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CONNECTICUT MAN DEVOTES 30 YEARS SERVICE TO

VETERANS -- Wounded soldiers haven't left his

mind since he returned from one year and

one day of combat in Vietnam.

 

 

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In Walter Reed's Shadow, city man devotes 30 years service to wounded vets

By AMANDA PINTO

STAMFORD — The recent reports of neglect at Washington, D.C.'s Walter Reed National Army Medical center, for some, thrust the plight of injured veteran's into the public consciousness.

For Stamford's Bob Ritz, wounded soldiers haven't left his mind since he returned from one year and one day of combat in Vietnam.

Ritz, 65, has visited the VA Connecticut Healthcare System West Haven campus about three times each month for more than 30 years.

"This is basically what I want to do, or have been doing with my life, is give back to the wonderful veterans," said Ritz, a retired teamster who now works in the parts department for the City of Stamford.

Although the recent war has lead to a spike in awareness, veterans have long required services.

"There's really a big need and it's ongoing, it's not only this war," Ritz said, adding that many hospital beds are filled by soldiers from past wars like Vietnam and World War II.

A member of the Benevolent & Protective Order of the Elks of the USA, Ritz's dedication to the veterans earned him a position as that organization's district representative for West Haven.

"There's a saying in the Elks, as long as there's a veteran in the hospital, the Elks will be there, and that's a real truism," he said.

Ritz has been there for patients in West Haven's sixth floor facility for blind veterans, gathering about five volunteers to hold bingo sessions for about twenty to thirty five people on Friday nights, said Michael Rose, chief of recreation and creative operations therapy.

The typically forty minute drive from his Stamford home to the West Haven facility often takes about two hours in his rush hour commute, Ritz said.

Braving the traffic snarls is a small sacrifice, he said.

"I think 'oh what a patriot I am' and you walk up to the sixth floor and you see who all the real heroes are," he said.

Visiting the blind veterans, many of them young people, is inspirational, he said.

"I've never heard a man or woman say 'poor me' never once," Ritz said. "They have more in them than I ever will have."

Ritz provides supplies like books, clothes, toothbrushes and shaving cream to the patients, he said.

Also a member of American Legion Post 3, Ritz, with the help of Service and Financial Officer George Ducanic, supplies injured veterans with phone cards, gifts and games.

"He's a great advocate for the VA hospital and its patients," said Barbara Mainor, a VA voluntary service specialist. "He tells me, 'If you need anything, you tell me, and I'll see what I can do.'"

When a "tight budget" nearly prevented the hospital from having a Christmas party for inpatients last year, Ritz and the Elks donated $500 in Stop & Shop gift cards, which funded both the Christmas and New Years festivities for the entire hospital.

"He was like a Godsend ... last year would have been a very dim Christmas for these inpatients if it wasn't for Bob," Mainor said.

For Ritz, caring for wounded veterans is a citizen's duty. He visited Walter Reed four years ago, never seeing the building where substandard conditions were reported, and today is angered by the evidence of neglect.

"Somebody dropped the ball on those people and I really myself get extremely angry when people who fought for this country get treated that way," he said.

Even patients in "sparkling" facilities like West Haven are in need of extra attention from volunteers, he said. His outreach is as much about providing comfort and camaraderie as it is about providing gifts and necessities.

"The thing is to say, hey Charlie how you feeling?" he said. "Where'd you get hit, you know I was in the service too, and kind of joke with them and make the hour just as light as possible."

Supporting veterans is important, Ritz said, and is something Americans have embraced in conflicts after Vietnam.

When he returned from that war, Ritz said he changed into street clothes on a plane, told by his superior that "no one wants to see that uniform."

Americans now better understand how to treat veterans — as evidenced by his three Democrat daughters, Ritz said.

"They're love of the veterans — they hate the war, they dislike the president — but they support the veterans," he said. "The people back then hated the war, but they hated us."

He said medical advances have also made life easier for wounded veterans.

"Half of these kids, if we were back during World War II, they would've died," he said.

Through all the changes of the past three decades, Ritz has been a constant for patients at the VA.

"He's probably like family to some of the veterans down there," Ducanic said.

For Ritz, his efforts are not an obligation — they're a joy. He said he benefits from his relationship with wounded soldiers as much or more than they benefit from volunteer outreach.

"After bingo they get up and sing 'God Bless America' and it still gets me after thirty years," he said. "We're there to cheer them up and they're cheering us up."

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Larry Scott  --