A 10-year-old girl with autism who was too shy
to speak in class a year ago has taken the internet by storm with her powerful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
The video of Kaylee Rodgers, who attends the Killard House School in Donaghadee,
Northern Ireland, has amassed millions of views on social media after it was posted on YouTube Dec. 19.
“To stand
in front of a crowd and perform is amazing,” Colin Millar, Rodgers’ principal, told Raycom News Network. “It
takes a lot of effort on Kaylee’s part.”
Rodgers has been enrolled at Killard House School since
she turned four, BBC News reported. The school’s music teacher, Llyod Scates, encouraged her to sing solos during concerts
and helped build her confidence.
“She
always loved singing, but it wasn’t until she started at Killard House School that she really came into her own,”
Tracy Rodgers, Kaylee’s mom, told BBC News. “He’s like her safety blanket – he’s amazing.” READ THE WHOLE STORY AT: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/12/23/10-year-old-girl-with-autism-stuns-social-media-with-rendition-hallelujah.html?refresh=true
A Proud Disabled Veteran's Battle For Justice
Against His Corrupt State Supreme CourtJohn "Jack" Cunningham always wanted to serve
in the Marines and serve he did. He grew up watching patriotic films on television about the heroism of America's overall
military in World War II; his older brothers served in the military: one in the US Army, the other in the Navy. Eventually,
his dream of serving in the Marines came true and he went to boot camp at Parris Island (famous for its depiction in Kubrick's
take on Vietnam Full Metal Jacket). After his training, at the age of nineteen Jack was sent to California where he received
orders from the Combined Action Program (CAP): he was to go to special training school in Da Nang. Jack had watched war movies
when he was younger but this wasn't a movie on tv; this was Vietnam. Although at 19 years old, the New York City boy thought, he knew so much, he was about to learn
so much more. Jack knew the battle was going to be intense, but he didn't
know it was going to be as intense, when he came home. The CAP unit served round the clock in Vietnamese
villages where they defended the villagers from guerrilla attacks. They were nicknamed
"the Peace Corps volunteers with rifles" but the truth was far more ominous:
CAPs were killed almost as soon as they were replaced. The tiny units consisted of only a handful of
Marines and a U.S. Navy Corpsman per village and attacks were often. The U.S. Navy Corpsman was there for
caring for the Marines, but also the daily, long line of Vietnamese villagers needing regular health care.
The Marines, including Jack, helped with bandaids and giving babies soapy baths. Any complex health condition, the villager
would be sent to a Marine base by helicopter or Jeep.
For the young, Americans supplying the health care, it was
like a new TV episode of Mash everyday. No Vietnamese peasant was ever turned away without health care. At first
the CAPs consisted of Marines who volunteered for the units, but as more and more horrifying stories of violence, brutal conflict,
and high casualties began to spread, Marines had to be assigned. Jack was assigned to the Duc Duc resettlement village
where conflict almost immediately greeted him. There were many times where death was certain-
times that many of us who have never been in the heat of battle could never understand.
There is no question of his and the other CAPs bravery. Unfortunately, stories of Cap units stretched
far too thin beating the odds and saving the lives of villagers are hardly told. Far more people know of the
tragedies like the massacre of My Lai village where it was the atrocities of the US army
rather than the many stories of those like Jack's. The village his unit defended had a population
in the thousands while, with the exception of a handful of villagers who fought alongside the
Americans, there were just on average of eight marines and as few as four at any given
time. The confusion of which villagers were sympathetic to the US forces and which were
sympathetic to the Communists created a situation rife with paranoia. There were constant rumors of
communists infiltrating the village. Communications between the CAPs and the villagers was often mangled by language
barriers. Enemy propaganda circulated constantly exploiting the CAPs obvious vulnerabilities.
Jack was
wounded three different times in and around his village of Duc Duc. He received one
Purple Heart, because the other two wounds were minor. During one of his units daily
patrol's, he stepped on a large booby trap that never exploded. During one intense combat action outside the
village, Jack's buddy George Dros of Burlington Flats, NY credited Jack with saving his
life and that of two other Marines, when Jack intentionally made himself a target for
Viet Cong terrorists in order to save his three buddies. Many times,
Jack's worst moments weren't during heat of battle but the rare times of calm
when he could actually process what was going on: the
fear of attacks at any moment and the paranoia that the enemy might be hiding amongst the
same people he was trying to protect. Beyond that was the bigger picture:
he didn't know who he was fighting or why he was fighting. His
generation was divided between those who had their doubts but didn't voice disrespect
and those who protested violently. In May 1970, the
shooting deaths of four anti-war protesting students at Kent State made this same mental conflict
even worse as the line between countrymen and enemies blurred even further. This extreme stress
and pressure at such a vulnerable time left a permanent impression
on Jack. The fact that the local communists had a bounty on each of the
Americans heads. The uncertainty of enemy attacks, the frustration
with the treatment of his own countrymen, and- most importantly- the confusion over what the ultimate
goal was with the war created the perfect storm in his
head. Added to this, Jack's unit was shocked to find a Viet Cong tunnel
that contained, $5,000 in American green currency, $3,000 in military
currency, and- most painful of all- boxes of clothing donated by students from the
Berkley University in California. Students the same age as Jack were protesting and supporting
the very enemy killing off marines and Vietnamese peasants
left and right. As small a gesture as the clothing was, it was
the worst stab in the back Jack could have ever gotten from his peers back home in America.
