June 24, 2018
Vietnam veteran Clifford Graebe had never felt fully comfortable without access to a gun since he was shot through the thigh in 1970, during a jungle encounter near the Demilitarized Zone. But when police responding to a burglary at his home later realized he had an unregistered handgun, Graebe, 69, found himself facing criminal charges that could have landed him in jail. Fortunately, Graebe says, his case was handled in Suffolk County’s Veterans Court, by a judge who was himself a combat veteran and knew what it was like for soldiers to come home burdened by war anxieties, writes Martin C. Evans.