BIOGRAPHY OF THE FOUNDER
CHARLES W. ALLMAN III.
Charles is a Navy, Vietnam veteran, who served with Navy Air squadron (VS-41), at North Island Navel Air Station, in San Diego, Ca., and then was sent to Viet Nam in 1966 with the Naval Support Activity in Danang,Vietnam, stationed with Navy Seal Team 1, at Camp Tien shau. Upon returning to the states, he served with the First Lieutenants Division, at the Naval Submarine Base, New London, Conn., until receiving a Medical Discharge from the Navy.
In 1967, we had not yet learned about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Battle Fatigue, Shell shock, etc.).We ignored the after effects of war on our veterans for decades,until the Vietnam war. Charles was suffering from what we now call PTSD. When he came home from the war, he was called 'baby killer',and spit on at the airport. This,compounded by his experiences in Vietnam, sent his PTSD into overdrive and he spent the next 22 years, homeless, angry, in and out of trouble with the law, spent time in prison, got shot, and got Cancer from his direct exposure to Agent Orange. Quite a story!
Forty two years later, he found himself, and former fiancee (now his wife), Charmaine in the deep south. When he sought to continue attending his PTSD group as he did in New York, he discovered that not many veterans were receiving their compensation and disability monies because most knew nothing about how to get them. Coming in contact with veterans who had been “overlooked by the system! They were being treated for PTSD, but weren't receiving fair and just compensation for their illness. After realizing that the Atlanta Veterans Admin- istration was unable to properly take care of its' veterans, as promised, he formed the GVG, Inc. with the members of his PTSD group, to help them receive all of the benefits they earned serving their country!
Charles was a handler of the barrels of Agent Orange that were shipped to Vietnam. He unloaded thousands of barrels of Agent Orange from cargo ships that came into the Danang Harbor with war supplies.
He got Cancer from his exposure to AO, and as a result, lost a toe and part of his left foot, and lost his dark skinned color, because the Chemotherapy used to save his life, killed the cancer cells, but also killed his melanin cells, over a period of 27 years. Agent Orange contains 'Dioxin', a deadly type of chemical used to spray the foliage and jungle in Vietnam. Many vets died from those spraying missions, twenty, thirty and forty years later, from a variety of conditions and disorders.
Charles was treated for the Cancer with an experimental new type of Chemotherapy (1976) at Roswell Park Memorial Institute for Cancer Research in Buffalo,NY.
The chemo worked, it destroyed all of the Cancer cells, but it also destroyed Charles' melanin cells turning him from a dark skin black man, to almost completely white. Talk about being traumatized!
In 1999, after fighting for 32 years with the VA for service connected disability, he finally won his claim.... well partially any way. He was given 100% total and permanently disabled status, but was only paid retroactively for 11 years, instead of the 32 years he fought for the disability rating. And he has not quit fighting.
Since the late 1980's, Charles has dedicated his life to learning and understanding how the VA system works, and has helped thousands of veterans and their families with his knowledge, and through his experiences. And its' amazing that he has kept his organization going with whats' left of his disability check, every month, year after year!!
Charles has served as President of “ The Untied African American Veterans of Western New York, Vice President of the Batavia Alumni Association, a vital part of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder unit at the Batavia Veterans Hospital in Batavia, New York. He was also involved in the planning and creation of the Western New York Veterans Housing Coalition with its' founder, Jerry Bowman. This is a multi- million dollar program that provides housing for homeless veterans and/or distressed disabled veterans and their families.
Charles believes very strongly that veterans of all era's should be respected, taken care of, and honored by ALL Americans, not just by our political leaders, but everyone who enjoys the Freedom of being in America. No vet should be jobless if he can work, no veteran should be homeless because he or she served, no veteran should have to worry about being treated for disabilities or conditions they suffer from.
With this almost unnatural desire to help every vet, or vet family that he comes in contact with, either with his vast knowledge of the system and the information he provides, or just comfort and re-strengthen those who face depression and are distraught, Charles has changed peoples lives (especially with his Claim writing skills)! And its' all from the Heart!!!