Story #1: We had finished with the Legion members telling our brief stories to the gathered veterans and spouses. We began to go around the room listening to veterans describe their military memories and spouses talking about how they met their spouses and some of the trials of waiting.
We eventually came to a man named Ross, in a wheelchair with his companion dog next to him. He wore a Purple Heart hat. He began to speak slowly about his time in Vietnam and was describing his time in the brown water Navy. He was an Army soldier assigned to a river patrol boat. He began to describe what it was like to feel as though you were always being aimed at from the shore. He then talked about his first Purple Heart, earned from being wounded by a Russian bullet.
It was evident he was reliving the time because he began to choke up. Commander Dale Hill was at the soldier's side during the story and when he began to break down, Dale reached out and put a strong hand on his shoulder. The soldier began to sob more strongly and told of his second Purple Heart. He was having a difficult time regaining his composure. Chaplain Donna Putoff went to him and held him by the shoulders too.
The soldier looked up at Dale and Donna and whispered that he had never told that story to anyone, not even his family. Sixty years later he told the story to a roomful of Legionnaires, spouses and fellow veterans and it may be the first time he felt safe telling his story and starting to cleanse his soul of some painful memories. We all joined in a gentle round of applause and words of comfort for our colleague. He said his dog's name was Tango Two-Five. That was his call sign in Vietnam. After we finished going around the room, two of our Legion members went up to Ross and told him we were proud of his courage in telling the story and sharing it with us. We welcomed him home.

https://www.legiontown.org/other/14839/veteran-visit-program