Ky.   There he talked to Bob Julian, VO vice president, who made him an offer he didn’t refuse.

“He told me, ’I can’t give the whole amount, but we will give you the down payment and put you to work.’ That was the best thing to happen to me,” said Riddle. “That kept me from being homeless. I was so impressed and grateful. I love what I do. I’ll stay here until I die.”

Now he works  three or four days a week, setting up his table to collect donations and telling folks about Veterans’ Outreach and its mission to help vets. Every day is different, says Riddle, and there are days that are simply remarkable.

Case in point: while he was set up in front of a Wal-Mart near Lexington, recently, a family of five approached his table and wanted to know what kind of help was given to veterans. His accent was heavy, and Danny found out they were from Iraq and had not been in the country for more than 24 hours.

“I explained who we were and how we helped veterans. He asked me if those veterans we helped also came from serving in Iraq. When I answered that ‘Yes,’ he smiled and turned to his wife, and told her ‘give them all we have.’ I was a little stunned, and told him he could wait until they were through shopping. I understand. They had three kids and all. But he said, with tears in his eyes, ‘You don’t understand what your soldiers did for me and my family and our country.’”

“That was something I’ll never forget. This whole experience has made me respect God more and it is an honor, really, to be able to help people who try. This isn’t a hand-out to vets; it’s a hand -up. And I know about that.”