He felt that his buddies and him were being betrayed by those who
should have been supporting them. Jack felt very a lone. He wondered
how World War II veterans felt, when they were battling
in their war. On July 17, 1970, Jack was part of a five Marine patrol
outside his village that got pinned down and surrounded for hours. Another CAP Team from another village
had to come to their rescue. However, it too got
pinned down. Marine helicopter gunships and two Navy F-4 fighter jets came
and bailed out both CAP Teams. In August
1970, an event would occur that would never leave him the same again. After switching patrols
one evening with another marine, a surprise attack would
result in his replacement losing his legs then dying from the blood loss. The tragic death
would be one that stood out amongst the many other bloody incidents
during Jack's time in Vietnam. In his mind, he was at fault rather
than the enemy. If he hadn't switched patrols, the other man would be alive. Jack would
remain haunted by the death long after he was safe from
the daily horrors of the war. Around the time of the death, Jack would receive news
and clippings that the Vietnam War memorial in his hometown had been vandalized twice
by protesters. The anti-military protesters attacked
by night like communist, Viet Cong terrorists the names of the town's eight Vietnam
War dead with tar and black paint. Already bitter,
this information served to only rub more salt in Jack's wounds. Many
of today's patriots would almost feel the pain, he was under. WHY... Conditions worsened when word began to spread
that the CAPs were going to pull out of the area. The
villagers felt betrayed and their relations with the Marines cooled considerably. Night
watches consisted of constant wakefulness leaving Jack
and his Marine buddies perpetually exhausted. Any wrong move meant death; any wrong action
meant further ostracizing from the villagers. His very sanity became a delicate tightrope
as the extreme conditions weighed down everyone around
him. Finally, President Nixon announced the withdrawals of the troops freeing Jack from
his torment. He left in February 1971 but leaving the battlegrounds
would be bittersweet. A few months later in March and April, successive
Viet Cong attacks destroyed to complete ashes the Duc Duc resettlement village killing
hundreds of the same villagers Jack had previously been
tasked to protect.
Jack returned to the United States with the memories
of the war, and stupid questions of how many babies he was forced to kill and
did he ever have to burn his village down, but as time went on, they seemed to fade away. There
were some events in the future that would create even
more emotional turmoil: the fall of Saigon in 1975 would be especially painful as he
recounts how he felt when he learned the news: "A lot of
sadness and a lot of anger, even rage. I felt everything was a pure waste."
To put the 1975 fall of Vietnam into perspective, just thirty years before America was
celebrating the triumphant victory of the Allied forces
against the Axis. Now, nearly forty years after the fall, many veterans of the Iraq
War know a similar bitterness when the country they fought to liberate fell
into the hands of ISIS. Life began to slowly go back to normal. Jack settled
in New Jersey, started a family, and began a career
running computer systems. His experience with the military proved to be useful
for him as he became increasingly more successful. By the 1980s, life was good for Jack. He was
thought highly of by his peers and was responsible for
several employees. Jack begun to think of his team of computer programmers and analysts
as his own CAP Team. His Subscriber Data Processing
Team were now his buddies. The job was somewhat stressful but he handled
it well before things began to change unexpectedly in 1985. In 1980, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was
added to the DSM-III by the American Psychiatric Association.
PTSD has since become closely associated with veterans from Vietnam and for good reason:
31% are believed to suffer from it. While the severity of the condition
can vary from patient to patient, it can be debilitating for those
who have it worst. PTSD can manifest itself in minor ways for years as anxiety or intrusive
flashbacks with very little effect on a patient's
day to day life. Sometimes, years can pass before it causes serious issues as was the case
with Jack, who began to experience serious problems around 1985 but managed to keep
working for sometime while his condition slowly deteriorated.
