First Name: Alexander
Last Name: Helms
Middle Initial: M
Date of Birth: 09/20/1947
Sex: Male
Martial Status: Married
Number of Children: 2
Home Town: Mullca Hill, NJ
Education Completed: High School
Other Occupations:
Branch of Service: Navy
Highest Rank: unknown
Serial Number: unknown
Platoon: N/A
Age at Start of Service: 18
Years of Service: 5
Combat Veteran: Yes
Time in Combat: 2
Place of Combat: Vietman
Awards:
Date of Suicide: 09/2001
Suicide Method: Gunshot to the head
Veteran’s Story: I don’t know much about my fathers 2 tours in Vietnam. He didn’t like to talk about it. He got extremly emotional when it was brought up – and after his death I came up against numerous road blocks to get any of his service information from that particular time period. He completed suicide 2 days after the 9/11 tragedy. The grief is overwhelming and the stigma attached to his death is so hard to deal with because so many people have never dealt with this type of death and don’t know how to deal us because of it. I miss my dad every minute of every day.
Submitted By: Kelly Franchetti
Relationship to Veteran: Child
