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Pat Ramsey is the president of Greenville, S.C., Chapter
523. It’s a good chapter, he says, with more than sixty
members, though only ten to fifteen typically attend chapter
meetings. For him, the road to Chapter 523 began with a boat
show.
It was an impressive boat show. But what caught his
eye was a booth set up by Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter
523. They had a little putt-putt golf fundraiser on the side.
“I
spent thirty years trying to forget,” Ramsey
said, and he wasn’t going to be distracted by any veterans
group.
“Oh, I remember him that day,” AVVA Regional
Director Nancy Nix said. “Vietnam veterans still in
the closet: They’re easy to spot. He walked all the
way around the boat show three times.”
“The first
time around, I said, ‘Hi,’” Ramsey
recounted. “The second time around, I said, ‘No,
thank you.’”
“And the third time,” slam-dunks
Nancy Nix, “he
was lassoed and
hog-tied.”
He had been to the Vet Center, which is located
near the Greenville Hyatt. He was impressed, especially with
Dave Hollingsworth who ran the center. But it didn’t
stick. But here, with this small group of men and women,
he felt at home. He didn’t have to forget.
“I
can help,” he said to himself. So he joined.
As a life member. “That’s the way I do things:
Both feet.” Ramsey is quiet, self-possessed, self-deprecating.
But
he was right: He could help. And he did. Then he did more.
He was encouraged to take leadership roles. Nancy’s
husband Dicky Nix, who was chapter president, pushed him
along, too.
He’s the good soldier. He always stepped
up to the plate. Now he’s chapter president.
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