By JOE VARGO / The Press-Enterprise, CA
Helping former prisoners of war freed Larry Stroud from the rage that haunted him following his time in Vietnam.
Like lots of Vietnam veterans, Stroud returned from combat disillusioned and embittered by what he experienced. He burned through two marriages, became hypervigilant about his children and in general, "wasn't a very nice person."
By chance, he met Gladys Fleckenstein at a Veterans of Foreign Wars gathering in 1997. She told him about her son, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Larry J. Stevens, who was shot down on a mission in Laos on Valentine's Day, 1969. He remains missing. Stroud, 58, said a light went off within at that instant. He would channel the energy from being angry to a new direction. Stroud has organized Riverside County's annual Prisoner-of-War, Missing in Action recognition day, which for the last six years has been designated the VFW's best in California. The event, held in September, features as many as 40 former captives and relatives of servicemen listed as missing in action.
"I've been dedicated to this cause ever since," Stroud said from his home in Hemet. "It took me a long time to bring me back to my peers. I needed to do something. I needed to do something with the VFW with a Vietnam message to it."
He's traveled to Washington for briefings about the latest efforts to account for those listed as missing, which number 70,000 from World War II, 8,000 from Korea and about 1,800 from Vietnam.
"The process is still slow. We're not aggressive enough. We need more accountability," he said.
There are triumphs.
In 2002, Stroud met a Hemet woman whose brother's remains had been located in a foxhole in Korea after nearly 50 years. Despite the gut-wrenching stories, Stroud says his years of working with former prisoners and families of the missing in action have calmed his frustrations. It's made him a better person.
"It's the most humbling thing I've ever done as an adult," he said.