Success Stories

Veteran's Aviation Outreach

"Serving Veteran's Residing in Rural and Remote Alaska"

2005

In the summer of 2005, six claims were filed for veterans of Naknek, a small fishing village in western Alaska. That was our initial visit as we began slowly to investigate the needs of the isolated veterans.

2006

Mr. Johnson who is a Vietnam veteran, and one of the persons we filed a claim for in 2005. He is suffering from a disease brought on by the effects of Agent Orange. He received his first disability check of $240 per month, and an additional $4,000 retroactively. He was very grateful for our efforts. His first words were. "Thank God for you guys, I can now buy fuel oil". He had been heating his cabin with wooden pallets that were discarded from the one and only general store.

Mr. Lamson was another veteran we discovered this past May. He was wheelchair bound and suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Since he couldn't walk by himself, his wife would help him down the steps from his home to the garage, where he would spend the day working on wood work, and watching television until his wife came home from work to help him back into the house. Scattered around the garage were containers so he could relieve himself, and more often than not he didn't make it. (click image for slide show)

We saw that something as simple as a wheelchair ramp could change his life, and make a positive change. We assured Mr. Lamson we would be back to Naknek to build his ramp.

We were completely out of money, and on our return to Wasilla, we held garage sales, cookie bakes, you name it and we did it in an effort to raise funds to build the ramp.

Peter Vars, a local carpenter donated his time during the busiest time of the year to build the ramp, and complete the mission. The community of Naknek generously donated the building materials.

We returned to Naknek with barely enough money for fuel for two aircraft needed to transport both people and materials. We ran into foul weather while going through Lake Clark Pass, and were forced to fly low. We stayed at the military base at King Salmon for the duration of our stay since we were all retired military.

After finally arriving we had a functioning ramp in two days. To see that veterans eyes when he rolled that wheelchair up the ramp for the first time, we all had tears in our eyes.-Mission Accomplished.

Ed Jacobson was located in the bush at Naknek. We brought him in to the VA ln Anchorage for emergency medical treatment,( he slipped on the ice and reinjured and old injury, a fused disk in his back). While there it was discovered he had Diabetes he needed to be treated for. He also had a case of PTSD and is now receiving counseling at the Wasilla Vet Center for that condition and outpatient care at the Anchorage VA.

2007

It had been brought to our attention that area veterans in and around the villages near Lake Illiama had been dying, and no US flags were available to them for funerals and other vetrerans functions so we took it upon ourselves to supply these folks with a number of flags for these occassions. On August 25th we flew out to the village and met with the veterans to present them with flags to prevent this from happening again in the future.

2008

WASILLA -- A national veteran's group report released last month highlighted health-care struggles facing Alaska Army National Guard members returning from deployments to rural villages. But news of under-served Bush veterans came as no surprise to Maurice "Mo" Bailey, a Wasilla flight instructor who served as a helicopter flight engineer with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War


	Veteran's Aviation Outreach "Serving Veteran's Residing in Rural and Remote Alaska" Home \| Mission Statement \| About Us \| Services \| Success Stories \| Links \| Recent News Stories \| Contact Us \| Volunteers 2005 In the summer of 2005, six claims were filed for veterans of Naknek, a small fishing village in western Alaska. That was our initial visit as we began slowly to investigate the needs of the isolated veterans. 2006 Mr. Johnson who is a Vietnam veteran, and one of the persons we filed a claim for in 2005. He is suffering from a disease brought on by the effects of Agent Orange. He received his first disability check of $240 per month, and an additional $4,000 retroactively. He was very grateful for our efforts. His first words were. "Thank God for you guys, I can now buy fuel oil". He had been heating his cabin with wooden pallets that were discarded from the one and only general store. Mr. Lamson was another veteran we discovered this past May. He was wheelchair bound and suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. Since he couldn't walk by himself, his wife would help him down the steps from his home to the garage, where he would spend the day working on wood work, and watching television until his wife came home from work to help him back into the house. Scattered around the garage were containers so he could relieve himself, and more often than not he didn't make it. (click image for slide show) We saw that something as simple as a wheelchair ramp could change his life, and make a positive change. We assured Mr. Lamson we would be back to Naknek to build his ramp. We were completely out of money, and on our return to Wasilla, we held garage sales, cookie bakes, you name it and we did it in an effort to raise funds to build the ramp. Peter Vars, a local carpenter donated his time during the busiest time of the year to build the ramp, and complete the mission. The community of Naknek generously donated the building materials. We returned to Naknek with barely enough money for fuel for two aircraft needed to transport both people and materials. We ran into foul weather while going through Lake Clark Pass, and were forced to fly low. We stayed at the military base at King Salmon for the duration of our stay since we were all retired military. After finally arriving we had a functioning ramp in two days. To see that veterans eyes when he rolled that wheelchair up the ramp for the first time, we all had tears in our eyes.-Mission Accomplished. Ed Jacobson was located in the bush at Naknek. We brought him in to the VA ln Anchorage for emergency medical treatment,( he slipped on the ice and reinjured and old injury, a fused disk in his back). While there it was discovered he had Diabetes he needed to be treated for. He also had a case of PTSD and is now receiving counseling at the Wasilla Vet Center for that condition and outpatient care at the Anchorage VA. 2007 It had been brought to our attention that area veterans in and around the villages near Lake Illiama had been dying, and no US flags were available to them for funerals and other vetrerans functions so we took it upon ourselves to supply these folks with a number of flags for these occassions. On August 25th we flew out to the village and met with the veterans to present them with flags to prevent this from happening again in the future. 2008 WASILLA -- A national veteran's group report released last month highlighted health-care struggles facing Alaska Army National Guard members returning from deployments to rural villages. But news of under-served Bush veterans came as no surprise to Maurice "Mo" Bailey, a Wasilla flight instructor who served as a helicopter flight engineer with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War