After Forty Years In Uniform, Sergeant Patel Still Stands Watch
A Vietnam veteran who never stopped serving — Sergeant Patel now leads a veterans' outreach that has helped over 800 returning service members find footing.
Sergeant Raj Patel served two tours in Vietnam before he was 22 years old. He came home in 1972 to a country that didn't know what to do with him.
So he made his own mission.
For the past forty years, Sergeant Patel has run a small veterans' outreach program out of a converted garage in his hometown. What started as coffee on Saturday mornings became a lifeline. Today, the organization has helped more than 800 returning service members find housing, jobs, and — most importantly — community.
"The war ends when the last veteran comes home," he says. "And we're not done bringing everybody home yet."
At 76, he still shows up every morning. He still answers his own phone. And every Veterans Day, he stands at attention at the local memorial — not for himself, but for the names carved into the granite.
We see you, Sergeant.