By Don Steen
Staff Writer – [email protected]
SPENCER COUNTY – Veterans Service Officer Butch Meredith is finally committing to retirement at age 78, comforted in the knowledge that his favored successor, Ricky Biggs is now at the helm.
Spencer County’s VSO position has taken on an increasingly engaged role since Meredith first took the job on September 11, 2017. Through a combination of advertising, in-person events, and simple word of mouth, the number of local veterans exploring their earned benefits has grown by leaps and bounds. Indeed, Spencer County has become a destination of sorts for regional Veterans Affairs facilities, as Owensboro and other communities across the region often lack an engaged veterans service office. One veteran from as far away as Illinois has made the trip to Rockport to file a first-time claim after meeting with Meredith at a recent Honor Flight.
“This one told that one, that one told this one, and the more claims we filed the more people they told,” said Meredith. “We have quite a clientele.”
Visitors to the VSO’s office on the first floor of the Courthouse have probably seen Meredith’s wall of pictures honoring local veterans. In addition to helping people navigate the sometimes byzantine nature of federal forms and procedures, Meredith has worked to help honor the county’s many veterans and their service. In fact, one thing Meredith quite enjoyed about the job was getting to meet so many local veterans and hearing their stories.
“It’s been totally rewarding,” he said. “I got to meet a lot of people I wouldn’t ordinarily meet. I got to find out about a lot of veterans that I didn’t know were veterans. It’s one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve ever had.”
Meredith pointed out that many of the benefits available for veterans were unknown even to him at the start. A Marine veteran of the Vietnam War himself, he noted there was very little information freely available to veterans and their families. Any veteran, including those who never saw combat did their duty in the National Guard or Reserves, could be eligible for many programs to help with medical costs or even send their children to state schools free of tuition.
Of course, Meredith also had his share of harder cases. Those suffering from PTSD and other lingering traumas from their time in the military often don’t feel free to share those burdens. Meredith did his best to make the VSO’s office a safe space for veterans to talk about those things, either to help prepare claims or simply to share it with a fellow veteran who might understand.
“They told me things that they never told their spouses or their children,” said Meredith. “I just opened the door for them to relay things that were really on their mind and on their heart.”
Having taken the office so far, Meredith was keen on identifying the best possible candidate to vouch for when it came time for the commissioners to appoint his successor. As it happened, Biggs stood out pretty clearly.
“I wanted someone to take the torch and run with it,” said Meredith.
Biggs is also a veteran of the Vietnam War, serving a four-year term in the United States Navy. Both of the vessels he served on during that time made their mark on history while he was aboard, serving as an electrician.
“I was on an aircraft carrier that was a recovery vessel for Apollo 16, Apollo 17, and the first manned Skylab mission,” he said. “My second ship was one of the recovery vessels for the helicopters that were flying people out of Saigon when Saigon fell and became Ho Chi Minh City on April 30, 1975. That operation lasted a little over 36 hours.”
Biggs joined the Navy partly as a means to access the GI Bill to put him through school. After he was mustered out, Biggs attended Vincennes University and went on to work in the engineering field until his retirement in 2018. He quickly realized that retirement was a gig he was only willing to do part time, however.
He swiftly started picking up shifts volunteering once a week at the VA Clinic in Evansville, later padding out his schedule driving for the Spencer County Council on Aging three days a week.
“I knew before I ever turned in notice to my company that I wanted to do something to help veterans,” said Biggs. “Primarily because of things I was hearing on the news about how veterans were being treated.”
He started volunteering at the VA Clinic in March of 2019, taking on driving duties for the SCCOA shortly thereafter. All told, he was volunteering four days a week, with Friday as his unofficial “day of retirement”.
Between those jobs Biggs got to meet a lot of people, and quickly came to recognize that even talking to some older veterans can make a big difference. Some of those stories really stood out, such as a Korean War veteran who survived 16 months in a North Korean POW Camp.
Biggs’ vocations also put him in contact with Meredith at the VSO’s office and the two began to talk shop. Recognizing a kindred spirit, Meredith asked Biggs to take over for him when he finally got around to retiring this year.
The proposition made sense in a lot of ways. Biggs’ schedule would remain the same, as would his overriding goal of helping veterans across southern Indiana. It’d just mean a great deal less driving. That said, a VSO has to get more familiar than one might like with the vagaries of federal forms and bureaucracy.
Biggs emphasized that not every claim that gets submitted is going to result in an approved benefit. In most cases, the VSO will never be told about specific successes in any given case. That said, knocking out the procedural hurdle of getting a veteran into the VA system does open up a whole world of potential benefits.
For example, someone who trained with artillery or other loud equipment might suffer hearing loss. Such a veteran could likely file a claim to cover the cost of a hearing aid, or other care. Even something as simple as a mobility aid, such as a cane or walker, could be provided through the VA so long as a claim is put forward. Once a veteran’s case is brought to the VA’s attention, there’s a lot that can happen.
However, for one reason or another, many veterans do not put their names forward for potential benefits. In many cases they simply aren’t aware that they are eligible, but many more choose to forgo help for one reason or another.
“A big problem that we have, one of the biggest hurdle any VSO has, is getting veterans to come through that door,” said Biggs.
He hopes to continue getting the word out, as well as emphasize that anyone who served in the military deserves the benefits to which they are legally eligible. Biggs hopes his status as a fellow veteran will help bridge that gap.
“To me, we’re all brothers and sisters in a whole different world,” he said.
