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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Among
the coins jingling in the pocket of
William Merriweather’s blue jeans is
one stamped with a prayer.
He’s long since memorized the
phrases, yet he checks the pocket
regularly to make sure the coin is
there. Without much urging, he’ll
read aloud: “God, grant me the
serenity to accept the things I cannot
change, the courage to change the
things I can, and the wisdom to
know the difference.”
Merriweather is 52, a veteran of
Vietnam and of a military system
that fosters toughness. Perhaps he
shouldn’t need a brass coin, a pithy
prayer, to feel secure. But he does.
Merriweather is facing things he
cannot change. Trained to kill, he
turned 21 in a dank foxhole in Viet-
nam and watched as much of what
made sense to him perished.
He’s facing things he can change.
Like his dependence on alcohol, an
addiction that ripped his life apart
and left him alone on the streets of
Indianapolis.
And he’s learning to tell the differ-
ence, holding tight to the coin —
and a chance for a new life. For
about four months, Merriweather
has been part of a program aimed at
helping homeless veterans stay off
the streets and away from alcohol
and drugs.
An Indianapolis foundation, Far
From Home, gathers those veterans
who have taken initial steps toward
recovery. They live in transitional
housing, hold jobs and receive coun-
seling, all to encourage the former
soldiers to help themselves.
“We help each other out,” Merri-
weather says, “because we under-
stand each other. Been there, done
that.”
Over the decades, Merriweather
has deteriorated from proud soldier
to homeless alcoholic. Too often,
comrades nationwide mirror this un-
raveling: The Department of Veter-
ans Affairs in Washington, D.C., esti-
mates 250,000 veterans are homeless
each night.
“That’s equal to about 17 divi-
sions,” said Jim Powers, Indiana’s
state adjutant for the Disabled Amer-
ican Veterans. “We used only about
five divisions to invade Normandy.”
For many soldiers, the battlefront
shifted to the home front, and a
struggle to fit in the country they
once served.
When Merriweather was 19, he
enlisted in the Army and received 12
weeks of training at Fort Bragg in
North Carolina and Fort Dix in New
Jersey. Within three weeks, he found
himself in South Vietnam, with the
1st Infantry Division in Lai Khe. He
adopted his unit’s slogan, “No One
Dare Touch Me,” as his own.
After one year, he returned to a
country that didn’t understand him
and that he didn’t understand. “It
was like you had to learn to live all
over again,” Merriweather recalled.
Fits of rage, cold sweats, isolation
— all this overwhelmed him — and
he turned to alcohol. He bounced
from job to job, embarrassed to ad-
mit he’d been a soldier.
Merriweather and his wife were
living with his adult daughter when
his drinking and erratic behavior
overwhelmed the family, too. They
kicked him out of the house, warn-
ing him not to come back until he
got help.
For two weeks, Merriweather ate
at homeless shelters and slept under
bridges along the White River. Then
he did something he hadn’t done
since returning from the war: He ad-
mitted he needed help. “It felt like
nothing I did was right,” he says.
“Since ’Nam, nothing I did was
right.”
Communities across the country
are becoming more aware of veter-
ans like Merriweather, and more
prepared to help. With treatment,
thousands return to productive lives,
says Pete Dougherty, head of the
DVA’s homeless veterans program.
They are, he says, “coming back and
sort of living the American dream
again.”
Psychologically, many have never
really returned, so programs must
make them feel welcome. “Every vet-
eran has a home,” says Dougherty,
quoting his department’s slogan. “It’s
called America.”
When Merriweather sought help
at the VA hospital in Indianapolis, he
entered a program for recovering al-
coholics — where he was given the
coin he now treasures — and
claimed a bed in a nearby shelter. As
his commitment became clear, he
was invited into a house run by Far
From Home.
The foundation that funds this ef-
fort was started in California in 1991
by Stephen Peck, a Vietnam veteran
and son of actor Gregory Peck.
While the program did not succeed
nationally, it blossomed in Indianapo-
lis, a city full of war monuments in a
county full of nearly 80,000 veterans.
The foundation’s executive direc-
tor, Don Moreau, sees the need: He
hopes to build an apartment complex
next year to double the capacity of
the foundation’s four houses.
Since Merriweather joined the
program, his life has regained some
of the structure the military once
provided. He rises at 4:30 a.m., tucks
his sheets neatly around the thin sin-
gle mattress that takes up most of
his room, and gets dressed. To fo-
cus, he reads the Serenity prayer be-
fore heading out to work.
By 7 a.m. Merriweather is on the
job, folding surgical scrubs at the
hospital. He’s surrounded by other
veterans facing similar pasts and
problems. “Here,” he says, “I feel
like I fit in better than working some-
place outside, like in a factory.”
Survival skills honed in the jun-
gles of Vietnam help. But rather than
being wary of land mines or scorpi-
ons, Merriweather must watch out
for temptation and take the careful
steps necessary to resolve his anger
and frustration.
He can stay at Far From Home
for up to two years or leave earlier if
he wants. “But I’m not ready to leave
yet,” he says.
Eventually Merriweather hopes to
rejoin his family, pursue a high
school equivalency diploma and find
a good job. For now, he’s learning
about himself and relearning what
the military taught him long ago: self
respect.
A black cap, with “Vietnam Veter-
an” stitched in yellow, hangs in his
tiny bedroom. “I wouldn’t wear it for
a while because I was ashamed of
being in Vietnam,” he admits.
Now Merriweather wears it when-
ever he wants.
And when the Veterans Day pa-
rade rolls through Indianapolis to-
day, he wants to be there to watch,
coins in his pocket, hat on his head
Trying to live in ‘the land of the free’
leaves some of the brave homeless
http://www.sharon-herald.com
THE HERALD,
Sharon, Pa.,
Thursday, November 11, 1999
A-7
Author:
Filename: 543182
Description: RIDGEWOOD,
THE
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AP
William Merriweather sorts through hospital gowns in the linen depart-
ment of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis. Merri-
weather, a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran, participates in a program spon-
sored by the Far From Home Foundation that helps homeless veterans pull