Music project helps veterans coping with war memories

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- With every strum of the guitar, the pain of war fades for veterans participating in a program run through a local not-for-profit organization.

Playing their guitars, about a dozen veterans inside a large room last week at Truman Memorial Veterans' Hospital concentrated on learning the Christmas tune "Silver Bells." They tapped their feet to the beat of the music, and some closed their eyes while singing.

The veterans were led by Dave Dunklee, who has played guitar for 55 years and runs The Healing Box Project with his wife, CJ. The couple helps put guitars in the hands of veterans, and Dave Dunklee shows them what to do next. The Gravois Mills couple travels to Columbia each Tuesday to provide hours of free lessons to veterans.

The Dunklees started The Healing Box Project at the Warrior Transition Unit in Fort Leonard Wood a few years ago, serving soldiers Dunklee described as "fresh off the battlefield."

As they tried to cope with the wounds of war, music became part of their recovery. The transition units were meant to serve severely wounded soldiers returning from tours of duty, but they began to close as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wound down.

When the Dunklees learned the Warrior Transition Unit was closing, they knew they wanted to continue their mission. They didn't have to wait long before a peer specialist contacted them about bringing the program to Columbia.

Though not associated with the VA, the Dunklees have offered guitar lessons at the hospital for one year and taught 48 veterans to play.

Decades have passed since most of the veterans in the program served in war, but Dunklee said the pain for many never has fully subsided. The thoughts and memories of war and pain are replaced when they begin playing guitar, he said.

"We had a veteran tell us not too long ago that every time he comes to class, he sees a chalkboard of things that happened to him in battle, and when he starts to play the guitar, he starts seeing somebody erase the list from the top down," Dunklee said.

Earlier this year, Vietnam War veteran Joe Finnell, 68, of Centralia, Missouri, came to the hospital for an appointment and noticed someone carrying a guitar. After his appointment, he said he spotted another person carrying one and stopped the man to ask about it. That's when he learned about The Healing Box Project.

Finnell is considered an intermediate player, and he said he enjoys helping fellow veterans learn to play during group lessons if Dunklee is busy with someone else.

Reflecting on his time serving in the Vietnam War, Finnell said he was a boots-on-the-ground Army soldier, carrying a rifle, machine gun and M79 grenade launcher at age 19. No matter what he's feeling when he walks into a lesson, Finnell said, he feels better once he leaves.

"The thing that's amazing with it is that it can transfer you into a little bit of a different world," Finnell said. "You can be having troubles, a headache, a heartache, and you can pick up the guitar, and all you're thinking about is what you're playing and getting into the beat."

For 65-year-old Kelly Johnson -- who served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1974 during the Vietnam War -- playing guitar alongside fellow veterans brings back the camaraderie he experienced while at war. He said that feeling has attracted veterans to the program and contributed to the increased participation the past year.

No one understands a veteran like another veteran, Johnson said.

This year, The Healing Box Project has spent $17,500 on guitars for veterans, Dunklee said. The organization covers the expense through fundraisers and sales of Dunklee's music and his comprehensive guitar-method book. Dunklee said all proceeds from those sales go to The Healing Box Project. Guitars always are new and brand name.

When a veteran receives a guitar, he said, the reaction is always the same.

"Maybe they haven't smiled for a long, long time, but there's always a smile," he said. "And sometimes it's like disbelief."