Veterans on mission:

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Veterans on mission: For some, ‘there’s nothing to look forward to’

Saturday, November 15, 2008 5:43 AM EST

By Abbe Smith, Register Staff

WEST HAVEN — Berton Francoeur is an amputee veteran on a mission.

The 86-year-old wheelchair-bound volunteer and resident of the Veteran Affairs medical center is tired of watching groups of veterans heading out to hockey games, summer picnics and memorial services while he and his amputee veteran friends stay behind, unable to travel as a group because there is no single vehicle that can transport more than two or three wheelchairs at a time.

“It’s tough. We did a lot together. We tried to protect each other,” he says sadly, his voice trailing off. Then more resolute: “There is a great need to get our boys out for recreation.”

And that’s exactly what Francoeur is trying to do — get a little freedom for his fellow amputees.

A group of 11 men sits around a table on the third floor of the VA medical center having lunch and talking about the challenges of being an amputee. The Veterans’ Amputee Support Group, which meets every Wednesday, is embarking on a quest to raise money to purchase a bus equipped to safely transport 10 wheelchairs at a time. The estimated cost is $80,000. And thanks to help from Gary Thomas, the volunteer services representative at the VA hospital for the Knights of Columbus, and others, the amputees are well on their way, with almost $30,000 in donations from individuals and the Knights.

They still have a long way to go. But if anyone has the determination to get a difficult job done, it’s veterans who have learned to adjust to life as amputees.

Francoeur got the idea for the bus after visiting the hospital around the time of his operation. It was then that he met two patients who had been in the hospital for two years without leaving the building.

Francoeur suggested the two men and a group of amputees plan a dinner trip to Jimmies of Savin Rock in West Haven. But because there was no single van or bus available to transport all of them, each amputee had to pay for his own transportation.

It’s an all-too-common scenario, Francoeur says. And on some occasions, it results in the cancellation of a trip all together. So Francoeur enlisted the help of Thomas and the Knights of Columbus.

There’s a plethora of events amputees could take advantage of if the proper transportation were available.

“In the summer, there are picnics and barbecues. In the winter months, you get dinners for the holidays. Just a certain group can go,” Francoeur says. Not the amputees.

Sometimes church groups or charities donate tickets for the veterans to see the Bridgeport Sound Tigers ice hockey team or some other sports event.

“They all get to go have a good time,” Thomas says, “except the amputees.”

Francoeur is working hard to get the message out about the need for the wheelchair-equipped bus, but it’s an emotional task for him. He gave a talk at the state convention of the Knights of Columbus, but got choked up telling his story.

“These amputees can’t even go to a wake or funeral because they can’t get there and back. They can’t pay their final respects when a friend dies,” Thomas said, as Francoeur’s eyes welled up again.

Once the money is raised and the bus purchased, it will be donated to the VA medical center for use by amputee veterans and anyone in the hospital who is disabled and would benefit from it.

“The VA is very excited about this venture. We were very excited to have the Knights of Columbus and Disabled American Veterans” getting on board as well, said Sharon Croteau, voluntary service chief at the medical center.

Individual amputees who are outpatients at the VA medical center often can find transportation to get to appointments, but the main concern is transporting groups so they can attend an event together.

Al DuPaul is a 78-year-old Korean War veteran who had part of his right leg amputated. When he gets calls from other amputee veterans, the conversations are always the same: “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Me too.”

“There’s nothing to look forward to,” he said sadly.

He explained that many of the veterans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder and depression, a condition that being an amputee can exacerbate.

“The more time you spend in a room, it’s hard,” he said.

DuPaul used to go to the Hamden-Notre Dame high school football game every year until 2005, when part of his right leg was amputated. Since then, he’s missed every game.

But a new bus could mean a trip to the game for a whole group of amputees.

Ernest Parrish, a Vietnam veteran and amputee, says he knows what it’s like to be laid up in bed.

“If you are stuck up in here in the hospital, you got nowhere to go,” he says.

Parrish recalls a couple of times when the amputee group wanted to go to summer concerts on the city Green, but they couldn’t arrange the transportation.

Everyone in the group seems to have a story about missing out on a trip.

For Jules Saymon, it’s a fishing outing that never happened. For Francoeur, it’s a funeral he missed.

“It’s almost like you’re a prisoner,” Saymon says.

Randy Jackson, an amputee and veteran from the Vietnam era, says a new bus for the amputee veterans would boost morale among the group.

“You could go out instead of looking at these walls 24-7,” he says.

The injury that eventually cost Francoeur his right leg happened during World War II, when he was serving in north Africa, putting up telegraph towers.

“An Italian fighter plane came by and I could hear the bullets flying by,” he says.

So Francoeur did the only thing he could think of to save his life, and he jumped from the 60-foot pole he was working on and fell to the ground, escaping the bullets, but badly injuring his leg.

Two-and-a-half years ago, Francoeur had his right leg amputated and now he is undergoing to tests to see if he will lose his left leg as well. That’s why his mission is more important, and more personal, than ever.

“I want to go out,” he said.

The amputee veterans will be selling buttons for $2 at the VA medical center and at various places throughout town. Anyone wishing to donate can send checks made out to the Columbian Charities of Connecticut Inc. and write “Vans for Vets” in the memo line.

Donations may be sent to the Knights of Columbus, 1 Columbus Plaza, New Haven 06510. For more information, call Croteau at the VA at 937-3814.

Abbe Smith can be reached at asmith@nhregister.com or 789-5615.