California veteran featured in Sen. McCain’s book
A photo featured in the book, “13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War,” shows Mary Rhoads of California Borough returning home in March 1991 shortly after a Scud missile crushed her barracks during the Persian Gulf War.
Sgt. Mary Rhoads, third from left, receives a hug in 1991 from Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., leader of coalition forces during the Persian Gulf War.
Mary Rhoads takes a break during a walk in her hometown of California, where she worked as a meter maid before being deployed to the Persian Gulf War.
CALIFORNIA – Mary Rhoads was a happy-go-lucky California Borough meter maid who could issue parking tickets and still make motorists smile before she was deployed among the first women sent into U.S. combat in 1991.
Not long after she returned home from the Persian Gulf War, wounded and suffering from mysterious illnesses, people began to send her anonymous hate mail criticizing her for “publicizing her suffering and condemning the deployment of women to war,” according to a new book featuring a chapter about her.
“Mary’s story reveals how deep are the wounds, physical and emotional, that veterans bear for our sake, in many cases for the rest of their lives.” U.S. Sen. John McCain said of the reason why he selected Rhoads for his book, “13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War.”
The book has 13 chapters, with each focused on a veteran representing the country’s major military conflicts, beginning with the Revolutionary War. McCain states in the book’s introduction he sought “honest accounts of ordinary circumstances,” involving soldiers who were brave and made sacrifices for the nation.
He said he wanted at least one chapter to feature a reservist. Rhoads was a sergeant assigned to the U.S. Army Reserve 14th Quartermaster Detachment based in Greensburg, a water-purification unit that suffered the greatest number of casualties during the war.
“The losses suffered by the 14th Quartermaster Detachment offer heartbreaking testimony to the terrible sacrifices made by reservists as well as regulars, and to the special patriotism exemplified by their service,” said McCain, R-Arizona.
“I felt honored,” Rhoads, 58, said last month after reading her chapter.
“I loved it. I cried,” said Rhoads, whose photograph taken by the Observer-Reporter is one of those on the jacket cover of the book McCain coauthored with Mark Salter, his former chief of staff.
Rhoads left her barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for dinner Feb. 25, 1991, and witnessed a Scud strike the building and explode 10 minutes later. Thirteen of her comrades were killed, including her best friend, Spc. Beverly Sue Clark, 23, of Indiana County. Also killed that night were Spc. John August Boliver Jr., 27, of Monongahela; Sgt. Joseph Phillip Bongiorni, 20, of Hickory; and Spc. Anthony Erik Madison, 27, of Monessen.
The then-new CNN that night captured video of Rhoads cradling Clark in the rubble, and she would later identify her friend’s body, as well as those of two other members of the unit.
“There was so much confusion that night,” Rhoads said. “People tried to make up stories about what did and did not happen.”
She said McCain and Salter did their research and painted the truth in their book about what happened following the Scud attack.
“It makes me feel better that the truth finally came out.”
Three years after the war, Rhoads began to experience mysterious rashes, vaginal bleeding and gastrointestinal problems, symptoms that led to her becoming a patient at a Veterans Administration hospital in Pittsburgh. One of her comrades from the 14th was dying in a nearby room from an unknown heart condition. Soon, a string of members of her unit were complaining about being sick.
Then-U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara, a Democrat from Charleroi, took a strong interest in Rhoads’ case and invited her to Washington, D.C., to testify before a panel named by President Bill Clinton to investigate the mysterious illnesses.
“I stirred the pot,” Rhoads said. “If I’m sick, I wanted to know why. Everything came back ‘unknown element.'”
State Rep. Pam Snyder said Rhoads reached out to Mascara shortly after he took office in 1994, when Snyder worked as the congressman’s aide.
“She was so angry and upset,” said Snyder, D-Jefferson. “The government would not acknowledge that there was anything wrong with the soldiers who had come back from that Scud attack. Mary Rhoads has a special place in my heart.”
Snyder said Rhoads was the first veteran of the war to receive a military disability on a claim involving Persian Gulf War syndrome, a name given to the many unexplained illnesses still suffered by veterans of the war. Among the theories to their cause were vaccinations given to the soldiers, and exposure to enemy chemical warfare, pesticides or smoke from oil well fires.
Mysterious illnesses still trouble Rhoads. She said she has precancerous cells in her throat that require her to undergo medical exams every three months, and still experiences stomach problems. She’s also had two mild heart attacks and mini strokes, and still suffers with survivor’s guilt.
“A day does not go by that I don’t think about Bev and what happened over there,” Rhoads said.
She said she’s flattered to have been portrayed as a woman with courage in the book.
“All veterans are heroes,” she said. “There are a lot of untold stories out there.”
Rhoads’ daughter, Samantha, will take her to Washington, D.C., on Veterans Day to attend McCain’s book launch in the National Press Club. She will be given a VIP seat at the event.