Vietnam vet eases his mind by crafting canes for others
CENTER TWP — While Bill Barbary was working as a union pipe fitter before retirement, the demons he took on as a young infantryman during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam were kept at bay because he was busy working and raising his family.
Then after he retired, the horrors of combat rushed back in the form of flashbacks and nightmares.
A visit to VA Butler Healthcare six or seven years ago revealed a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Barbary, a burly, comedic husband, father and grandfather, decided he needed a hobby in addition to his usual hunting.
So he began scouring the woods for fallen limbs of just the right thickness and shape.
For about a year and a half, former Army Sgt. Barbary, 198th Brigade, 5th battalion of the 46th Infantry, Troop D, has been fashioning those limbs into canes and walking sticks, which he gives away to veterans, local sports teams and others.
“This helps keep my mind busy,” Barbary said from his home of more than 50 years in Northview. “It takes my mind off what I went through.”
Barbary strips the bark from the limbs, sands them down smooth, decorates them specific to the recipient, and applies a few coats of shellac.
A cane or walking stick might contain military ribbons, unit logos, the POW/MIA silhouette and barbed wire logo, an eagle, or any other item related to the recipient.
Every cane retains its original shape and has a natural handle from a bend in the limb.
Nonmilitary canes and walking sticks are decorated and given to cancer support groups, high school football teams and others.
He mainly collects his limbs at Moraine State Park.
Barbary once stopped to talk to the park ranger there to explain his hobby and gave him a walking stick adorned with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources logo.
“He said anything down and dead, you can have,” Barbary recalled, “and he said 'If you see something live that you need, you call me and I'll have one of my guys cut it down for you.”
Barbary gave several canes to the veterans who visited the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall when it came through Butler.“Veterans would come up and look and try a cane out, and if they say 'How much?' I just say 'You got it,'” he said.He also gives the sticks and canes to veterans at the local American Legion posts, Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and other places.“Us veterans are all brothers,” Barbary said. “This is just brothers helping brothers.”He likens his unusual and generous hobby to the comfort of chicken soup.“When grandma makes you chicken soup when you're sick, it makes you feel better and it makes grandma feel better,” he said. “It makes me feel good to see people getting the canes.”Barbary once met a fellow Vietnam veteran online who lives in St. Louis who asked for a cane for a military reunion he was planning on attending. The creation, which was unique to the unit meeting for the reunion, was to be auctioned off at the event in Washington, D.C.“I said, 'Stop by and I'll give it to you,'” Barbary said.The man stopped to visit and retrieve the cane, which went for $180 in a silent auction at the reunion.He has created canes and walking sticks for military reunions in California, Washington, Texas and Alaska.“They're just like people. No two are the same,” Barbary said.He is particularly proud of two walking sticks he created for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. He painted 21 boot prints that marched up the stick and ended at a painting of the tomb.He gave the sticks to Dennis McMahon of Butler, who is an Army 1st sergeant and marched the solemn 21 steps back and forth while serving as a guard at the tomb.McMahon took the sticks to a reunion of tomb guards, where it was auctioned.Each cane or stick takes about a week to make, and the best wood is apple, Barbary said.He traces intricate patterns onto the wood and then fills it in with paint, and he paints other decorations free hand.
One stick he created for a veteran boasted 17 different items, including military ribbons and insignia.Barbary, who is now disabled and must use oxygen due to the effects of Agent Orange on his lungs, saw significant combat during the infamous Tet Offensive.Many memories still haunt him 50 years later.“There are some things you just don't get over,” he said, staring into the distance.Barbary is thankful for his “caregiver,” Lucille “Lou” Barbary, his wife of 54 years.“We're still on our honeymoon,” he said.Barbary's daughter, Lisa Hopper, said her father shared many war stories as she and her sister grew up, and still has flashbacks.“I believe (making the canes) is helping with his PTSD,” Hopper said.Her father has made several canes for the residents of the nursing home where she works.Aliegh Kradel, Barbary's granddaughter, said he made a cheer cane for her when she became a Butler High School varsity cheerleader.She called her grandpa “cool.”“It's fun to talk to him,” Aliegh said. “He's hilarious.”Barbary said he will continue to make the canes and walking sticks as long as he is able.Asked what Veterans Day means to him, and Barbary answers instantly.“It's for all of my brothers who didn't get to come home,” he said.Barbary's canes can be viewed on Facebook by searching “Canes for Vets by BB.”
