An author and retired Army Corps of Engineers representative relayed stories from more than 20 veterans, including the stories of a father and son from the Farmville area.

Jerry Barnes said he was inspired to write a book, “When Heaven Visits,” partly from his own experiences serving in the Army from 1968 to 1971.

One particularly powerful experience, which he describes in his book, is when he volunteers to accompany his superior officer to Vietnam as an aide.

The superior officer told Barnes to not take the risk. Barnes said seven weeks after Col. Adams went to Vietnam, he and six others died after a helicopter was shot down.

“Every time I think about that, I shiver a little bit,” Barnes said. He said he believed that the superior officer’s decision saved his life.

His experience in the Army and realizing the immense pain faced by soldiers and veterans led him to write the book. He contacted friends, who suggested people to talk to.

Through word-of-mouth, Barnes said he met with dozens of other veterans. He connected with approximately 15,000 veterans on the networking site LinkedIn.

A book signing for “When Heaven Visits” is scheduled for Saturday, July 13, from 1-3 p.m. at the Barbara Rose Johns Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library.

He first met Charles “Shane” Seaborn at Wendy’s. They had a two-hour conversation after Barnes commented on Seaborn’s Marine cap.

Once Shane learned about Barnes’ project, he called his son, Charles “Brandon” Seaborn and asked if he wanted to be involved. Both Shane and Brandon met Barnes a week later.

‘DIFFERENT SACRIFICES’

When Brandon was younger, he thought his father, Shane, might die of a heart attack.

Brandon hadn’t necessarily associated Shane’s responses to stress as the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) until he himself served in combat as a Marine during Operation Phantom Fury in Iraq. He lost a friend during the war.

“I get it now because it happened to me,” Brandon said.

Shane served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Detailing his experience in Barnes’ book, Shane said he and other soldiers were involved in a conflict between Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers. Shane was involved in an attack at Liberty Bridge, the longest timber bridge in Vietnam.

“To see a young kid walk in the face of death and dare it, if you hadn’t see it, you just don’t have a clue,” Shane said. Like many of the soldiers he was with, Shane had just turned 18 when the incident happened.

Shane said the violent and often unimaginable times he and countless people his own age faced in Vietnam, often young men between the ages of 18-21 years old, stayed with him.

“They were kids,” Shane said. “Their first times away from home, and they were fighting for their lives.”

Becoming choked up, Shane said he remembered seeing the body of a dead child and experiencing horror when he found out the child was 13 years old.

“I thought, ‘this could be my kid,’” Shane said. “I haven’t gotten over it.”

“It’s something you live with, but it haunts you,” Shane said about his experience.

The effects from Shane were heightened by the fact that Vietnam veterans faced opposition when returning to the United States.

Brandon said for him, this heightened response stayed with him long after he returned to the United States.

He said service members are trained to fight, to respond at lightning pace to stress. They aren’t necessarily trained in marketable skills in the United States or how to respond as citizens.

The effects of PTSD extends to all areas of life, especially in the workforce.

Brandon said he remembers having an olfactory hallucination, smelling something that so strongly resembled what he would have smelled in Iraq he said he was no longer in the room he was in.

“I went instantly into fight or flight mode,” Brandon said. He couldn’t take off of work, and he said it was one of the worst instances of his life. Both he and Shane said July 4 fireworks are also horrible experiences, the fireworks matching the sounds of explosions.

“It was like being in the battlefield,” Brandon said, remembering one experience at a firework show.

Both Shane and Brandon receive treatment at Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in Richmond, and both take medication for their PTSD.

Brandon said he worked with the Piedmont Area Veterans Council before. The council, located in the Town of Farmville, is a nonprofit organization that connects active duty service members, veterans and their families to services. The council serves residents in Prince Edward, Buckingham, Cumberland, Amelia, Charlotte, Lunenburg and Nottoway.

In 2018, veterans in the region received approximately $8 million from services provided by PAVC; in 2018 alone, Prince Edward County veterans received $1.1 million in compensation benefits.

The PAVC has a volunteer staff and provides all of its services to area veterans free of charge. To learn more about the PAVC, call (434) 392-4142, visit 820 Longwood Ave. or pavc23901.weebly. com.

Brandon also recommended the VA as a resource for finding employment or hireavet. com.

Veterans’ needs and treatments are complex issues. Talking can help, Shane and Brandon said.

“I think it helps a lot of people,” Shane said. “[It helps them] to see they aren’t the only ones with bad experiences.”

“You just have no clue the different sacrifices that random people on the street may or may not have made for your right to be who you are,” Brandon said.