The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Disabled veteran gets help from other vets
EULESS, TEXAS — Six months ago, Larry Fromme rarely left his apartment, and he worried that he might get evicted as he struggled to pay his rent and buy groceries.
Fromme, 80, is a disabled veteran who served in the U.S. Army as a private first class in Germany at the height of the Cold War. He was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, and said he often had nightmares about serving in a stressful environment.
Fromme recalled what it was like to be isolated and the difficulties of finding people who understood his struggles.
“I was down in the dumps,” he said. “I was looking for people to talk to.”
Fromme described how it was difficult for him to leave his apartment as no one thanked him for his service, although he wore his cap displaying the words, “disabled veteran” when he went shopping.
But now life is getting better for Fromme as he regularly meets with veterans who understand the stress of serving in the military and what it is like to be ignored.
The help began when Michelle Potts, the manager at Fromme’s apartment complex, saw his struggles.
“I have a soft spot for Larry,” she said.
Potts said she searched Google for organizations that could help Fromme get his finances in order and to find other veterans who could spend time with him.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Fromme laughed and joked with his new friends, Zach Cabellos and P.K. Kelley, who are with Gallant Few, an organization that works with veterans who are isolated. Cabellos and Kelley served in Afghanistan after 9/11.
Ceballos lives close to Fromme and said he often stops by to see his friend, taking him out to eat and to a monthly veterans breakfast. He even helped Fromme buy a new pair of cowboy boots.
“We are here to prevent isolation. In the military, we take care of each other,” Ceballos said.
Fromme, who served from June 1962 to November 1964, said he was always on “high alert” because of the Cold War.
“We drilled nonstop, even in knee-deep snow,” he recalled. “We are trained to follow orders, in rain and snow, you go at a moment’s notice.”
Fromme said he was injured when he was loading crates of 30-pound shells in to an ammunition truck. One of the crates landed on his foot, breaking his ankle. He injured his ankle for a second time last year.
When Fromme was discharged, he lived in several states and held a variety of jobs, such as driving a truck, picking fruit and working on a cattle ranch in east Texas.
Fromme said he was married three times, but has no children and no family in the area.
Ceballos and Kelley said people are not educated about veterans and their needs, Ceballos said.
“We can do more,” Ceballos said.