The Daily Hampshire Gazette - John Paradis: A veteran who takes helping other vets as his sacred duty

In 2022, when Washington bureaucrats thought it would be a good idea to close the VA medical center in Northampton, several veterans, including myself, were incredulous.

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern was livid too, and he called on us to speak up so he could bring our voices back to the VA secretary in Washington. At a listening session that spring at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8006 in Florence with McGovern and other local leaders, Jim Bouchard of Granby, a Navy combat corpsman in Vietnam, was there, as he always is, when veterans have been asked to lay it on the line.

READ John Pardis’ full column for The Daily Hampshire Gazette.