First Name: Thurman
Last Name: Rhodes
Middle Initial: L
Date of Birth: 10/02/1956
Sex: Male
Martial Status: Married
Number of Children: Yes
Home Town: English, Indiana
Education Completed: Not Sure
Other Occupations:
Branch of Service: Marines
Highest Rank: L/CPL
Serial Number: N/A
Platoon: N/A
Age at Start of Service: 19
Years of Service: 2
Combat Veteran: Yes
Time in Combat: Not Sure
Place of Combat: N/A
Awards:
Date of Suicide: 12/1981
Suicide Method: self-inflicted gunshot to head
Veteran’s Story: My brother was my hero. When we were kids he would always put the worm on my hook for me when we went fishing. When he came home from the military, he had changed. He would sit and stare into space, not talking. He had no interest in going anywhere or doing anything. He was so very depressed. He was in and out of the VA Hospitals numerous times during those 10 years. All the VA did was keep him on drugs. They never tried to help all they did was medicate him so that he would sleep. They would just turn out the light, close his door, and walk off. This was just another problem they didn’t care to deal with. Out of sight, out of mind sort of thing. His wife left him; she couldn’t deal with it either.He tried adjusting to the outside world but couldn’t. He tried adjusting to the mental wards at the Va hospitals and couldn’t. He once asked, “Where do I go from here?” None of us had the answer. I remember waking up during the night to the sound of crying and his pacing back and forth. My room was next to his old room. The entire family tried to help him but in the end apparently nothing helped. My uncle was the first to find my brother. Thurman had driven back a secluded gravel road and shot himself in the head with a gun. He was with-in a mile of my parents home where he had grown up. He had roamed these woods as a kid and maybe he was remembering his happy years before going to Vietnam. At least I hope in my heart he did. I also want to believe that maybe he’s in heaven putting worms on another little girls fishing hook like he did mine, and there he will forever continue to be my hero.
Submitted By: Janet S. Ragland
Relationship to Veteran: Sibling
