71-year-old man making cross-country trek to raise awareness for veterans stops in Crawford County

June 04-- Jun. 4--ALONG ROUTE 322 -- A 71-year-old Air Force veteran concerned by the challenges so many veterans in the nation face is walking from Massachusetts to California to raise awareness about the problem.

William Shuttleworth of Newburyport, Massachusetts, started Monday as he has almost every day so far on his 3,600-mile journey: with breakfast at a diner where he spoke to locals about veteran-related issues. On Monday, Miller's Food Factory in Conneaut Lake provided the setting.

"I was telling someone yesterday," Shuttleworth said as he continued toward Jamestown while giving a phone interview to the Tribune Monday, "if we could harness the wisdom inside the average American diner, we wouldn't need a Congress."

The inspiration for Shuttleworth's trip came last year when he and his wife served as camp hosts at a park in California. He repeatedly encountered younger veterans there, he said, many of whom told similar stories of injury, opioid dependency and sometimes homelessness.

Upon returning home, Shuttleworth, who spent three years on active duty in the early 1970s and two more in the Air National Guard, decided to turn his habit of walking about 20 miles or more each day into a cross-country publicity tour for veterans' issues.

"Look if you're going to be walking 25 miles a day, you might as well have a destination," Patty Shuttleworth, his wife, told him.

He set foot on what he expects to be a seven-month trip on May 15 and hopes to arrive at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California, by Columbus Day or possibly Halloween, he said.

Carrying a 25-pound pack with tent and sleeping pack, he maintains a pace of about 4 mph, he said, but has no support car following him and no one traveling ahead to find a place for him to stay. It's just Shuttleworth and a cell phone to keep in touch with his wife.

With no entourage, he said, he has plenty of opportunities to talk to people in diners, along the road and at the churches or public spaces where he has set up his tent so far.

"It lets me meet people and chat with them and hopefully ignite that inner spirit for freedom," Shuttleworth said. "We need to take care of the veterans that gave us that freedom to begin with."

Despite lobbying for veterans, Shuttleworth is trying to remain politically neutral in his encounters. He does make one exception, he said. Vote for whatever party you like, he said, but vote for more veterans.

Patty said that William's interest in what others have to say make him a good candidate to spread awareness about veterans' issues.

"He's the best listener in the whole world," Patty said, comparing him to the character of Clarence the angel in the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life," "so people just pour their guts out to him."

When he reached Jamestown on Monday afternoon, Shuttleworth had traveled more than 600 miles and was averaging about 30 miles each day. Patty hopes to meet up with him once each month during the trek to give him an "an excuse to stop because he doesn't know enough to stop on his own."

"He's like the Energizer bunny," she said.

Mike Crowley can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at mcrowley@meadvilletribune.com.

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Air Force veteran William Shuttleworth, 71, has about 3,000 more miles to go on his cross-country walk from Newburyport, Massachusetts, to Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. He is chronicling his journey on his website Vetsdontforgetvets.com and has a GoFundMe.com page that has raised more than $35,000 since he set off on May 15.

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