Bill Welyczko of Middletown, N.Y., was a U.S. Army squad leader when he went to fight in the Vietnam War in May 1966. There, he was wounded on three separate occasions and received the Purple Heart for each. But it wasn’t until much later in life that he faced death again due to wartime military service.
In 2014, he was diagnosed with lung cancer linked to exposure to Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used to kill jungle cover and expose enemy positions during the war. Part of Welyczko’s right lung had to be removed. Thirty days after VA performed the surgery, he was back on the table, and a kidney was removed. “VA would not provide me with any home health care when I left the hospital nor was there any follow-up chemotherapy,” Welyczko said. “I went to a private doctor for a second opinion, and he advised me I should have been receiving chemo post-surgery.”
Welyczko, a member of The American Legion, paid for his own chemotherapy after being told that VA would not cover it. Even with insurance, it cost thousands of dollars. But the cancer went into remission. Totally disabled, the decorated Vietnam War combat veteran needed help, and because his disability claim was not properly filed, months went by without income as the costs kept mounting.
On Thursday at the 98th National Convention of The American Legion, Welyczko received $5,000 worth of help from Soldier’s Wish, thanks to funds raised by The American Legion Auxiliary of New York. Help for veterans suffering from the effects of Agent Orange exposure was the main project of Department of New York Auxiliary President Jan Mahoney in 2015-16, who joined Soldier’s Wish Executive Director Mark Ochsenbein onstage to grant the wish.
“You don’t know how much this means to me and my family,” Welyczko said after receiving the check. “I am proud to be a member of The American Legion.”
Ochsenbein told the crowd that Welyczko’s troubles are far from over. “Three weeks ago, more nodules appeared, and it appears they are cancerous,” he explained, his voice cracking with emotion.
Soldier’s Wish is an American Legion-supported nonprofit organization that raises funds to honor and support members of the U.S. Armed Forces and military veterans by granting wishes to improve their lives. “We make wishes come true by meeting unmet needs,” Ochsenbein said.
Mahoney extended her thanks to the entire New York American Legion Family for raising funds this year to help veterans exposed to Agent Orange. “As a representative of the Department of New York American Legion Family, I thank them for their support in this project,” she told thousands assembled for the final day of the convention in Cincinnati. “Because of their donations, we are able to be here today, and for many days hopefully to come, to help our veterans suffering from Agent Orange.”
Learn more about Soldier’s Wish at www.soldierswish.org. To give to Soldier’s Wish or any American Legion fund, visit www.legion.org/donate on the National Headquarters website.
by Jeff Stoffer
