Lee Goldberg, President of VETRN, understands the importance of freedom and being able to live in an open and free society. As a combat veteran and officer in Vietnam doing the Tet Offensive, he quickly learned to appreciate how lucky he is to have been born and living in the United States. He returned safely, but 59,000 of his fellow American soldiers did not return. He literally kissed the ground upon returning to the US after his tour of duty. Like many of us who were born and live in the USA, his family originated from Eastern Europe – Lithuania and Odessa, Ukraine. His wife’s family came from Poland in the 1930’s to escape Hitler. Many of her family members were killed during the Holocaust.
VETRN was founded in 2013 to support the veteran small business owner community and their families so they could live a better life – a life where they could become successful running their own small businesses. They served their country. They are so lucky to be living in the USA and be given the freedom and opportunity to live their lives as hey choose, vote for their leaders, and not have their lives or their family threatened by a dictator.
The people in Ukraine want nothing more than to have the freedom to live their life as they choose. To elect their own leaders. To live a peaceful life. They share the same dream as us. They want nothing more than to be free. They look to the USA and a free Europe as the example of how they want to live their lives.
Today, hundreds of American veterans have poured into Ukraine and the Polish border to do humanitarian work or to assist the country’s military in the battle against Russian forces. These former US servicemen include medics, ambulance drivers and even combat soldiers. Thousands of citizens from other free countries are now assisting Ukraine in their struggle for freedom.
“I am so proud to read and hear about the American veterans who are risking their own lives and are now helping the Ukrainians, more than 2.5 million of whom who have escaped from their homeland because they cherish freedom and refuse to live under a brutal dictator in Russia who tells them that they have no right to exist as their own country.”