To the Editor:
I enjoyed reading the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (MVCS) annual report in the MV Times on December 5, concerning the Island’s veterans rap group and its history. I would like to add a little more history.
My husband, Woody, started the first combat veterans rap group on the Island at the old MV Youth Center, which is now EduComp in Vineyard Haven, when Shirley Robinson was running it. They were then held at our home where the vets met every Tuesday.
Woody had met several other Marines and Army combat Vietnam veterans while he was living in Oregon, where he learned a great deal about PTSD, and he then brought all that information back home to the Island with him to share.
Tom Bennett, who was Woody’s Little League coach when they grew up in Edgartown together, came on board in 1985. They would meet at the Daniel Fisher House on Main Street in Edgartown until finally permanently moving to the MVCS center on Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road.
Thank you, Tom, very much for all your support, help, and patience over these past 30 years for our Island’s veterans and their families. Keep up the great work. “Semper Fi.”
Phyllis Williams
Vineyard Haven
