The Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis hosted a number of events on Saturday, Nov. 11, to celebrate Veterans Day.
It started with a 5K run in the morning to raise money for Veterans Journey Forward, a nonprofit based in the museum dedicated to helping veterans navigate services and get their benefits. UNFI partnered with the museum to host the run and provided water, Gatorade and energy bars for runners.
“Through the donation of UNFI along with the 46 (runners) registered, we raised $1,860 for Veterans Journey Forward today,” museum Executive Director Chip Duncan said.
Following the 5K, the Centralia Bible Baptist Church provided an early Thanksgiving Day feast free for veterans and their families at the museum.
Then, more than 100 veterans and their families were attended Veterans Day speeches.
First was Tabitha Hopp, a Chehalis resident who recently retired after 20 years of service as a chief warrant officer 3 in the U.S. Army.
Some of the Army units she served with include the famous 82nd Airborne Division and the 1st Special Forces Group, among others.
“I started out as a basic paratrooper and made my way through to becoming a jumpmaster,” Hopp said.
Throughout her 20-year career, she said she found a great support network while in the service thanks to their fellow service members.
“I had all of these people looking out for my welfare,” she added.
Unfortunately, this support network doesn’t exist outside the service once someone retires or is discharged, she said.
“That infrastructure, that culture, that support of the unit you have when you’re an active duty service member, even though we voluntarily get out, whether it’s after three years or 20 years, it can be ripped from you …” Hopp said. “And you’re all of a sudden alone and afraid, trying to navigate a very intimidating, very scary process.”
She said that leads to many veterans struggling to adjust back to civilian life and with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) while trying to get disability and other benefits.
“(Veterans) get frustrated and they get disenfranchised, (thinking) ‘I served my country, I did all these things, and there’s nobody out there to answer my questions,’” Hopp added.
Having been out of the Army for less than a year, she’s already had issues trying to navigate the VA’s benefit system. Through her own struggles and living with horses even from before her time in the Army, she discovered equine therapy.
“That has given me the capability to be OK,” Hopp said. “I have friends that have experienced the same situations and been in the same struggles next to me, but they’re not OK. They live with their demons and they don’t have that outlet … (to) interact with an animal like a horse that has pure empathy.”
Hopp, along with her husband, who is still in the service, is currently working on establishing an equine therapy service for veterans in Lewis County, much like Hope for Heroes in Thurston County.
Following Hopp’s speech, Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez spoke. She thanked veterans for their selfless sacrifices to the country, especially with society’s recently changing views on military service.
“It is incredibly counter-cultural right now to say that ‘I’m going to serve. I’m going to choose service,’” Gluesenkamp Perez said. “We think of counter-culturalism as this, like cool rock-and-roll. It’s not anymore. It is choosing service. It is choosing community and sacrifice. That is what is counter-cultural right now … There are not very many people like that left.”
She thanked veterans for sharing issues they are facing while dealing with the VA and urged more of them to contact her as she continues to push to reform the VA.
“The nature of veterans’ sacrifice means that we can never fully repay it, but we have an obligation to try our damndest,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
She said VA reform is no easy task as there are 17 different VA systems across the country. To further complicate things, each is operated differently.
Before she was in office, the different VA systems would only report veteran satisfaction levels regionally when it came to medical care and getting benefits.
“They told me they couldn’t give me county by county, and we all know that’s not true. They have the data. They wouldn’t release it,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
She said this led to rural areas, such as Lewis County, where many veterans are dissatisfied with VA care, often being ignored. The county where she lives, Skamania, also saw the closure of its VA clinic like Lewis County did in 2021, leaving many veterans with long drives just to get the medical care they need.
Gluesenkamp Perez stated she has succeeded in passing an amendment requiring VA systems to report veteran satisfaction levels by county now.
“You can’t hide behind high levels of satisfaction in urban areas,” she added.
Additionally, Gluesenkamp Perez also talked about passing House Resolution 5470 in Congress, a bipartisan bill also known as the Veteran Medical Exams for Distant Areas Act or VET MEDS Act.
She said it helps ensure those living in remote or rural areas still have access to specialty care doctors under the VA.
She has also recently introduced the Helping Heroes Act, another bipartisan bill that aims to not only improve support for veterans, but for their family members, as the family members are often the only ones left to take care of disabled veterans and become caregivers.
“It acknowledges that fact. It takes a community to actually support veterans,” Gluesenkamp Perez said.
Located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis, the Veterans Memorial Museum is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the memories and telling the stories of veterans.
For more information, visit https://www.veteransmuseum.org/ or find the museum on Facebook.
Veterans Journey Forward is a nonprofit dedicated to providing care for veterans and connecting them with services. It is based at the Veterans Memorial Museum.
To learn more, visit https://www.veteransjourneyforward.org/.
