Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
John Preston (left), his wife, and their friends are walking 22 miles each day from the South Carolina coast to Cincinnati to bring attention to veteran suicide.
On November 10, students, teachers and members of the Allendale community gathered to hear stories from local veterans.
Allendale veteran Terrance Thomas shares stories of his time in service with the Allendale community.
Recently appointed Allendale-Fairfax School District superintendent Dr. Vallerie Coath Cave speaks at a Veterans Day event in Allendale.
Disclaimer: This article discusses sensitive topics like suicide.
This is a story of war, grief, and the plight of veterans in the United States.
Connecting them all is Ohio combat veteran John Preston, his wife Cory, and his friends Izzak Chandler and Gregory Coffelt. The group is walking 22 miles every day for the 22 veterans in the United States who die by suicide every day (recent statistics from the Department of Veterans Affairs estimate 16.8 per day). Their journey will finish in Preston’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, having begun near the resting place of Preston’s brother on Hunting Island, South Carolina. However, for Preston, his journey began long ago when his brother, a veteran, died by suicide in 2016.
“Losing my brother turned a switch that I didn't know existed inside of me,” Preston said. “We are out here trying to tell the world [that] it's okay to ask for help. It's okay to need help. We're gonna walk 700 miles to show the world that we can be okay, that we can help each other, that we can share this weight together.”
Across the United States, veterans have significantly higher rates of suicide than the national average. The issue is widely attributed to post-traumatic stress disorder, which is widespread among veterans and civilians who experience the horrors of war. Additionally, veterans face major barriers to employment, housing and healthcare, an issue that is exacerbated in rural areas like Allendale, where 444 veterans reside, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
On Veterans Day, hundreds of members of the Allendale County community gathered in the Allendale-Fairfax High School gymnasium to hear from local veterans like Terrance Thomas. Thomas shared the story of James, a serviceman Thomas knew who saved the life of a fellow soldier at great cost to himself.
“James was deployed far overseas, far from the home, family and life he knew,” Thomas said. “He faced challenges that tested his courage and resilience and one day under a hostile sky his unit was ambushed. In the chaos, James shielded a fellow soldier, saving his life, but getting severely injured in the process.”
Although healthcare for veterans has improved in recent years, service-related conditions are documented in 58 percent of rural veterans. Healthcare for veterans has infamously been insufficient, however, recent changes have increased healthcare benefits. The PACT Act also includes benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits that the U.S. military created during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that over a 30-year period, approximately four million veterans were exposed to toxic burn pits. During the Vietnam War, 2.6 million veterans were exposed to Agent Orange, and 300,000 U.S. veterans and over 400,000 Vietnamese people died from Agent Orange between 1962-71. Several of these veterans are from Allendale and have been able to receive VA benefits since the PACT Act became law, according to Allendale County Veterans' Service Officer Elizabeth Young. Recent modernization of the VA healthcare application system, Young said, has helped streamline the healthcare process.
However, in addition to improvements in the VA system, veterans also need the help of those around them to carry the load, according to Preston.
“Every day since I got back, I’ve got my own personal struggles,” Preston said. “But, I still put on my pack and I walk every day, no matter what. In my life as a firefighter, in my life as a father, that’s the veteran's life. … I want to continue to give that encouragement to all of our community.”
Preston said that the walk was also for other first responders, like firefighters, police officers and EMTs, who work in professions with rates of suicide higher than the national average. Removing stigmas in the first responder community for discussing mental health problems and is what Preston believes to be the first step to addressing the crisis.
In addition to veterans and first responders themselves, the suicide epidemic also affects families and communities. In December 2022, Chandler’s wife, a nurse, died by suicide. According to the University of Michigan, female nurses are twice as likely to die by suicide than the general female population.
“I had a really hard time adjusting [and] dealing with the grief of losing someone so close to me,” said Chandler. “I called John about six months after my wife passed and he asked me to be a part of this walk. I'm here to kind of trade that emotional pain for some physical pain. Being able to shut everything down and process everything that happened, that's when my healing began.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Crisis Line can be reached by calling 988 and selecting 1, or by text at 838255. Suicide hotlines can be reached by calling 988.
