Legacy Of Service
INTRODUCTION
My name is Dr. Barry Tishler and I am the founder and executive director of the Addiction Education Foundation Inc., a Florida 501-3-c non-profit, and the program manager of the 2nd Mission Veteran Sober House.
A JOURNEY OF FAITH, RECOVERY, AND DISCOVERY
My sober journey of faith and recovery has led me to this 2nd MISSION through DNA testing and the discovery of my birth father, a Vietnam and war hero and recipient of the US Army Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in combat, who also fought for and helped veterans after the war. Now his lost son carries on his legacy of service with purpose and meaning, creating the “2nd Mission Veteran Sober House.”
Coming to this Mission and place in my life has taken a lifetime and a series of events that now brings me to this calling of hope and service. Adopted, I never knew my father and he never knew of me and now our story can be told, shared, and put into a program of altruistic action and service. One that reunites families and friends, soldiers, and civilians, those who have struggled with addiction and PTSD, with a healing purpose and the promise of faith, hope, and service.
MY FATHER’S STORY
My father and our family are from Eastport Maine and here is his story.
It was Dec 7th the “Battle of Dai Dong” Vietnam 1967, one day before his 20th birthday, and on the battlefield, he became a hero as the 8th Cavalry 1st squad began the assault on a heavily fortified North Vietnamese post. As the battle begun, an American armored personnel carrier was struck by enemy fire, wounding all of the crew members. According to the Army’s official report on the action, my father, “fearlessly raced 20 meters, through an intense hail of bullets, to the stricken vehicle. Under withering fire, he put all the casualties aboard, took the controls and drove the vehicle to safety, plowing through a North Vietnamese machine gun bunker, killing the occupants.” Bullet Bouchard then returned to the front when a second assault was unleashed, personally charging several enemy bunkers, destroying them with grenades and rifle fire. At one point, he engaged in face-to-face combat with three North Vietnamese soldiers killing all three with machine-gun fire.
In March 1968 Tom’s Silver Star was upgraded and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, “for dauntless courage in close combat that inspired his fellow soldiers to an overwhelming victory.” For that action, he also received the Cross of Gallantry, the Republic of Vietnam’s highest military honor.
During his two tours of duty in Vietnam my father was also awarded 2 Bronze Stars with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal, along with numerous other medals and commendations and finally the Purple Heart, for shrapnel wounds that left him disabled.
In 1991, by order of Congress, my father’s heroism was again recognized through his induction into the Legion of Valor. This century-old brotherhood consists of the elite of the elite. Membership limited to Americans awarded one of the Nation’s two highest military honors: the Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross, securing his place and legacy as one of the most highly decorated Army Vietnam Veteran from Maine.
My father’s courage under fire and achievements would cost him greatly. Returning from the war and disabled he suffered from PTSD, substance use, and depression but it was ultimately agent orange and a tumor that would take his life in early 2000. Even with my father’s struggles after returning home he was deeply committed to helping vets obtain VA services across the state of Maine and fought for those who were MIA and their families. He served as vice commander of the DAV, district 3, post commander of the VFW, 558.
That day, Dec 7th, 1967, he was unaware that back home he was a father to a son that was placed for adoption and who at the time almost one. Years later I would find my father, his legacy, family, friends, even those that he served with and who then bestowed on me his medals and ceremonial flag after DNA confirmed that I was his eldest son. A son determined to honor my father and carry on his legacy of service to veterans.
SHARED STRUGGLES, SHARED PURPOSE
My life has been blessed and cursed by issues similar to my father and my struggles where long and hard but for a reason… to find him and who I was and what he did during and after the war would bring both of our successes and failures, pain and growth, together, to do as he did, altruistically help veterans heal and become whole again on the battle field of life to “Battle PTSD.”
CARRYING THE MISSION FORWARD
I am grateful that my journey has placed me in a position to be of service to veterans in need and to carry the message of hope in the name of my father and for all that have served and suffered.
2nd MISSION Veteran Sober House is my 2nd MISSION where I serve for the legacy of my father Sgt. Thomas “Bullet” Bouchard 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division- Air Mobile
Tom Bouchard Congressional Record
