Register for the 5K now! Registration is now open for our Vietnam Veterans 5K run/walk. Registration will remain open throughout March, but don’t delay, space is limited! Last year we had runners and walkers in nearly every U.S. state. Help us check them all off...
While all eyes were on the Vietnam theatre in 1971, the Russians hoped to take advantage of the situation and trained their scopes on the eastern United States’ coastline. Aware of Russian interests, Naval Weather Aerographer, Peggy Hembree, stationed in the Icelandic...
This year Hero’s Bridge received a generous donation of gift bags to distribute to our veterans for Valentine’s Day. In appreciation of this kind offering, we would like to introduce Bobby’s Valentines to Hero’s Bridge supporters. Bobby Bager wasn’t an athletic child,...
Molly Brooks wasn’t at her father’s side when he died in 2016. It’s a memory that continues to haunt her. A 23-year career military retiree and Vietnam veteran, Raymond Gustin USMC, MSgt, suffered from the effects of Agent Orange exposure. He was 71 when he went to...
A small bottle of Evan Williams bourbon and a pumpkin pie sit on the table; a gift waiting to be given to an aging veteran. Our volunteers don’t usually bring alcohol to veterans but in Charlie’s case it kept him from paying an...
The five members of the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors each named a ‘citizen of the year’ Dec. 9 at the board’s last regular meeting of 2021. Molly Brooks Molly Brooks, founder of the Hero’s Bridge nonprofit, was Cedar Run District Supervisor Rick Gerhardt’s...
The year was 1967. Rick Koehnke was executing his ninth Air Force mission to take down the Paul Doumer bridge in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, which would off a major route for communist troops and supplies. He remembered, “We were sent into the ring around Hanoi....
Ed Benson is no stranger to veterans; he is one. Air Force veteran Benson spent 12 months from May 1968 to May 1969 in Vietnam working air traffic control for friendly forces. His unit deconflicted the airspace for them. “I received an all-expense paid trip to the...
Kim Beahm and her husband and children have been breeding dogs in Fauquier County for over five years. “One time a woman came to meet a litter of puppies to see if any would make good therapy dogs. This prompted me to learn more about therapy dogs and see if it...
One woman leads an army of volunteers to serve our area’s veterans Midland’s Molly Brooks had a vision early on. Growing up in the economically-depressed Ozarks with her mother working in a nursing home, Molly was privy to the substandard environment of the elderly...
Born in 1937, Carolyn Mellon was one of five children. Her father’s life remained a mystery to the family. She knew only that he had spent the first half of it working as a Bobby or policeman in Scotland where he had five children with a previous wife. He came to the...
Kenneth Moore served as a radioman for the US Marines during the Vietnam War. He enlisted on January 15, 1964 out of Baltimore, MD and was sent to communications headquarters in Cherry Point, North Carolina. This was in large part due to his amateur radio hobby. While...
Vietnam Veteran, Mike, has called a small trailer home for fifty years. Five decades will leave its mark on anything and over the years, the once new trailer has fallen into disrepair. Mike’s age has made it difficult for him to maintain the trailer. With holes...
Memorial Day recognizes veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice. Those who lost their lives defending freedom around the world and throughout history. Hero’s Bridge salutes every veteran who did not make it home. We also salute their family members. Many veterans who...
73-year-old Vietnam veteran John Bolden considers himself lucky to have been shot at his basecamp. He was walking to the mess hall when he was shot in the right thigh. He was told it was a Viet Cong sniper, but he thinks it was a stray bullet from the firefighting...
Vietnam Army Veteran, Nick Travis, had trouble assimilating to civilian life after spending nearly two years in Vietnam. “I had a lot of triggers,” he said. The Brooklyn resident returned to the Brooklyn in 1969, he didn’t leave the house for six...
Molly Brooks wasn’t at her father’s side when he died in 2016. It’s a memory that continues to haunt her. A 23-year career military retiree and Vietnam veteran, Raymond Gustin USMC, MSgt, suffered from the effects of Agent Orange exposure. He was 71 when he went to...
Last week, a U.S. Navy nurse Carolyn Kirkland contacted Michael Guditus, emergency manager for the Fauquier County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management. Guditus said, “She was concerned that the Veterans Administration was not doing enough for veterans...
Registration is now open for our Vietnam Veterans 5K run/walk. While registration is open throughout the month of March, don’t delay! Last year’s event sold out in two weeks. You and your family walk or run whenever convenient for you. Even families that...
Hero’s Bridge in Warrenton offers several different programs to help elderly veterans improve their quality of life. Co-founder Molly Brooks, RN-BC, CHPCA, said she “wants residents to know how important it is to support the folks who are there every day, helping...
