DECATUR. Ill. (WAND) - We often see the medals and stripes that our veterans wear proudly on Memorial Day, but what we don't see are their invisible wounds.
"You're never going to win because we're never going to stop. That's what he said," recalled Vietnam War Hospital Corpsman Craig Hanks.
These were the words of a Vietcong prisoner before he fell unconscious on Corpsman Hanks' operating table.
"The bottoms of his feet were as thick as show leather and that's from running around in the jungle all his life," he said.
This is one of many memories that Hanks shared that day as he paused and remembered a soldier he pulled out of the water.
"He was coming back from a bar and missed his footing. He fell in the river," Hanks said.
After days, Hanks said people from a nearby village floated the soldier's body back to the base.
"I pulled his body out of the river," he paused. "We used to wear these surgical masks that smelled like peppermint, so anytime I smell peppermint, I see that guy's face."
That's one of the many invisible wounds Hanks told WAND News that he lives with.
"I want Independence Day to serve as a time for people to really talk about our differences and try to work through them," explained Hanks.
This was a favor asked from one of our veterans with hopes that maybe this year, we can work towards fulfilling it.
