Thieves Take Vets’ Hunting Gear

Vet TrailerBetween July 3 and July 5, someone took Operation Injured Solders’ unmarked black trailer with a 6-person utility vehicle inside. Operation Injured Soldiers provides outdoors activities to disabled veterans. They need help locating a stolen black enclosed trailer and the 6-person utility vehicle that was inside.

For information about Operation Injured Soldiers, call 248-437-1144, go to the organization’s website injuredsoldiers.org or Facebook.page at OperationInjuredSoldiers.

Thieves shot down an effort by South Lyon volunteers to help disabled military veterans by stealing nearly $18,000 in equipment used to transport gear and veterans into the woods to hunt.

Swiped sometime between July 3 and 5 was a $4,000 unmarked, black custom enclosed trailer carrying a $13,800 Polaris six-person utility vehicle used by Operation Injured Soldiers volunteers.

Loran Symonds, 44, who injured his back lifting bombs onto Harrier jets in Baghdad, Iraq, and Bahrain during Operation Desert Storm, calls the outings “therapy.” He describes the theft as “like walking up and spitting in someone’s face.”

“Vietnam veterans, those guys aren’t able to walk long distances,” said Symonds of McMillan. “(Soldiers) who are returning now who had it a lot worse than what I did — with all the IEDs — they’re coming home with missing limbs. So this thing was like a lifeline. For someone to steal that, it’s unbelievable.” Link to the remaining story….

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