Cold autumn rain did not dissuade a group of roughly two-dozen veterans who gathered Monday morning at Natural Bridges State Park for a 10-mile walk to Britannia Arms restaurant in Capitola.
The annual Journey for Change Veterans Day walk, launched about two decades ago, is a way to bring attention to the problem of suicide of U.S. military veterans, organizer Buzz Gray.
It is sponsored by Vets 4 Vets.
He says he launched the event when the City of Santa Cruz ended its Veterans Day event during the pandemic.
The events take place around the county on Veterans Day.
“One year we did 24 hours around the Pacific Avenue mall,” he says. “One year we walked from Watsonville to Santa Cruz.”
One year walked two weeks to Sacramento trying to drum up awareness along the way, and ultimately to meet with lawmakers.
But said he found a tepid response in the state capital.
“They told me they didn’t have time for it,” he said. “It wasn’t on their agenda.”
The problem of suicide among veterans, Gray says, is pervasive, with roughly 22 per day taking their own life.
“Those men and women have seen and experienced a lot that most of us don’t,” he says.
Many, he says, have post-traumatic stress disorder but are hesitant to seek help.
Gray, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, says he has a hard time assimilating after he served four years, particularly coming back to a world that was hostile to the war.
“When I came back, everything had changed, and I wanted to start right where I left off when I was 18,” he said. Everyone was gone, and I had a hard time figuring out how to get back to a normal life. Because you’re changed forever.”
