SOCASTEE, SC (WBTW) – A Carolina Forest Vietnam veteran is headed back to New York to be with friends and family following an apparent eviction from his apartment.
“Well I’m happy to be heading home. Getting there, I could’ve done without,” Tom said.
News13 first told you about Tom earlier this week after he says his belongings were left sitting outside in the parking lot of his apartment complex after being evicted; he says many of his things were stolen or ruined from the rain.
Volunteers say Tom suffered from a heart attack around the same time he received the eviction notice.
Fellow veterans, like Julius Strickland, director of Operation Veteran Reintegration, helped Tom pack up what was left and get him back on his feet.
“We were able to find him, put him in housing, get him set up to go back home to his family, which is exactly what needed to happen all along, so in the end the story has kind of a fairytale ending, but I think the process leading up to it could’ve been made a lot simpler and probably could’ve been avoided all together by taking notice of human kind,” Strickland said.
On Saturday, Tom was headed back home to New York, but Strickland said that would not have been possible without everyone’s help.
“Without organizations like the vet center who literally went out, boots on the ground to find this guy, the War Vets MC who helped pay for this guy for an apartment, American Military Family Got Your Six who is literally driving him back home in a vehicle donated by a local metal business, you can’t do without that, and it’s really important that we say thank you to everyone, everyone who put it out on the radio, everyone that told their friends, everyone that shared the post. You are the reason this guy gets to go home,” Strickland said.
Despite Tom’s ‘happily ever after,’ there is still one missing piece to the puzzle- his Purple Heart.
Strickland believes it may have been stolen while Tom’s belongings were sitting outside. He is asking whoever has it to return it.
“If you were there with his things and you found this medal, it’s very simple, it’s a Purple Heart. It’s worthless to you, it means everything to him. If you could, bring it by the Veterans Café, leave it on the windowsill, you don’t have to come inside. It’s just getting that back to him is something that even if we get him a new medal, it doesn’t replace the memory of it being given to him.”
Despite everything Tom has been through, he remains in good spirits.
“These people have stepped up and made a bad situation as good as possible, and I’m very appreciative,” Tom said. “I’m still a little, I guess maybe not traumatized but, tomorrow is going to be better.”
Sterling Management, the company that owns Canterbury Apartments, issued the following statement to News13: “Due to the nature and sensitivity of the matter, it is taking us time to ensure we’re delivering facts in a thoughtful manner. It is the customary practice of Sterling Management to respect the privacy of its tenants and not to comment on specific situations involving its tenants.”
