Group gives disabled vets a way to gain confidence

[unhappycamper]

HELPING A VETERAN: Neal Williams, 58, of Greenville is helped into a canoe by Mike Henry, far left, and Dave McCallum, center, at Camp Caribou in Winslow on Saturday during a Veterans No Boundaries gathering. Williams, who was wounded in Vietnam, took part in a canoe trip around Pattee Pond.


Group gives disabled vets a way to gain confidence
By DOUG HARLOW
Staff Writer
Kennebunk Journal


WINSLOW -- He was blown off an armored personnel carrier while on patrol with the U.S. Army near Ben Cat, in the Iron Triangle, Vietnam, in 1968.

His back was broken in seven places, his neck in two.

These days, Neal Williams, 58, of Greenville, who remained on active military duty until 1981, gets around in a wheelchair with the help of a service dog.

But on Saturday, he got into a Old Town canoe for a little paddling around Pattee Pond.

"I've done bicycle riding, rifle shooting and we're going to be doing canoeing and kayaking," Williams said from the shore of Camp Caribou before shoving off into the steel gray water under steel gray skies.

"This is great, it's the first time I've worked with the Veterans No Boundaries program, they've got their act together. I was a national officer for a veterans' service organization and went down to Walter Reed quite a bit over the last couple of years, and the kids down there are really amazed that there really is life after injury."

Veterans No Boundaries is a program developed three years ago by Maine Handicapped Skiing, Maine's largest adaptive recreation program for adults and children with physical disabilities.


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[babylonsister]

1. Nice, uhc. Thanks for this story. nt