Using federal Veterans Administration's (VA) medications and therapy
to cope, Jack carried on with life as usual, but with
each year his memories weighed him down further. Finally, in 1989, he was no longer able to work. It is common
with many who suffer from PTSD- like sufferers from severe forms
of anxiety or depression- to become chronically unemployed due to the
difficulties their condition imposes on them. In this day and age, there
is far more leeway for someone with a mental illness to get
help and recognition. In 1989, however, many people's knowledge of PTSD came from movies like First Blood where
the main character John Rambo suffers from a psychotic
break due to his experiences in Vietnam. PTSD veterans had been stereotyped
as crazy and able to snap at any time. This belief caused many
of sufferers to remain in the shadows because of the fear of being ostracized for
their shortcomings. Far to often, brave and honorable veterans with PTSD were judged
for the false and weak images of the stigma of
PTSD. Thousands took their own lives, because of it. While
Jack did seek help, he didn't get better. Twice
he would be hospitalized at VA facilities in 1986; both times, he was sent gifts and support
by his employees and friends. He seemed to have good
support but in 1989, the memories of friends' deaths during the war created intense survivor's
guilt. This, along with life's stresses, created the perfect storm.
Oftentimes, those with PTSD will not experience worrisome
symptoms until they've gone through an extended illness like pneumonia or influenza;
others won't have symptoms until they enter a period of extreme
stress like having issues at work or with family. With Jack, his own thoughts became his worst
enemy. As the memories started flooding back into Jack's head,
he could no longer function. Jack would continue
in this way until 1996 around the time of the birth of his fifth child. He had
to be hospitalized for nearly four months because of PTSD which obviously caused
problems in his personal life. As his mental state tore him
apart, his domestic life caused him further pain. In 1999, Jack's
wife filed for divorce. The divorce suit would be only the beginning of Jack Cunningham's struggle for
justice as lawsuit after lawsuit exposed the corruption
of the New Jersey justice system. To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired a locally,
well-known, law firm out of Morristown, New Jersey,
Maynard & Truland, LLC. He paid them a retainer check, which they cashed within two
days and expected a routine handling of his case,
but things only fell apart from there. Deadlines were missed and Jack's needs
were ignored. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate in their handling of the
divorce suit even allowing for it to enter into default;
a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. On the way out the door to visit
his older sister in a NYC hospital, who was getting a
major operation for lung cancer, he was notified by mail from family court that he was
now in divorce default for no activity on the case. The misrepresentation given by
the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote
to the courts complaining about their woeful behavior saying that Jack was, for all intents
and purposes, representing himself. All that the firm managed
to do was overcharge him an extra $25.00 an hour over the contracted rate
that they had agreed on. What made it ever more disgracefully, interesting was that
right in the Maynard & Truland law firm's own
printed Invoice was that they were billing Jack for their own Divorce Default removal.
Jack was
rightfully angry over how he had been treated and took his case to the
New Jersey Supreme Court local, State Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further
problems for Jack since a partner of Maynard & Trudell
actually served on the Ethics board: Robert Correale. This Robert
Correale was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf
in court but never once spoke and was obviously unprepared. Cunningham soon faced an
enemy far more stealthy and far more cruel than that of the Viet Cong decades before.
He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts
of New Jersey and, later, the Federal justice system. The first
response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee
was one that simply stated he should get a different attorney. This, of course, was far
from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation
Jack received by the law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale
to the same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended his law firm.
The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated
by- of all people- Robert Correale! In any other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation of the legal
system. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events
would occur which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has faced for
over a decade. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove himself
from blame and, later, many court recordings related
to a future law suit (mentioned below) "disappeared" before they could be officially
transcribed. Finally, if that weren't enough, Correale mocked Jack's
struggle with PTSD and brought a lawsuit claiming that he owed
his law firm an additional $2,000. The judge handling the law suit threw the suit
out but not before adding that Jack had gathered enough evidence to warrant another
lawsuit. These remarks could not be recovered when Jack was preparing for his counter suit.
How all of this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy
that could only be pure fiction but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily.
Already reeling from a divorce and his ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had
to deal with the bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system.
He was all alone in this fight just like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit
in Vietnam. Soon, though, Jack wouldn't be alone.
Many are familiar with the Marine Corps motto: "Semper Fi"
which stands for "Semper Fidelis" a Latin term
meaning "always faithful". Indeed, the Marines were always faithful to Jack
as a number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number
of other vets who learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT alone in his fight.
For thirteen years, Jack led a letter writing campaign that went
all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey who had the
Office of Attorney Ethics to state that if Robert Correale were to use his position
on the State Ethics board to investigate Jack's case it would be an ethics violation.
