Joseph Skiff sits in a chair, covered with a sheet, with Helen, his wife of over 50 years, waiting on him. He ponders his existence, since Helen has serious heart problems and moves about with great effort. Joe can not help her since his ability to walk has gone with his advancing years.

Joe�s children, Joe Junior and Deloris, have grown and moved out.

Junior�s wife died years ago of cancer, leaving him with two boys, six and ten years. Junior drew into a shell and seldom gets out to see anyone. Those boys are grown now and works their own jobs. The two grandsons does what they can for Joe and Helen, but their jobs takes most of their time, and their incomes are not that great.

Deloris married and lives in a distant city where she takes care of her husband who suffered an industrial accident some years ago and is paralyzed from the waist down. She has no children, and lives on her husband�s disability income. She can do little to help her parents.

Joe wonders how he ended up in this sorry state of affairs. Well, let�s look back in time at Joe�s life and see if we can find a clue.

Joe joined the Navy at seventeen years old in February, 1942. He was assigned to Armed Guard duty on merchant ships supplying goods to the forces in the Atlantic area, mostly England.

In March, 1943, Joe�s ship was sunk by a German U-boat. Joe, and a few others. were pulled from the water by a destroyer.

Joe was reassigned to duty in the Pacific on board a destroyer where he served until July, 1946. The destroyer was hit several times, killing many of Joe�s trusted shipmates. Somehow Joe was not hurt, but the scars of watching his shipmates die is still visible today in the eyes of that old man, sitting, waiting for The Great Creator to call him away from this miserable existence.

Joe was sent to San Francisco and served on shore station. Here he met his beautiful sweetheart, Helen, who was at a funeral for a Veteran uncle, while Joe was on the Honor Guard. He actively courted Helen, and in 1952, finally married her.

In 1949, Joe was assigned to a small ship serving as mail and passenger tender in the mid Pacific Protectorate islands. Life was good on this small ship, for I was there also. That�s where I first met Joe. But Joe�s thoughts were on Helen, and he even stated that he was going to leave the Navy in 1951, when his hitch was up, and go home to her.

Things did not work out that way. North Korea invaded South Korea, and that little ship was sent to do it�s part in making the history of the world. Joe, along with myself and dozens of others, were told that our enlistment would be extended for a minim of one year.

Joe felt that the job he was doing was a very worthwhile thing, and that his Country needed him. There was no way Joe could give Helen better security, so he thought, than staying in the Navy. So, Joe thought that, since he would have almost ten years in when this hitch ended, he should reenlist and stay for the long haul.

After all, Joe, and all the rest of us, were told that we would receive free health care for the rest of our lives if we stayed, and that our families would be taken care of, too. �The Navy Takes Care Of It�s Own� was the resounding cry of Washington, and all recruiting personal were loudly exclaiming so.

In 1952 Joe was sent back to the States, and his first move was to take a thirty day leave and marry his sweetheart. They were married in November, and have spent as much time as possible with each other ever since.

Joe was assigned to a destroyer home ported in Pearl Harbor, doing picket duty in the Pacific. He and Helen spent their in-port hours planing their future and acquiring their two children. These years, although less than half their time was spent together, is looked back on by Joe and Helen as some of their happiest of times.

In 1957 Joe was assigned to a refrigerated stores ship, supplying food stuffs and other supplies to the Pacific Fleet. The ship was home ported in San Francisco. Joe and Helen purchased a three bedroom home in the Stanaslaugh Valley, for which they paid a monthly fee for the next twenty years.

Helen stayed home and raised the children while Joe stayed gone six months of the year. They started saving for the future, making a small deposit to a savings account each month, and $18.75 each month for a Savings Bond. Their future looked bright, even though they had to spend so much of their time apart. Both thought it was worth it, for they believed they were serving a good cause and, although they could earn much more in civilian life, there was enough security to make it worth while.

In 1962 Joe was assigned to shore duty at Treasure Island, San Francisco. They rented their home out and moved to a small house in East Oakland. For the first time, Joe and Helen spent most evenings together. They took part in community affairs such as P.T.A and Boy Scouts. They joined the local Baptist Church and both enjoyed their lives with their children.

In 1965, Joe�s enlistment expired. The decision came to stay or transfer to Fleet Reserve. Joe had worked his way up to Chief (E-7) and life was good. Career retention people talked to Joe and Helen and pointed out the importance of the job they were doing and the benefits of staying in the service. They decided to stay in, at least for a few more years. Joe reenlisted, and was sent to Schools Command in Great Lakes, Illinois for Class �B� School. Helen went back to their home in the valley.

Late 1966, Joe was assigned to a destroyer working the Pacific. Their home port was San Diego, but since the children were in school and rents were high in San Diego, they decided to stay in their valley home. That meant that Joe had to travel every weekend he had in port almost three hundred miles to see his family. They reasoned it out that they only had a few more years to go to retire with a full thirty years. As they thought, it would be worth it.

