Veterans get help as DAV mobile unit visits Havelock

Aug. 26--Albert Witherspoon had been trying to get a schedule change for his hearing disability. It had been two years since he filed his appeal with the Veterans Administration.

On Tuesday, Witherspoon drove from his home in Kinston to the Havelock office of the Disabled American Veterans. That's where the DAV Mobile Service Unit gave him the answers he needed.

"I got what I needed to get done," said Witherspoon, a radio operator for the Marine Corps from 1980 to 1986. "The question was answered that I needed to be answered. These guys are doing a good job."

Witherspoon was one of 65 veterans and veteran spouses who came out Tuesday to get all sorts of questions answered and issues settled at the DAV.

"It's a great organization," Witherspoon said. "It's very helpful, especially when you can't get up to Winston-Salem, which is the main office (in the state)."

David Jennings, commander of the local DAV chapter that serves Havelock and Carteret County, said the organization exists to help veterans.

"We're here to help the veterans and obviously the word got out," he said. "We're volunteers here to help veterans get their packages into the (Veterans Administration) as best we can. Our time is theirs and we will give them our best effort."

Jennings said the intent of having the mobile unit in Havelock was to help veterans expedite claims.

"They can provide answers to specific questions that we cannot here," Jennings said. "We only have access to so much information for some of these individuals at the local level, however, at the state and national level, they have access to all these records and they can see things and they can make things happen much, much faster. We have assisted a bunch of folks here on our own that didn't need to see the van, too."

Laurie White is one of about 30 volunteers who work at the Havelock DAV.

"The best way to help is to get the word out," said White, who was helping Jennings with a packed house on Tuesday.

White said the high number of veterans who turned out Tuesday was a clear message.

"It says that we have a lot of veterans that haven't been helped yet that need the help," she said. "The more we get the word out, the more we can help people and make it easier for veterans to get the help that they need, especially when they don't know about it.

The mobile unit has brought more people because we advertised about it. The more we spread the word, the more we can help people."

- The Havelock office has been open since May of last year in Westbrooke Shopping Center.

"Now that we have a physical address for people to come to, it's much easier to see people," White said. "We got a lot of donated computers. We just got three new computers. We have them hooked up so that we can send things directly up to the DAV and the VA instead of printing all these forms and mailing them."

Bob Branscombe helped establish the office.

"It started off slow, but right now we're working at least 100 people a month coming through here," he said. "

The DAV office is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Appointments can be made by calling 652-9166.

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