'They were on watch for us': Send a Valentine to a hospitalized vet

Jim Bissett, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
·3 min read

Jan. 23—Any man or woman who ever wore the uniform of their country will happily deliver the news.

There's nothing like Mail Call, they'll say.

Especially for those who served before social media.

Mail Call boosted morale during basic training, as it was the rarest of instances when the drill sergeant bellowing your name was actually a good thing.

Soldiers on overseas deployments would happily line up in formation for it—and never mind the hot sun or cold rain.

It wasn't so much the content of the letter or the contents of the package. The enclosed weave of family was the thing.

The geography and archeology of heart, and of place.

Your people back home love you and are thinking about you. Every day.

And they want to check in.

Valentine vets For Valentine's Day, the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg wants to recreate the joys of Mail Call for its hospitalized patients.

The hospital is celebrating National Salute to Veteran Patient Week Feb. 13-19. Normally visitors—groups of schoolchildren, business leaders and the like—would flood the place.

Normally, there would sit-downs in the dayroom for hellos and stories, and a chance to thank them for their service in person.

The pandemic, though, took care of that, said Wesley Walls, the hospital's public affairs officer.

With visitations no part of the week's MOS—that's Military Occupation Specialty, for you civilians—the hospital is falling back for the next best thing.

Valentine's Day cards.

"That's what we want you to do, " Walls said. "Drop a card in the mail. We'll hand them out on Valentine's Day as part of the week."

"A lot of our veterans in the hospital here are older, " Walls said. "There's not a lot of family left."

Some are from outside of West Virginia, he added. COVID doesn't make travel easy.

A lot of them were drafted during times of unpopular conflicts and skirmishes, he said. Some joined the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post—while others did not.

"We did this over Christmas and the response was phenomenal, " Walls said.

"A ton of cards came in. We're hoping for the same response on Valentine's Day. We want our patients to know they're respected and appreciated. They were on watch for their country. They were on watch for us."

Fall in Of the 50 or so vets currently hospitalized there, most of are of the pre-social media vintage, the public affairs officer said.

They grew up learning cursive writing during a time when civility, more often than not, came delivered in an envelope with a stamp, or no stamp, if we were at war.

Putting sentiments on paper, and into the mailbox, was the original basic training for good manners, Walls said.

"This is the generation that still sends thank-you cards, " he said. "That means everything."

You may address your cards to: Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, Attention: Voluntary Service (00-P), One Medical Center Drive, Clarksburg, WV 26301.

And because every good mission has a fallback, Walls said, cards and messages may also be emailed to MAIL4VETS @VA.GOV.

To find out more about the cards program and other ways you can help patients, including volunteer opportunities at the hospital, call 304-623-3461, ext. 3669.

TWEET @DomimionPostWV