Suicide among veterans focus of Valley Memorial Day address

Staff report

BOARDMAN

The relationship between the United States and soldiers who willingly risk their lives to defend it should be a two-way street: Those in or preparing to serve in the military must adhere to an oath to protect the country and in turn, the nation must ensure their needs are met after they return from the battlefield, an Air Force commander contends.

“Our society sent them off to combat, so we have to take care of them. Twenty veterans die by suicide each day,” Lt. Col. Christopher Dobozy said.

Dobozy, a 1989 Boardman High School graduate and command inspector general of the 352nd Civil Affairs Command at Fort Meade, Md., mentioned the sobering statistic in remarks he made as keynote speaker for the 115th annual Boardman Community Memorial Day Program at Boardman Park’s Maag Outdoor Arts Theater.

Read the full story Tuesday in The Vindicator and Vindy.com