John Hall

I served from 1967 to 1969 in South East Asia. Jimmy and I got out of the Navy together at Long Beach, CA after having served together for 18 months in Japan. Then we lost touch except for the occasional xmas card.

About 15 years ago Jimmy moved to Florida because his wife got sick. After she passed away and he was on his own, we reconnected at the reunion we have with our military buddies every two years. Jimmy came to two reunions and we all loved listening to his great stories. He had taken a job with Walmart, but soon got sick and when he was losing too much time, Walmart let him go. He had no insurance and no money, so we all advised him to go to a VA hospital, a large one in Orlando.

But the VA hospital kept jerking him around, they performed surgery after surgery, never solving his problems. After about two years of this, he was very depressed with his situation and agitated with the hospital personnel.

• Ande's blog

This afternoon Congressman John Hall joined the growing chorus of elected officials all calling for State Senator Hiram Monserrate to resign or be removed.

"All New Yorkers, especially those who have been victims of domestic abuse, deserve to have Senator Monserrate step down or be removed from office. Monserrate has been convicted of a deplorable crime. The New York State Senate should set the example that violence against women will not be tolerated in our society."

Sign the petition at Firemonserrate.com

• John's blog