Purple Heart recipient helps fellow veterans heal through creative writing in Oklahoma pilot program

By Brandy McDonnell

Bill O’Pecko titled his story “Just Another Occurrence on the Sahara,” but what was ordinary during in the North African campaign of World War II now would be considered anything but commonplace.

Standing in front of about 30 veterans, volunteers and staffers at the Norman Veterans Center, instructor Jason Poudrier read O’Pecko’s story of witnessing a French Foreign Legion firing squad executing five spies outside a two-block town, the name of which O’Pecko has since forgotten.

“After the squad had shot the prisoners, the commander went up to each victim with his pistol and fired one round behind the left ear of each victim. Then, they continued to do that to 10 more people. My friends and I decided to leave. We didn’t want to see anymore. We went back to our headquarters,” Poudrier read.

“Poetry doesn’t have to be pretty, just powerful,” he added at the end. “And that’s one of those poems.”

A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Poudrier recently wrapped a 10-week creative writing course at the Norman Veterans Center, part of a new pilot program spearheaded by the Oklahoma Arts Council in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Veteran Affairs.

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