Doug Olson is a veteran #StillServing in Stoughton, Wisconsin. Olson, a Life member at VFW Post 328, does whatever he can to give back to his community, including volunteering at local events and helping his VFW Post.
Every week, Olson searches obituaries from the surrounding area to maintain a list of deceased veterans to be honored at the VFW’s annual Memorial Day program. In addition, for the past 13 years, he has published his Post’s newsletter and solicited funds for the Wisconsin DAV Transportation Program.
As if that wasn’t enough, Olson also donates food to a local food pantry and collects and delivers aluminum pull tabs for the local Ronald McDonald House. In his time collecting, he has amassed a total of 2.5 million tabs, weighing about 1,800 pounds.
When asked why he is #StillServing, Olson says it’s because when he served in Vietnam with Medivac during the Tet Offensive, he kept a logbook of notes. On March 29, 1968, it was announced that the unit had handled over 2,500 casualties since the beginning of the year. That number stuck with Olson and inspired him to do something, however small, in memory of those wounded, dying men with whom he and his comrades bore witness.