In 1969 Joe was assigned to duty at Naval Supply Depot, Stockton, California. This was great, since their home was only twenty-eight miles from there. Joe purchased a small, used car since the family station wagon was too expensive to drive every day. He was home to see his son�s wedding and his daughter graduate from High School. It was a wonderful assignment, since it afforded him some free time to be with his family.

In February, 1972, Joe retired, leaving the Navy life behind. He was forty-seven years old, young enough to start a second career, young enough to enjoy the better things of life... Or so he thought.

Joe took a job in Stockton and still made the commute five days each week. The pay was almost twice that he drew in the navy, and, he had the Navy pay coming each month.

Then in early 1981 Joe became sickly, and the doctors said he had diabetes. He would have to take a shot and test his blood sugar every day. Oh, but the Military would pay for it...

In 1985, Joe began to have chest pains and was rushed to Sutter Gould Medical Center. On arrival, he was placed in I.C.U. where the doctors brought him back to life. Joe, they said, owed them $23,234, above what the Navy would pay. Joe had to dip into his savings to relieve this debt.

In 1987, Joe began to suffer loss of feelings in his legs and turned himself in to Oaknoll Naval Hospital. They kept him for two weeks, and declared him �stable�, and sent him home with orders to stay off his feet.

Then 1989, tragedy struck. Joe�s loving daughter-in-law became ill and died of pancreatic cancer. Joe�s grandsons were yet small and Junior could not attend to all their needs. They moved in with Joe and Helen. Junior never overcame the loss of his wife, and withdrew into a shell where he hides from the public. He lost his job, and the burden of the grand sons care fell to Joe and Helen.

Junior came out of his shell a bit and procured employment as manager of a convenience store. He sends money as he can to Joe and Helen to help with the boys. But, requirements were far greater than that small amount.

Joe�s daughter had moved to a distant city and married a man she met there. In 1996 her husband suffered an industrial accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. She quit her job in order to care for him. They were living on the disability income paid by his company. They could not help Joe, and, as a matter of fact, Joe and Helen helped them by paying off the loan on their house. This further depleted Joe�s savings, but he saw no other way out.

In 1998, Helen started suffering chest pains. She was examined by the doctors at Sutter Gould (since they were now on Medicare and belonged to an H.M.O.) They determined that she needed a bypass right away. She went through open heart in June, and has never fully recovered. Joe�s grandsons took care of him during this time.

Joe�s money is gone and he lives on his Navy retirement plus Social Security. This isn�t much, considering that he has to pay for all his and Helen�s drugs, as well as a monthly fee for the H.M.O. This cost them almost half of their monthly income.( * See note at bottom)

The house they struggled to pay off years before is now in poor condition, but Joe can�t fix it, nor do they have the funds to have it done.

Since Joe can no longer support himself, he was given a power wheelchair by the Veteran�s Administration. He needed a lift-equipped van so he could go to medical care for treatments, so his grand sons got a 1970 Ford that has seen it�s better days. They fixed it up and got it past smog inspection, and it is now the family car.

Joe�s eyesight has grown so poor he can no longer drive. Helen also can not drive, since she may suffer a black out at any time. Someone has to take them every where they go. Their grandsons do most of it, but they work and that severely limits their ability to serve. I help when I can, or I arrange with some of my family to help. I, too am limited in mobility, and at times, can not do anything.

So Joe just sits, wondering how he ended up in such poor condition. He has expressed his wonderment as to why God has not called him home to a better existence. I worry that he may try, and pray he will not, for Joe is a good, true, friend.

What happened? To start with, the promises made way back there were stole from us by self-serving officials. While Joe, myself, and thousands of others were away from that we loved most, living a rough life in ships that had seen more service that we had, fighting to keep the ship�s mission moving, sleeping on the open deck to stay cool or freezing our ears off, those thieves were going to school on our money, smoking pot (but not inhaling) and enjoying the good life. Now they tell us that we were not promised those things... How would they know? THEY WERE NOT THERE!

Want to help Joe? Here�s how:

V O T E ! for those that live up to the promises made.

W R I T E your representatives and demand they do what�s right.

T E P E P H O N E your representatives and demand they stand up for the good.

Above all, GET INVOLVED!!!!!

It is too late for Joe and I. We are old, but please give us the satisfaction of knowing those who would use power in destructive ways CAN�T DO IT ANYMORE!

(* NOTE: Since this writing TRICARE FOR LIFE has been implanted. Joe now gets his care via Medicare with Tricare paying the co-pay. Drugs is furnished from Tricare with a very small co-pay. My heartfelt thanks to all who supported this cause. We veterans love you!)

Joe died in July, 2003. He is at peace at last. Helen is living in the house alone and dreaming of those wonderful years gone by. She said that she wants to "go with Joe."
- - - - Tom Nance