Friday, July 03, 2009
Honoring a life of service
The Civitan Club presented Roanoke veteran Waynard Caldwell its "Good Samaritan" award.
Photo courtesy Patti Smith
Waynard Caldwell (right) and Beverly Wright, receptionist at the VA Medical Center in Salem.
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At 74 years old and after medical complications, Waynard Caldwell still manages to be Johnny on the spot for veterans in the Roanoke valley.
The Civitan Club of Roanoke honored Caldwell with its "Good Samaritan" award in June because of his service and involvement in veterans' affairs.
The Roanoke veteran was Virginia's first licensed male nurse. He served in the medical corps in Germany and Vietnam, established a shelter for homeless veterans in the valley and has spent about 10,000 hours volunteering in hospitals and nursing homes.
"You need to fight for people who need things," he said.
Caldwell enlisted in the Army in 1953 and served as a nurse in Germany and the United States, taking care of about 3,000 military personnel and their dependents.
He received a nursing degree from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1962, but it took him a year to get his nursing license in Virginia because he would be the first male nurse in the state.
"A man going into nursing at that time was something else," he said.
From 1968 to 1969, he served in the Army medical corps in Vietnam, where he saw about 360 patients a day.
"You couldn't remember who you were taking care of," Caldwell said. "You just tried to keep them alive."
In 1974 he retired as a master sergeant on medical disability after suffering a stroke and a rupture in his right lung. He went to work as a nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem but was forced into disability retirement in 1980 because blood clots were affecting circulation in his legs. Because of his disability compensation, Caldwell's military retirement pay was taken away, he said.
"You couldn't get answers. Congress was not helpful to veterans," Caldwell said. He worked to pass different resolutions to create awareness about laws affecting disabled veterans.
Caldwell joined about 30 veterans organizations in the valley. He has served on the board of trustees for the Virginia Department of Veterans Services and as commander of the Disabled American Veterans.
Caldwell and other volunteers started the Firebase House, a 15-bed homeless shelter at the VA Medical Center, in 1988.
"He does so much work in the community and always puts others' needs before himself," said Betty Anderson, who nominated Caldwell for the award and who has known him since he was a boy.
Now Caldwell has trouble standing up and walking. He rides a motorized scooter wherever he goes and constantly answers calls from fellow veterans.
"We need to help as many people as we can while we are in this earth," Caldwell said.
