Cunningham-Ramos AML & Stroke after TBI Journey

Kim had occasionally talked about the 3 years he spent as a logistics officer in the Navy from 1970-1973, and that his destroyer ship, the US Orleck, had gone into Vietnam on at least 3 occasions to support the war. However, his DD214 service record form does not reflect the medal or his service during a time of war.

It was not until about 4 years ago that we started using his veteran services (for hearing aids) that I noticed that his record was not updated. I’ve been working on trying to straighten that out for his legacy as well as for being able to use any veteran services for which he may be eligible now that he has AML and suffered a stroke.

As a side note, Kim was drafted into the war. He was at UC Davis at the time, studying economics, which he extended into a math minor in order to ‘avoid’ going to this controversial war. When his draft number became low, he tried to self-recruit into the Air Force where both his mother and father had served. But his vision was not 20-20. So he went to the Navy, served honorably, and acquired the love of the sea from this experience.