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HOMELESS VETERAN COULDN'T SHAKE CLOUD OF GLOOM --

The alcoholic, homeless Army veteran was found dead

April 26 in a U-Haul trailer in Charleston.

 

 

Story here... http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/
departmental/news/Stories.aspx?sec
ion=localnews&tableId=142329&pubDate=5/5/2007

Story below:

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Homeless vet couldn't shake cloud of gloom

By PRENTISS FINDLAY
The Post and Courier

Albert Burgess repeatedly tried to help his younger brother.

He prayed over him, cried in his face and took him to the grave of their grandmother who raised them to ask for guidance. All he knew for sure was that his brother was in misery.

'I said, ?Brother, you got to let it go. It's going to kill you,'?' Burgess said. 'I don't know what it was, but he just couldn't let it go.'

Clarence Burgess' struggle ended last week. The alcoholic, homeless Army veteran was found dead April 26 in a U-Haul trailer in Charleston. An autopsy showed he died of natural causes.

Life had taken its toll on Clarence Burgess. He no longer was the person his brother

knew long ago, the one who saved him from drowning when they were kids growing up in Lake City. 'He was a fun-loving person,' Albert Burgess said. 'Everybody loved Clarence.'

Burgess said his brother changed after a stint in the military. He came home a different, moody man after he was stationed

in Korea's demilitarized zone and complained about the Army's putting him in jail for fighting.

'That was like a downfall for him right there,' Burgess said. 'It seemed like he was always in misery. He just wasn't able to get over it. He just drank and drank and drank.'

It's unclear how he spent his final days. Albert Burgess, 58, last saw his 55-year-old brother when he put him on a train in Lake City for a trip to Charleston. His brother had an April 7 appointment at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and a scheduled meeting with a lawyer to discuss his benefits. He made his appointment at the VA but never showed up at the lawyer's office, Burgess said.

VA Medical Center spokeswoman Tonya Lobbestael said the center treats 90 homeless veterans daily. She said she couldn't discuss Burgess' case because of privacy regulations.

Albert Burgess said he thought that maybe his brother had lost his return ticket to Lake City. He called the police. His brother was gone again. 'All he had to do was call collect,' he said.

Burgess tried to block the situation out of his mind. While reading the Bible last Saturday, he said he felt a spiritual presence.

The next day, the Charleston County coroner called with news that a dead man found in a U-Haul trailer on Columbus Street was his brother. The coroner said his brother died of natural causes. He said that's when he realized that his brother had come to say goodbye the day before. 'I knew he was all right,' he said. 'It was a happy spirit. I believe he is at peace now.'

Burgess described his brother as a quiet man who kept things bottled up. 'He couldn't talk to nobody.'

He said he thinks his brother climbed into the trailer to sleep. He said his brother had heart trouble and worked as a carpenter until he was hobbled by a hip injury. 'He couldn't hardly walk,' he said.

Clarence Burgess was known to the staff at Charleston Interfaith Crisis Ministries, where he stayed for three weeks in August 2003. 'We all feel bad. Is there more we could have done to help this individual?' said shelter Clinical Director Jeff Yungman.

He said on any given night there are between 3,000 and 4,000 homeless people in Charleston County. 'Most of them are locals,' he said. Mental illness and substance abuse play a large role in homelessness, Yungman said.

Clarence Burgess seemed to drift through Charleston without making many friends or acquaintances. A group of homeless men at Crisis Ministries who were shown his picture said they couldn't remember him. One man who studied the picture a long time said he looked familiar but couldn't quite place him.

The Veterans Administration estimates that there are 200,000 homeless veterans in the United States, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. A shortage of affordable housing, lack of a livable wage and lingering effects of post traumatic stress disorder because of lack of health care are cited as major reasons for the problem.

Yungman said that since Clarence Burgess stayed at the center in 2003, care for homeless veterans has improved. A homeless vet program began 18 months ago. 'We work much more closely with the VA and we provide services for vets,' he said.

Yungman said Burgess told the staff at Crisis Ministries that he planned to go to Vet Villas, a private, nonprofit agency in North Charleston. Vet Villas Executive Director Melissa Kelly said Burgess stayed there three times, most recently late last year. Vet Villas, which offers 20 beds a night, helps about 20 homeless veterans a month, she said.

'He was very pleasant while he was with us, never caused any problems. Unfortunately, he had a disease and it got the best of him, the alcoholism.'

Clarence Burgess had some brushes with the law. His criminal record showed convictions for public drunkenness, driving under the influence, drinking liquor in public, shoplifting and petty larceny.

Crisis Ministries Executive Director Stacey Denaux said the shelter serves between 175 and 200 veterans in a year. In 2006, 197 of the shelter's 1,400 clients were veterans.

'We have a case manager who works specifically with veterans. It's a growing problem,' Denaux said. 'We're reorganizing a little bit to be able to take more homeless female veterans.'

For the fiscal year that ends in June, the shelter will serve about 1,900 homeless people, up from 1,400 the year before, she said. The shelter has 165 beds. 'We're not creating jobs that people can live on,' she said, adding that at least half the shelter's clients are working every day.

Albert Burgess couldn't save the brother who rescued him all those years ago from a drainage canal.

He is left to wonder how his brother spent his last days on the streets of Charleston, but he's sure that Clarence finally is at peace.

The burial will be today at Poston Cemetery in Cades. His headstone will bear a hammer and an Army insignia.



Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com

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Larry Scott  --