Sunday I was talking to one of the few people from the old days I still consider a friend. We talk on the phone, or occasionally meet up for breakfast, swap news of people from the old neighborhood, we catch up. He asked if I had heard about the homeless guy killed in a camp off some walking trails in Waldo. He said the guy was Vaughn, from the old neighborhood where we all came up. I wanted to be sure so I sent an email to James Hart of Crime Scene Kansas City, he was kind enough to send me this.
Police released the identity of a homeless man killed in a fight near the Trolley Track Trail on July 10. The victim, Vaughn A. DeVoile, 57, a Vietnam War Army veteran, was buried Tuesday with military honors. Residents told police that DeVoile and the man he fought with July 9 had been living in woods by the trail, just south of 83rd and Main streets.Police arrested the other man, who had not been charged as of Thursday.DeVoile had lived with his mother until she died in 1999.
Vaughn was about 7 years older than we were. I met him in the mid 70's. He lived with his mother even way back then, in a brick bungalow near 83rd and Main st, where he would meet his end years later, homeless and living in the woods not far from his old home. Let that sink in for a second. He must have passed his former home daily, and may well have been able to see the warmth of someone else's lamps illuminating windows that he once looked out of.
My buddies and I spent a couple of summers stopping by Vaughn's house, he couldn't have been much older than 23 or 24, not much more than a few years out of Vietnam. He was a little odd at times, withdrawn I suppose, other times he seemed like the rest of us. It was a place for us to hang out for a few hours, drink cheap beer , smoke weak weed, and act like we were really about something. Back then Vaughn often wore army olive drab fatigue pants, and boots too if I recall correctly. He talked about his time across the pond occasionally, but a bunch of 15 year old hard heads don't pay much attention to war stories, when there is beer to drink and posing to do. So I don't really remember much of what he told us, I just remember he would go quiet afterwards, and drink some more.
We finally reached the age where we could drive, and we didn't have much time or use for Vaughn. I would see him from time to time as he walked in or out of a bar or walking down the street, but I never stopped to say hi. Some years passed, not sure how many, but sometime in the late 80's his name resurfaced. He made the news, something about blowing up his truck, that some girl was using. I believe it happened in a parking lot of a waldo bar, but I wont swear to the exact details. He just snapped, blew up the truck, or maybe tried to. Then he ran home grabbed a couple of guns, and ran off in to the woods near his house, maybe the same woods he would later die in. The cops ended up getting him, and I heard they sent him to the loney bin for awhile. When he got out, I heard he became reclusive, and sank deeper in to the booze and the madness, a Boo Radley of the Waldo area. My friend also told me that after Vaughn's mother died, he ended up losing the house, unable or unwilling to pay the property taxes. So he ended up homeless, so close to home.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I'll try to get to the point of it all. Here was a guy who was irrecovably scarred from a war he didn't ask to fight, in a place he had probably never heard of, at an age when his biggest worry should have been what college to attend or which girl to get engaged to. I don't know if he was drafted or enlisted, and it's a moot point anyway. What really matters is what happened in the years after his service. Where were the people who sent him off to fight their battle? Where was the military that swore him to fight to the death if need be, to remain loyal to the very end? You can argue that he might have refused help, that there was help to be had if he wanted it, but that's a pretty fucking weak argument. Our government and military have never had a problem imposing their will on entire nations, millions of people, yet they turn their back at the least resistance on the very people who served their purpose.
Ive never bought in to the whole, serve your country by dieing on foreign soil routine. Frankly, I think its one of the biggest lines of bullshit ever uttered. That doesn't mean I don't respect and appreciate the men and women who serve in the military, I do. I just don't buy the rhetoric they are sold. I have known more than a few people who have died on the streets. I was closer to most of them than I was to Vaughn, but his death disturbs me more than most of the others. I think it's because the people who fucked him up, never bothered to help straighten him back out when he served their purpose. I think it's because he died homeless, so close to his home. He was buried with military honors, which is a distant second to not being buried,a distant second to being alive.
