When Veronica Shields graduated high school, she didn't have a clear plan for what came next. Growing up in a military family made joining the service feel like the natural next step.
Her mother, Patricia Hanley, served as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. Her uncle was in the Army. For Shields, enlisting was the right call.
"Going into the military was probably the best thing I could have done at that time in my life," Shields said.
She served as a pharmacy technician, stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Fort Belvoir, Virginia, before transferring to Korea in 1977 and 1978, just over two decades after the Korean War ended.
"I got to meet many people both in the military and the South Koreans also," Shields said. "I taught two South Korean women. I helped them English. They took me to their home, which was out in the country, and I just really have a soft spot for the South Korean people."
The connections she made in the military stayed with her.
"The camaraderie in the military is one thing that most people have problems with when they get out because you lose those connections," she said.
It's such a nice way for us to not only express ourselves, but communicate the differences that we feel or we have with other people.Veronica Shields
Around the time of the pandemic, Shields enrolled in online art classes. They opened the door to new forms of creative expression and to a community of fellow veteran artists.
"I started beading, and then I just kind of started playing around," Shields said. "It opened my mind and my interests to other types of art."
Now she works in blacksmithing, stem carving, wood carving, jewelry and metal smithing. She even wrote a song.
"It's such a nice way for us to not only express ourselves, but communicate the differences that we feel or we have with other people," Shields said. "When you look at a piece of art, maybe it's your interpretation, but I got to say what I did, or say what's in me, and I put it on paper, steel, stone."
As a disabled veteran, Shields has time to explore her creative interests. But her work carries a larger purpose: bridging the gap between veterans and civilians.
"I know some people think that veterans are just everyday people and they don't have any different types of wounds, either physically or mentally," she said. "And then there's other people that love veterans and accept us for our little quirks that we may have."
Her hope is simple.
"My big hope is to be kinder to each other, but also to know that veterans are just like everybody else, really," Shields said. "I don't see how those can't merge together a little more as far as seeing veterans as a positive addition to our integration with each other as humans, really."
Veterans' Voices is presented by Wright-Patt Credit Union. Additional support comes from the Dayton Ombudsman Veterans Transition Team and Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission. Veterans' Voices is produced at the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices.
