VietNow National Magazine

Angels Wear Black

By Raymond F. Gustavson, Jr.

Most people think angels dress in white gowns with long sweeping wings (the wings aren’t for flying, but that’s not the point) and congregate in densely populated urban areas like New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles.

So, what if I told you there’s an angel who dresses in black, and lives in Stapleton, Nebraska? Hard to believe, but it’s true. And I’ve talked with her. Her name is Monica Harvey, and her voice is sweet and gentle and loving. Like an angel, right?

How she became an angel
But you say, “I’ve never met an angel.” Well, you are about to, and the story she relates is fascinating. She begins by telling me that two weeks before September 11, 2001, she was riding with the state VFW commander in a horse-drawn wagon during a VFW parade. Flying stones from a driver making a careless turn hit the horses. Spooked, they bolted, and as Monica tells it, there was an accident. She remembers hitting a pickup truck, and being thrown through a brown cloud.

She came out of the accident with only minor bruises, attributing this to divine intervention. Others in the wagon were not so lucky, suffering severe injuries such as broken bones and ribs or a bruised kidney.

Monica has not questioned why God intervened, but I think it was to show her what happens when you are hurt and a loving hand is there to help you. The die was cast, and after the VFW folks adopted her as their “little sister,” she decided to do something special to help others.

Helping veterans
She began traveling throughout Nebraska, going to veterans homes, hospitals, and correctional facilities. In 2004 she expanded her mission to include biker rallies, rides, Vietnam/Korean-War veteran reunions, tributes, and “traveling walls.” To date, she has attended thirty-nine traveling walls throughout much of the central United States.

At these functions she tells the assembled veterans that she is the president of the Nebraska Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Highway 83, and the Veterans Music Ministry. She sings “Welcome Home,” “Thank You Dear Soldier,” “50,000 Names on the Wall,” and other inspirational songs. When she finishes, she asks all the veterans to stand and says, “Welcome home big brothers, from little sis.” Then, she walks among the troops, handing each man a band-aid medal for his heart. The band-aid, she explains, represents God’s hand protecting their hearts.
To date, she has handed out fifteen thousand of these steel gray, heart-shaped medals that have a band-aid across the center – to protect the heart and help it heal. That’s important to note, especially for those of us who came back from Vietnam – and no one even noticed or cared.

Hugs and welcome home
But for those who served in Vietnam, or even Korea, it’s much more than shedding a few tears at a memorial service, because it represents the opportunity to experience a true catharsis. It’s the welcome home they never received, and with it comes that silent, ethereal message from the Creator that, despite anything they may have done in combat, they are forgiven and still welcome in God’s kingdom. In Monica’s own words, “If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer God’s healing touch.” Like her Creator, she is not in this for money.

At one of the traveling walls, she placed a chair at the crowd’s perimeter. The purpose? For those veterans who came, but were not ready to touch the Wall. There were several of them, and she spoke of one in particular, a middle-aged man who was having a hard time dealing with everything. He left, but she said he’d be back. For others, she tells me, she waits for one of the “hooks” that allows her to start a conversation.

One such instance came when she saw a man on his hands and knees, peering at the names on the wall. When she asked him what he was doing, he said his name was Mike, and he was looking for a medic who had saved his life in Vietnam. Mike was sure the man had been killed in action, and he became very agitated when he couldn’t find the name. When someone behind him said, “Give me the man’s name,” Mike blurted it out. The man said, “I was that medic.”

Equally as eerie, are the things people see when they look at the panels. Some say they see an image of Jesus in panel 30W, or an angel’s wing in panel 90.

Her links to the past
Folks take her seriously when she makes such statements because she really is sincere. She links them to a military past because her father, who died in 1999, served in World War II, in Italy, in the 10th Mountain Division. And she links them to the present when they see the Montagnard friendship bracelet she wears.

She’s not a hugger
She tells me she’s not a hugger, and will never hug anyone – rather letting them hug her. For this she calls herself a “hugee.” This, along with her long black dress sets her aside, personifies her as an ordi­nary citizen and establishes her identity as a person rather than a woman. By acting this way she preserves her authenticity, sincerity, and goodness.

What motivates this woman, who is married and has children and grandchildren? “We all have a mission in life,” she tells me. “It’s just that some of us don’t know what that mission is.” For her that mission is to give Korean- and Vietnam-era veterans a long overdue welcome.

So, she tells me, as we conclude our conversation, she has things to do, more reunions and traveling walls to visit where she will continue to sing, counsel, present Sunday morning wall services, listen to stories, and get hugged.

If by chance, you see this woman at a traveling wall, or other veteran’s function, go up to her, give her a big hug, and thank her for caring about America’s forgotten heroes.

Raymond F. Gustavson, Jr. served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, and is a retired VA Rating specialist currently writing a book to help veterans better understand the VA claims process.

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