Mamamontezz's Mental Rumpus Room

Folks you need to know

There is an old maxim associated with the armed forces that is more fact than fiction: no man left behind. And for the veterans of Indianapolis and the surrounding area, this is especially true.

The Fort Harrison Veterans Center, operated primarily by Chapter 295 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, provides assistance to veterans, regardless of branch or conflict. Where for two years there was once a vacant building, there is now a facility which provides help for the area's disadvantaged vets, as well as active duty personnel and their families.

The many groups currently housed at the Fort Harrison Veterans Center also try to help the soldiers still serving overseas and the families they've left back home. This past summer, the VVA took the families of an Indiana regiment in Afghanistan to a ball game at Victory Field and has held a cookout. The VVA made a DVD of the event and sent it overseas so soldiers could get at least some small feeling of being home. The gesture was well appreciated.

"We got letters from guys overseas that appreciated it," [Gene] Gigli said. "We've experienced what they're going through and wanted to let them know we cared."

No man left behind. Take a moment to read this story of, to paraphrase Blackfive, Some People you need to know.