By KAREN LAGRANGE COX
Marine veteran Hal Tornroth from St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, needed assistance to get a wheelchair ramp and a larger porch to accommodate his motorized wheelchair. He mentioned that he did not qualify to receive benefits from the Veterans Affairs (VA); however, he could get assistance from local programs.
The Home Depot Foundation is providing the materials and labor to build a larger porch and clear up the area where it will be built. According to its website, the Home Depot Foundation “works to improve the homes and lives of U.S. veterans, train skilled tradespeople to fill the labor gap, and support communities impacted by natural disasters.” Tornroth applied to the program in April 2024 and was approved for assistance in June 2024.
SLEMCO’s Operation Round-Up Grants, a program designed to assist the less fortunate, supplied the materials and built the wheelchair ramp approximately two weeks ago, as per Ronnie Broussard, a friend of Tornroth from the Marine Corps League Acadiana Detachment 488.
Tornroth is grateful for the assistance he received and said that having the porch and wheelchair ramp will enhance his quality of life.
Community assistance is important not just to veterans but to many people. Tornroth said many veterans and others are unaware of the assistance available from the community.
Tornroth joined the United States Marines in 1962 and served from 1962 to 1968. He is a third-generation military man, with his father having served in the Army during World War II and his grandfather serving first in the Merchant Marines and then in the Navy, where he retired as Lieutenant Commander.
While serving in the Marines, Tornroth, in the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing, initially performed aircraft maintenance on jets and later became a helicopter crew chief, handling maintenance and repair.
He completed his Basic Training in San Diego, California, and afterward served at Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida; Marine Corps Air Station El Toro in California; Naval Air Station South Weymouth in Massachusetts; and Naval Air Station Alameda (NAS Alameda) in California.
Although his Marine service was all done stateside, Tornroth is considered a Vietnam-era veteran.
After leaving the Marines, Tornroth, a native of New York State, worked with his father at his sign business in San Diego, California. He started working for Pizza Hut in the 1970s and moved to St. Martin Parish in south Louisiana in 1989 to become a district manager for the pizza franchise.
In the first part of his life, he was a child actor (credited as Harold Daye), having played in an episode of Leave It To Beaver and Wagon Train. His Godmother, Mary Martin, who played in Peter Pan, is Larry Hagman‘s (I Dream of Jeanie and Dallas) mother.
Now 80 years old, Tornroth is not in good health. He previously had heart bypass surgery and afterward had seven to eleven surgeries to rebuild the bypass. He attributes his later heart issues to the great Cajun food he has eaten since moving to the area in 1989.