***Thanks to James Hart Crime Scene Kansas City for the quick response and info******
I did read about this in the paper a while back. Your post, though not intended to be, is a nice tribute.
ReplyDeleteThis was a sad story, and beautifully written. Who could not feel some compassion for a man who died homeless in the woods by the only home he ever had. While reading it I thought about my brother who also served in Viet Nam and who has since always lived at the poverty level, never homeless, but only because of government and/or family help.
ReplyDeleteMy brother was an alcoholic till recently when his heart nearly gave out and he was forced to give the drink up (most of the time). He married a woman who has never worked despite nearly graduating from college. He had 3 kids, none graduated from high school and both boys have been in trouble with the law for drugs, minor theft, stuff like that. The family has lived on and off odd jobs, on and off welfare, food stamps, utility assistance and currently disability. Our family (parents and 5 sisters) have given them used cars, cash, appliances, clothes, etc. and all have been ruined, sold or disappeared somewhere at the local bar.
He joined the Navy during the Viet Nam era. He should never have been accepted due to poor eyesight, but back then if you could move, they gladly took you in. He was a cook on a ship. Other than the ship taking on bodies of dead soldiers, he never was exposed to combat in Viet Nam, yet years later when he had the drink on, you would have thought he was in the jungle on the front lines.
In Vaughn's case, you said the government fucked him up and never bothered to straighten him back out. But, was that really the case? Or, was it, as was the case with my brother, more that he fucked his own life up with booze and drugs? And, is it the responsibility of government to take care of military persons from enlistment to the grave no matter their lifestyle choices?
I'm not some cold hearted bitch who doesn't care about people and I love my brother, but we in our family came to realize that even we could not "gift" enough, we could not make his wife work, we could not keep his kids in school or out of jail. The government (you and I taxpayer) have kept the family from being homeless. Vaughn apparently wasn't as fortunate. But, was it really the responsibility of the government to do so?
My comment on Mays wasn't a knock on your blog. I apologise if it seemed that way. My bad.
ReplyDeleteI read almost 100 blogs via google reader. The ones I always read and comment on are set to full feed so the entire post shows up in Google reader and not just the first paragraph or 250 characters (or what ever it is).
Yours is set to mini feed. So I only see a tiny bit.
So if you could switch your fee to full that would be AWESOME!
MM, great post. I remember reading about this when it happened, and I always wonder about the people who end up homeless. How did they get there? What path did their lives take to lead them to that state? There is always a back story, and it is nice to see that at least Vaughn's will be known, restoring to him some of the dignity he had lost.
ReplyDeleteD. i wasnt offended, just yanking your chain is all. I think the reason I didnt set to full feed was because I couldnt track all of the visits to my page that way. But I have heard your complaint echoed, and when the D talks, sometimes people listen, so full feed ahead.
ReplyDeleteTravel, lets assume that Vaughn was drafted. He goes to a foriegn land, sees and does things that leave deep emotional and psychological scars. He falls into the drug and alchol pattern when he returns. Everyone cant deal with traumatic events. He didnt ask to go, he was told he was serving his country, he did as he was told. He comes back fucked up. So yeah, I have to think the government who put him in the situation should be responsible for doing everything possible to repair the damage.
I agree that there is a big difference between forced/drafted and volunteered. In the latter case a person normally has a patriotic or monetary motivation and is responsible for consequences. Tons of people didn't have problems drawing a steady check from the national guard until the action started. If the person was drafted it's a whole different story. I was never in combat but the draft totally changed the whole course of my life. For real.
ReplyDeleteMidtown/Meesha: I agree.
ReplyDeletei knew vaughn best for the last eleven yrs he was my best friend and i will miss him forever if u want to know what he was all about write me at starchild1701@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteThank you for being my brothers friend. And for giving him 11 years. We love him and will miss him.
ReplyDeleteTerry Spivey
vaugn was my neighbor for a decade, he was always cool. the police let his killer go...i will never forgive them for that. he deserved better.
ReplyDelete