Like many veterans returning from overseas, Davielle Hawks used to feel like she was walking alone.

Her Air Force Reserve service brought her to Iraq and Qatar, but the mental health battle that followed nearly proved too much to overcome. Without help from a friend and counselors at the Togus VA Medical Center, she said, she might have been counted among the more than 6,000 veterans who commit suicide each year — 17 per day — according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Friday morning, Hawkes showed that no veteran need walk alone. Joined by a group of some 50 Midcoast residents, she capped off a Veterans Day ceremony in Brunswick with a walkathon to raise funds and awareness for veteran suicide prevention.

“We’re going to walk, and we’re going to let people know that we’re walking,” she told a crowd gathered in the Brunswick Mall before setting off on the 2.5-mile course to American Legion Post 202 in Topsham. “We’re going to walk every year on Veterans Day until there are zero individuals taking their life.”

Air Force veteran and Brunswick Town Councilor David Watson served as the master of ceremonies for Friday morning’s event, which was cosponsored by local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts. Just days after winning reelection to the council, Watson told the crowd of about 150 that honoring military service members transcends partisan divides.

“This is not a day of politics — of blue or red or yellow polka dots,” he said. “My party is the United States, and I bleed red, white and blue.”

After technical problems left speakers without a working microphone, Sen. Angus King, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, stepped from behind the podium to speak directly to the crowd. Like Watson, he thanked veterans for playing a key role in securing peace and freedom for the nation.

“We won’t remain ‘the land of the free,’” he said, referencing the national anthem, “unless we’re also ‘the home of the brave.’”

In addition to celebrating members of the armed services, Friday’s event also touched on problems facing the group, including exposure to toxic burn pits, high rates of homelessness and widespread mental health struggles.

Kirk Thurston, state commander of the American Legion, said the veteran community must destigmatize the act of seeking help if it wants to reduce suicide rates that sit 50% higher than the general population. He plugged the Veterans Crisis Line, which can be reached at 988 ext. 1.

“Most kindergartners know what 911 stands for,” he said. “It’s up to us to ensure that 988 becomes just as widely known.

Other representatives from local veterans’ groups shared poems, songs and prayers during the hourlong event before laying wreaths at the Veterans and Purple Heart Monuments in Brunswick’s 2-year-old Veterans Plaza.

Hawkes, who serves as president of American Legion Post 202 Auxiliary in Topsham, concluded the ceremony by sharing how her past mental health struggles have motivated her current mission to stamp out veteran suicide.

Since July 4, Hawkes has walked an average of 2.5 miles each day to support an American Legion Auxiliary Department of Maine initiative to raise funds for mental health services at Augusta’s Togus VA Medical Center. So far, she’s walked 350 miles and raised $7,500 toward her $10,000 goal, which she hopes to complete by April.

Mostly, she’s taken those walks by herself, using the time to reflect on those who lost their lives to suicide. But on Friday, dozens joined Hawks to show struggling veterans they aren’t alone.

“A lot of times, veterans suffer in silence, and they don’t tell people that they’re suffering,” Hawks said after arriving in Topsham with her fellow walkathon participants. “If it helps one person get help, then I’ve done what I need to do.”

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.

« Previous

Gingerbread house building class set in Boothbay Harbor

Next »

United Way celebrates fall campaign, gives out awards