The sun was setting on a warm Columbus Day and the Vineyard was at its idyllic best as soldiers from all over the country, some retired, some still active, all of them bearing battle scars, took in the spectacular view of Vineyard Sound from the terrace of the Beach Plum Inn in Chilmark.
Islanders, many of whom were also veterans, greeted the brothers in arms with open arms. Oysters from Honeysuckle Farm were consumed as quickly as as they could be shucked. Glasses and beer bottles clinked in toasts, and the distinctive voice of comedian Lenny Clarke added to the jovial atmosphere. Monty Bernardo, a tri-amputee wounded in Afghanistan and returning American Heroes Saltwater Challenge veteran, also held court with a steady stream of jokes.
Brothers and Aquinnah fishing boat captains Chip and Buddy Vanderhoop, large in presence and in stature, made the rounds and shook hands with all the soldiers: “There’s fish out there. We’re going to find them,” Chip said.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Army Sergeant Jeremiah Williams said, slack-jawed, taking in the expanse of Vineyard Sound. “I’ve never been east of Detroit.”
Sgt. Williams, a youthful 30, grew up in Winlock, a small town in southwest Washington State. He began his first of three tours in Iraq, one of them to the hot spot of Mosul, when he was 18 years old. He later deployed to Afghanistan, then to Kuwait, which he joked was a vacation compared with his previous deployments.
He is a mechanic, which in previous wars would likely have been a relatively safe assignment. But in a war fought largely with convoys of Humvees, two mechanics were required on every mission. Sgt. Williams had to be as facile with his weapon as he was with a wrench. He was fired upon with regularity.
He also survived two attacks using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Sgt. Williams has no visible scars, but he suffers from the insidious injuries that come with combat stress. He is not alone. According to the Congressional Research Service, over 138,000 soldiers have been diagnosed with some form of PTSD since 2001, and almost 270,000 have suffered mild brain injury, as compared with 1,645 major limb amputations during that time period. Injuries to the psyche are hard to quantify. Symptoms can show up long after a soldier returns from battle, and cases can go undiagnosed for more than 30 years, and sometimes they are never diagnosed, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Each of the 10 wounded warriors was allowed to bring a guest. One brought his father, another brought his brother; another asked his mother, who brought his two sons whom he hadn’t seen in nine months, and another brought his commanding officer.
Sgt. Williams brought his best friend, fellow mechanic Staff Sergeant Marc Leonard, who, like Sgt. Williams, is also stationed at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. SSgt. Leonard did two tours of Iraq, including one in Samarra, a notoriously dangerous area. He also did one tour of Kuwait, and he also carried home the psychological scars that come from years of trekking into hostile territory, knowing each day could be his last with his body intact. Or that each day could be his last, period.
SSgt. Leonard, 39, also looks younger than his years. He beams when he talks about his five sons, ages 15, 14, 13, 4, and 2. “It’s madness sometimes. But I love it,” he said.
This was also SSgt. Leonard’s first time visiting the Vineyard. He grew up fishing in the Shenandoah Valley, and he looked forward to competing in the 70th Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, a major component of the Saltwater Challenge event.
“The trout fishing in Colorado hasn’t been very good the past few years,” he said; Sgt. Williams nodded in agreement. “I’m looking forward to meeting some fish. I’ve always wanted to fish the Vineyard. And I wouldn’t mind winning a truck,” he said, laughing.
“I’ll take the boat, thank you,” Sgt. Williams said, working a fresh beer.
Nixon family tradition
As darkness descended, Sarah Nixon, co-host of the Challenge, shepherded the group inside for dinner. This is the seventh time she and her husband Bob Nixon, owners of the Beach Plum Inn, the Menemsha Inn, and Home Port restaurant, have hosted the four-day event. Ms. Nixon presided over the ceremonies with the grace and ease of an experienced emcee.
“I am totally not responsible for this event,” she told the crowd that filled the dining room. “There’s someone who hates the spotlight who was smart enough to come up with this idea when they were 7 years old; now he’s a freshman in high school and he’s really grown into someone special,” she said, referring to her son Jack.
After Jack told his father he wished wounded soldiers could fish the Derby, the Nixons set to work. With cooperation from the fishing and Menemsha community, the first American Heroes Saltwater Challenge was launched in 2009.
“This event has gained a life of its own; now people are donating their money and their services, unsolicited,” Ms. Nixon said, to a round of applause. “Typically there are alumni who recommend people for the Saltwater Challenge. The most amazing thing is that this year, no one could recommend one person who was still in Walter Reed [Army Medical Center],” she said, to roof-raising applause.
“The best part for me is all of our guests, who come from all over the country, Colorado and Texas, South Carolina, is they get to see what an awesome Island we have, and what a giving community we have,” she said.
As she introduced all the different guests, Ms. Nixon included Sgt. Williams. “I think his wife is a little bit peeved he brought his best friend, Marc Leonard,” she joked.
“She’s not a boat person,” Sgt. Williams said later. “Plus, we’re just about to take custody of my 15-year-old nephew, so she wanted to get ready for that.”
As the dinner wound down, SSgt. Leonard talked about his two deployments in Iraq, one of which was in Samarra. “We had a 24-hour presence in the city,” he said. “We’d work two weeks in the nighttime, two weeks in the daytime. Things definitely got pretty intense.”
SSgt. Leonard said the hardest part was missing his family. On his first Iraq deployment, he could only call on his commanding officer’s satellite phone, every two weeks or so. In his second Iraq deployment, he and other company members chipped in for a computer and satellite Internet access, but it eventually became too expensive. His last deployment in Kuwait was much better.
“They set up a studio where you could make a DVD of yourself reading books to your kids. They’d also get the book, so they could follow along. It didn’t work so well with my teenagers,” he said, laughing.
Although he’s soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, he, like Sgt. Williams, came back from his deployments with psychological scars that he’s working to heal. “I came back with a hair-trigger temper that I never had before. It affects you in all kinds of ways. Talking to someone really helps,” he said.
“Everyone comes back different,” Sgt. Williams said. “It’s unavoidable.”
Peace
Speaking with The Times on Wednesday morning, Sgt. Williams said Captain Chip Vanderhoop was good to his word, and that he caught four bluefish. “The smallest was 8½ pounds,” he said. “They’re a pretty stout fish.” Although he didn’t get to taste his catch, he said Ms. Nixon is having one smoked and sent to him.
“The no-stress atmosphere was huge,” he said. “I didn’t once struggle with anxiety.”
Sgt. Williams said he’s already saving his money to come back next year for the opening of the Derby, this time with his wife. “She’s been a huge, huge help since I got back,” he said. “I want her to see this place.”
