An Abnormal Death Near Normal Street
I was one of many millions of people who were caught up in the Royal wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markel.
I set my alarm for 4:00am Saturday May 19th.
Perhaps you too were caught up in this highly publicized event.
One of the many interesting traditions which took place was when Meghan’s bridal bouquet was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown warrior.
This tomb holds the unidentified body of a World War I soldier.
We have a similar tomb in Arlington National cemetery.
In modern times, a tradition has developed when a tragic death occurs, people place candles, flowers and messages expressing their sorrow about what happened.
This morning, the death location of a homeless marine veteran, no longer had the one small plant covered with white flowers which was growing there on May 4th.
Allow me to take you back to less than a month ago.
I have always said I would like to die in my sleep.
My assumption in this desire was that my transition into the next life would be peaceful and therefor pain free.
On the local news of April 28th I learned something which deeply upset me.
The newscaster said that on Friday, April 27th just after 11:00pm, Deryck B. had his life snuffed out as he was sleeping on the sidewalk outside the Department of Motor Vehicles on Normal Street.
Reportedly, the man was a homeless Marine veteran in his mid-sixties.
This man probably did not die peacefully because the vehicle, driven by an intoxicated driver, crashed into parked cars before jumping the sidewalk.
The Medical Examiner’s investigator is still attempting to locate Deryck’s next of kin.
If the next of kin are not located, or are located and do not wish to claim this veteran’s body, he will be cremated, and his ashes will be interred at the Miramar National Cemetery.
He is not an unknown veteran because his identification card issued by the DMV was found in his pocket.
I find a certain irony in this because, if this service member had been killed while on active duty, his family designated on his DD397 would have received a $100,000.00 death payment.
Recently, San Diego housed 1000 veterans under the Homes for Heroes program.
I think you will agree with my thinking that Deryck would be alive today if he had a home.
We are spending hundreds and thousands of dollars to house homeless veterans yet whatever help may have been available or even offered to this veteran was not accepted.
This veteran chose to sleep on the sidewalk in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles on Normal Street.
This decision cost him his life.
San Diego County covers 4,526 square miles and yet this tiny section of sidewalk in Hillcrest happened to be in the path of a drunk driver who quickly drove away after momentarily getting out of the car to see what she had done.
I care about our veterans.
When I see men standing in street medians holding cardboard signs proclaiming they are veterans who are homeless, hungry and need help, it saddens me deeply.
My assumption is that something occurred in their military service which has prevented them from going on successfully with their lives.
These men had to be healthy and capable to serve in the military and yet now they apparently cannot hold down a job which is how the rest of society manages to pay for food and rent.
We know more today about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. We realize that individuals suffering physical and psychological pain resort to drugs and alcohol.
We are now learning that exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam can have long term consequences to a soldiers’ health.
Once a month, there is a meeting of the San Diego Veterans Coalition.
The coalition is composed of individuals representing a wide variety of organizations established to meet the needs of veterans.
I do believe that the people involved in the SDVC are deeply concerned about the challenges facing veterans today.
At the conclusion of their meeting on Friday, May 4th which took place at the Braille Institute, I announced I would hold a vigil at the death site of the veteran run over and killed outside the DMV one week earlier.
I announced I would be there at 11:01 pm which was time or Deryck’s untimely death.
I followed through on my announcement.
I was there with a candle and a flag.
Nobody showed up but me.
I am not complaining.
I am just making an observation.
It was a long quiet vigil.
Few cars drove by and even fewer pedestrians walked by.
The only person I spoke to knew nothing about the veteran’s death.
I feel that we, as a community, should find out what is needed so that there will no longer be veterans who are holding signs on street medians and sleeping on sidewalks rather than being safe in their own homes.
After an hour, I proceeded to get in my car to go home.
I chose the logical course which was to drive forward and then turn right on University Avenue.
Even with my car’s windows up, I heard sounds which so puzzled me that I actually rolled down my widow to decipher what I was hearing.
It was music and many excited voices.
There was an amazing number of people crowded into one small section of sidewalk outside a bar.
Since July of 2017, I have been advocating that the former Chargers Headquarters at 4020 Murphy Canyon Rd. be a Military and Veterans Resource and Recreation Center open twenty four hours a day seven days a week.
The people crowded outside that bar on University Avenue where clearly having a good time.
It was quite a contrast from the quiet spot just a block and a half away where I had concluded my vigil to honor a deceased veteran.
I cannot guarantee that the Military and Veterans Resource and Recreation Center would be as lively with fun and camaraderie at 11:01pm on a Friday night but even if it was half as fun as that bar on University Avenue, Deryck, a Marine veteran, might have been at the Military and Veterans Resource and Recreation Center rather than sleeping on the sidewalk on Normal Street.