“Travis, get with Dennis Donahue, he escorted the Vietnam Wall that Heals to Weymouth.” Sometimes it goes just like that with my producer Keith Hayes aka Sinista1;) I knew the mobile Vietnam Veterans Wall was coming the Union Point, or what is locally known as South Weymouth Naval Air Station. I had already set Episode 103, so if I followed the schedule this podcast would have come out long after The Wall that Heals left Weymouth, MA. This was a problem because it could 10 or more years before this Wall came back. So Episode 103 and 104 dropped on the same day. The Wall that Heals is a mobile scaled down version of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. and Dennis was part of a motorcycle escort from Canton, MA to Union Point in South Weymouth, MA.
Dennis served over two decades in the U.S. Army. He was deployed to Iraq and when he got out of the Army he had to adjust to civilian life. He missed the brotherhood and camaraderie of being in the Army and felt alone.
Around that time, Dennis got with the VA and 22Kill Boston to help him deal with his PTSD. He got help and started feeling better, and he was around people who cared about him. One of the ways Dennis gives back now is riding with the Patriot Guard Riders. The Patriot Guard Riders is an organization that does escorts, honor guard and funeral ceremonies for Veterans. We talked about how families and people in the community appreciate seeing the Patriot Guard Riders.
We both want everyone to go to The Wall That Heals while it is here. It is open 24 hours a day right now until Sunday, July 29th. I can’t wait to ride with Dennis and it is amazing how something like a motorcycle can help someone help someone else. Thank you for your service.
The Wall That Heals
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Replica & Mobile Education Center
Visits Union Point (South Weymouth Naval Air Stations) – Weymouth, MA
I started listening to WAAF and Mistress Carrie when I moved to Boston in 1999. I don’t know a lot of female radio personalities and I always liked her unapologetic, high energy style on the radio. I follow her on facebook and this whole episode started with the picture on the left that came from her Facebook Page. This is a picture of Senator Elizabeth Warren and Mistress Carrie. She captioned that she got to meet Senator Warren and talked about Veterans with her. I then began to read comments and ohhh boy…..
Wow, the amount of hurt feelings was amazing. People threw names, f-Bombs and all kinds of other statements that Mistress Carrie is a TRAITOR.
Mistress Carrie is more than capable of taking care of herself. However, I wanted to have her on to talk about what she is doing for Veterans and how she got started, and the situation with her and Senator Warren.
We started talking about music and her background in radio and then moved into how she got into Veterans Advocacy. As the conversation progressed, I just let her talk because some of her experiences here and in overseas came across as intense personal times in her life. Going overseas and being embedded in these units had an effect on her that made her even more committed to helping our Military and Veterans.
She is always looking for all kinds of ways to advocate for Veterans. Now she serves on the Board of Directors for 22Kill Boston, and you can find her at several Veterans events in the Greater Boston area.
People ask me all the time if they can make a difference, and Mistress Carrie shows all us that we can. No matter if we have or have not served, or what we do in our daily lives, we can effect change wherever we are.
We closed it out talking about living and working in Boston. She summed it up perfectly when it came to Boston sports, “You hate us because you ain’t us!”
I look forward to talking with you again. PDAWG sends
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