This was a small victory for Jack but he went on. His letter writing campaign
did not die down but he continued for justice. He would write
to Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor
Chris Christie but there has still not been Justice. To handle his divorce suit, Jack hired Maynard
& Truland, LLC and informed them in detail that he was PTSD disabled
from heavy combat in the Vietnam War. He signed their contact, paid
them a agreed upon retainer check that the law firm cashed within three
days and expected a routine handling of his case, but things only fell apart from there. Because of no
of action from the law firm, deadlines were missed and
Jack's needs were ignored. For whatever reason, the firm was grossly inadequate
in their handling of the divorce suit even allowing for
it to enter into default; a fact they neglected to tell Jack until it was too late. The
representation given by the firm was so poor that Jack's own ex-wife wrote to the courts
complaining about their woeful behavior saying that
Jack was, for all intents and purposes, representing himself. All that the firm managed
to do was charge him an extra $25.00 an hour that they had agreed
on. Jack was rightfully angry over how he had
been treated and took his case to the local, New Jersey
State Supreme Court Attorney Ethics Committee. This would lead to even further
problems for Jack since a partner of Maynard & Trudell actually served on the
same Attorney Ethics committee: Robert Correale. Robert Correale's
law firm's website listed Correale as not only being on the same committee, but listed
Correale as their Vice-Chairman. This Robert Correale
was the same lawyer who was supposed to serve on Jack's behalf in court
but never once spoke and was obviously unprepared. Cunningham soon faced an enemy far more stealthy
and far more cruel than that of the Viet Cong decades
before. He was now going to take on the cold, faceless courts of New Jersey and, later,
the Federal justice system. The first
response Jack received from the State Ethics Committee was one that simply stated that
he should get a different law firm. This, of course,
was far from satisfactory: what about the horrible representation Jack received by his
law firm and, by extension, Robert Correale? A document, sent by Correale to the
same Ethics committee that he was on the board of, defended
his law firm. The ethics violations that Jack alleged were to be investigated by- of all
people- Robert Correale! In any
other setting, this would be considered an extreme violation
of the legal system. However, it was permitted. A series of questionable events would occur
which illustrates the grave injustices that Jack has
faced for over a decade. Correale would use his influence on the Ethics committee to remove
himself and his law firm, Maynard & Truland from blame and, later, many court
recordings related to a future law suit (mentioned below)
"disappeared" before they could be officially transcribed. Finally, if that weren't
enough, Correale mocked Jack's struggle with PTSD and
brought up a lawsuit claiming that he owed his law firm a further $2,000. The judge handling
the law suit threw the suit out but not before adding
that Jack gathered enough evidence to warrant another lawsuit. These remarks could not
be recovered when Jack was preparing for his counter suit. How all of
this occurred seems like a wild conspiracy that could only be pure fiction
but it's all true and it plagued Jack daily. Already reeling from a divorce and his
ongoing struggles with PTSD, he had to deal with the
bureaucratic nightmare of the New Jersey legal system. He was all alone in this fight just
like so many times thirty years before in his CAP unit in Vietnam. Soon, though, Jack
wouldn't be alone. Many are familiar with the Marine Corps
motto: "Semper Fi" which stands for "Semper Fidelis" which
is Latin for "always faithful". Indeed, the Marines were always faithful
to Jack. A number of the Marines he served with in the past- and a number of other vets who
learned of his struggle- reassured him that he was NOT
alone in his fight. For thirteen years, Jack led a letter writing campaign
that went all the way up to then-governor James Mcgreevey who had the Office of
Attorney Ethics to state that if Robert Correale were to use his position
on the State Ethics board to investigate Jack's case it would be an ethics violation.
This was a small victory for Jack but he went on. His
letter writing campaign did not die down but he continued for justice. He would
write to Governors Richard Codey, Jon Corzine, and the current Governor Chris Christie
but there has still not been justice. Recently, in an even
more bizarre twist, Robert Correale was cleared of any wrongdoing despite obvious perjury
and malpractice although the case is now being taken
to federal courts.
Jack's life has not been all bad, though. He remarried and has been with his
wife Joan for fourteen years. He and his ex-wife Alice- who
herself recognized the overwhelming odds Jack is up against- remain
on friendly terms. He now resides in Sussex, New Jersey and is something of a local celebrity.
His family only grew both in strength and in numbers during Jack's
legal battles: he has five children and three step-children along with nine grandchildren.
He continues his therapy for PTSD and has managed to
keep ahead of his mental struggles. In February of this year, Jack finally
received even more support for his efforts when a veterans foundation agreed to connect him to a team
of pro bono lawyers for his future federal court case.
There is no argument about Jack's heroic military service.
His actions were above and beyond the line of duty and he should
be recognized for it rather than discredited as a crazy old man. The VA's motto comes from the words
of Abraham Lincoln: "To care for him who shall have
borne the battle" and these words should influence all of our attitudes to the soldiers
who have returned home with even greater personal struggles
in their future. Should our government- who swore to take on the
responsibility of caring for every last soldier living or dead- be allowed to throw Jack to the curb? His story
is just one of many other struggles that veterans have
been forced to face , and it's a grave injustice that we can allow this to
happen in this great country. So ask yourself this Veteran's
Day: Should outrages like these be covered up and forgotten, or should
they be used to open our country's eyes so our country's finest can be helped in the future?
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