Exit
bureaucracy of the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA).
Marsha spends her days on the
phone, berating VA officials, coaxing donors, collaborating with
other organizations. A pair of
shoes worn by her father, whom
she adored, lie at her feet. The
Bronze Star she won for valor
in Vietnam hides on a crowded
bookshelf. She is a veteran in
the world of veterans affairs, a
familiar voice testifying before
GREATEST PERSON
OF THE WEEK
Congress. Mornings, she’s often
standing out on North 4th Street
in front of the center, with coffee
and a cigarette, chatting with staff
and old soldiers.
She holds special concern for
the waves of young veterans surging home from a decade of war,
many of them having endured three
or four year-long tours in Iraq or
Afghanistan. Marsha knows what
that can do to a human being, and
she fears what is coming.
“We are going to pay a price,”
she says, “for what we have
done to this generation.”
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
Marsha
began
working at
the center
in 1987, and
is now the
director.