"That VA psychiatrist was right: I can get in the street and beg, or I can take my gun and do as the VA told me and blow my disordered brains out. I will not get in the streets and beg and thus desecrate beyond redemption the service of every man who ever served our great nation. And I am thinking particularly of the brave men in the 82dn Airborne Division, whom I soldiered with, "I" Company, 3rd battalion, 504 parachute infantry regiment, most of whom are dead, as I wish I were." -- Letter of WWII veteran and former P.O.W. Eddie Livingston, who had survived five European campaigns, to Alabama Senator John Sparkman, April 22, 1962.
Editor's note: This display of Eddie's medals was photographed by his niece, Pam Baker, who found the medals under a pile of trash in Eddie's squalid living conditions. He and his wife Helen had lived for 30 years without electricity or running water, though he had served his country with valor and endured great personal hardship because of his service. The grand total of Eddie's war medals and honors is staggering: He was awarded seven Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, a Distinguished Service Cross, and two Presidential Unit citations.
