Help for Heroes

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

After putting his own life on the line in the Vietnam War, trying to prevent the spread of communism, David-Alvin Keyser fell victim to a domino principle of a different kind after he returned home.
Like many soldiers of his era, Keyser’s chronic post-war struggles included physical pain, mental anguish, drug abuse, incarceration and loss of his family, all within the context of a largely unsympathetic public.
Now a free man for the first time in two decades, the Frankford resident is learning that a lot has changed in the interval, particularly the level of support available to men like him. Keyser is one of thousands of former servicemen and women whom the non-profit Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center is helping find their way in civilian society.
"There’s very few people I run into who are good people. These people are good people and help the veterans," Keyser said.
By today’s standards and by those of the pre-Vietnam era, Keyser was and is very much a war hero. He earned a National Defense Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal, a Purple Heart and two Bronze Stars while serving with the 4th Cavalry of the 25th Army Infantry Division in Tay Ninh Province, along the Cambodian border, in 1968 and ’69.
He was only 17 when he volunteered for the military, and still a teen when he offered to do some of the most hazardous duty in the war. He was a so-called tunnel rat, infiltrating the enemy’s vast network of highly fortified underground passages, often with enemy operatives still occupying them.
Before the Army sent him, usually alone, into the tunnels, planes would drop Agent Orange throughout the area. They used the powerful herbicide to clear out acres of jungle and expose tunnel entrances.
In the ensuing months, even years, Keyser learned firsthand about the effects of human exposure to the chemical. He began to suffer skin disease and disorders of the nervous and circulatory systems. At the time, the government denied that Agent Orange was the cause and turned down benefit claims. Since then, science has proved otherwise.
Keyser also contracted hepatitis, which damaged his liver, and coped with chronic spinal pain, likely a result of the three separate land-mine explosions he survived while a passenger in armored personnel carriers.
Keyser further developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. His 1969 return to his native Pottstown added insult to injury.
"It was real bad when we came back," he said. "There were no hero’s welcomes. Sometimes we were spit upon.
"They used to call us all sorts of things. Some guy over there (killed) a whole city or something, so they called us baby killers."
The medical treatment and personal assistance offered at the time by the Veterans Administration never seemed enough. The VA didn’t even recognize Agent Orange syndrome until decades later. So, like many of his contemporaries, Keyser resorted to self-medicating to deal with his pain.
"I wanted to stay alive, and they wouldn’t get me medical help," he said.
The heroin addiction landed him in state prison repeatedly throughout the late 1970s and ’80s. His wife divorced him in 1992 and he lost touch with their four kids.
Two years later, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 more years in prison for lying to acquire a gun. As a convicted felon, Keyser isn’t allowed to have a gun.
While serving out the final months of his sentence at a halfway house, Keyser learned of the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center from a friend and former client of the 28-year-old organization. Keyser, whose only income source was a $108 a month VA benefit, first visited the center’s Old City office in November. He was released from the halfway house in February.
The center is at 213 N. Fourth St. Edward J. Lowry, the center’s CEO, has seen many stories like Keyser’s over the years.
"Back in 1980, when we started this program, a big emphasis was on incarcerated and ex-offender veterans," said Lowry, who also is a Vietnam vet and former Philadelphia cop.
"Many who we worked with from 1980 to 1985 came out of Vietnam, they never had a prior arrest record, and they were given heavy time as first offenders."
Many of those who don’t find themselves in jail end up on the streets, homeless. On average, one in three homeless men is a military veteran, Lowry said.
A federal grant of $250,000, along with matching funds from the city, bankrolled the organization in its first year. The center was one of 28 created at the time in cities around the nation. The local office was the only one to survive the first year, largely due to continuing support from the city, Lowry said.
When local budget cuts threatened its existence in the late 1980s, the state came up with money to keep the program going. Now, the center operates on a $3.5 million annual budget.
Besides public funding, it has many corporate and private contributors. Last month, the center held its second annual John DeBella WMGK radio-thon at the National Constitution Center and raised $71,000. Its third annual Philadelphia Doo Wop Festival will be held at Penn’s Landing on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 2 to 7 p.m.
Any honorably discharged veteran from any era is eligible for services from the center. According to Lowry, the demand from Gulf-era veterans and women is on the rise. Last year, the center served nearly 5,000 individuals in 32,000 visits.
The center offers transitional housing, meals, showers, laundry facilities and haircuts to the homeless, along with subsidized housing, emergency shelter referrals and case management.
The center’s employment and training program includes classes in computer applications, computer A+ Certification training, hospitality service, welding, resume writing, job interview techniques, job search and placement, budgeting skills and life skills workshops.
The center also helps veterans in the areas of VA and disability benefits, medical and behavioral health, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, transportation and legal counseling.
In Keyser’s case, once he got out of the halfway house, the center helped him find an affordable apartment and loaned him the cash deposit and first month’s rent. Staffers help him get to VA hospital appointments and assist him with follow-ups on his disability claims. Keyser has taken classes in hospitality service and also computer applications.
The veteran aspires to write a book about his views on the United States, a nation he still loves. Keyser has no regrets.
"I wouldn’t change a thing," he said. "I believe in the republic of the United States. That’s what was instituted by the Declaration of Independence. I will fight again and continue to fight for it." ••
Call 215-923-2600 or visit www.PhilaVets.org for information about the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com