Homeless Veteran meets Death in the Snow

EUGENE, OR--To wrap up an already troubled year, including a Christmas season wracked by a recession, this story from Eugene, Oregon is especially troubling.

Thomas Lawrence Egan, a 60-year old decorated war veteran, was found partially covered inn a few inches of snow on December 16, 2008. The Lane County Medical Examiner's Office declared him dead from exposure. The body was found a short distance from the Eugene Mission, where he had reportedly stayed the summer before.

Not only did Egan serve for two decades in the Army and Oregon national Guard, including two years serving in Korea, accumulating medals and ribbons, he was also awarded a Master's Degree from the University of Oregon in 1983.

According to Bud Dickey, Vocational Rehabilitation Coordinator with the VA Clinic in Eugene, Egan was "a good person who fell on bad times." Egan had been battling alcoholism for some time. When he was found at 5:30 p.m. by a passerby--presumably the body had been there at least a few days, as the snow that had fallen on him had fallen the morning of the day before--a bottle was found nearby. Egan was found in his sleeping bag. The temperature at the time was 15 F, but 6 F with the wind chill.

The KVAL Eugene news website has a video, and the Eugene Register Guard ran a haunting and elegiac editorial. The Portland station KATU likewise ran a story.

In a time where the new administration will have to budget for, among other things, veteran's services, and as the number of veterans needing services continues to rise in the continuing wake of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, this story continues to draw attention to the plight of many homeless, disabled, and damaged veterans in America.