Richard Earl Holmes II had been out of the United States Army for roughly two months when he went to his parents and told them he needed help.
Judie Holmes and her husband, Richard Holmes Sr., had noticed something seemed “off,” since his return, but they couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. He was still the compassionate son they had always known, engaged with family and seemed to be always thinking of everyone but himself. He was moody, though, and they noticed he seemed to be drinking a lot. He shrugged it off when they questioned him.
Finally, he admitted the truth: He was struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Eight years in the service, the death of his four-month-old baby, a subsequent divorce — all had taken a toll.
But after four months in a substance abuse rehabilitation program, they thought he was better. In July 2010, he enrolled in film school at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., and he was making new friends. He seemed upbeat. Happy.
On July 29, 2011, Holmes took his life. He was 28.
Through their grief, his parents have found a new purpose — helping returning veterans who, like their son, are coping with addictions, post-traumatic stress, depression and financial issues ranging from unemployment to homelessness.
Their nonprofit organization, the Richard E. Holmes II Memorial Foundation, was established on Veteran’s Day 2011 to connect veterans with the help they need and provide the financial support to make reintegration easier.
Holmes said with the influx of veterans now returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the need is greater than ever. Instead of competing with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, they’re hoping to complement them, acting as a stop-gap during the sometimes lengthy period of red-tape, wrangling for benefits, once they return.
“Once they return home, they’re different young men and women than when they left,” Holmes said. “We want to step in and help as many as we can.”
The biggest challenge is finding those in need, she said. There are more than 10,000 registered veterans in the Golden Triangle area, but thousands more fall through the cracks, reluctant to ask for help.
That’s why she and her husband are now gearing up for an outreach program with area churches, trying to locate those veterans in need of support.
The Veterans Administration estimates that around 18 U.S. veterans take their lives each day — a statistic that has increased since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Holmes has spent countless hours pouring over the data, trying to understand what happened to her son and how to best help others like him. She believes he must have relapsed into addiction, though she doesn’t know for sure. What she does know is he is not the only one.
“It’s just unacceptable for these young people to go off and give their all and come back and not be able to get the help they need,” she said Sunday afternoon. “Our way of helping him is to help the others who are here.”
She said for those who have served, the notion of others serving them is sometimes a strange concept, but she hopes veterans — as well as their families — will seek the Foundation’s help as a resource.
Columbus resident Dixie Butler, a member of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link’s military affairs committee and the Base Community Council, said as soon as Holmes contacted her, she knew she wanted to take part. Now, Butler is a board member with the Foundation.
“She helped open my eyes up to some of the problems that do exist,” Butler said Sunday. “Any way I can help make things better for the returning men and women — I’d like to be involved with that.”
Butler said a fundraiser walk is planned for Memorial Day at the Columbus Riverwalk, and other activities are on tap for the future.
“There is a crisis in our society,” Holmes said. “And that crisis is we’re losing young men and women in the very prime of their lives. So many gifts and talents, so much potential that our society will never be privy to because we’re losing them at an alarming rate. That should be unacceptable to all of us. We want to be part of the solution.”
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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