Our Mission
Our Mission
Our mission is to create meaningful patches that honor veterans, remember their sacrifices, and bring awareness to the visible and invisible wounds carried long after service ends.
We begin by shining a light on the lasting impact of Agent Orange, veteran suicide awareness across all wars and generations, and the survivor’s guilt experienced by veterans of every war and conflict. We especially honor our Vietnam veterans, many of whom returned home carrying wounds that were never fully understood and did not receive the welcome home they deserved.
Each patch is more than a piece of artwork. It is a symbol of remembrance, recognition, conversation, and support. Our goal is to help break the silence surrounding the difficult issues veterans face and remind every veteran that their service, sacrifices, and experiences matter.
As we grow, we will continue creating patches that represent the many struggles, experiences, and causes affecting veterans from every war, every conflict, and every generation.
We remember. We honor. We welcome them home. We speak for those who cannot. And we stand with every veteran who served.
This wording also gives you a strong foundation if you eventually want patches for POW/MIA, PTSD awareness, homelessness, military sexual trauma, combat loss, families of fallen service members, Gold Star families, and other veteran causes.
To honor all who served - Mitch H.
Faith. Honor. Loyalty.
About Us
HONOR
REMEMBER
SUPPORT
Many boys never meet their hero. I was raised by mine.
SUPPORT
REMEMBER
SUPPORT
Inspired by my Dad's Diagnosis and Struggle
REMEMBER
REMEMBER
REMEMBER
Patches that Support the Struggles of Veterans and Families.
Why I Started
WHY I STARTED MAKING PATCHES - MY DAD, MY HERO
My dad is my hero.
He was a Vietnam veteran who served at Marble Mountain with the First Marine Division from April 69 to May 70. First Marines. He went where America sent him, he did his job, and he came home and never got a thank you. Never got a welcome home.
Then came the diagnosis. Cancer. And I started asking why.
I spent a year studying Agent Orange. I learned that from 1961 to 1971 the U.S. sprayed over 20 million gallons of herbicides, 11 to 12 million gallons of it Agent Orange, laced with dioxin, right where my dad served. I learned that roughly 300,000 to 400,000 veterans have died from that exposure. Almost five times the 58,220 who died in combat.
That is why I made my first patch. Number 1 was the Agent Orange Awareness patch. For my dad. For every veteran poisoned over there and dying now.
When I started wearing that patch, I realized something else. Our Vietnam vets never got welcomed home. So number 2 was the Thank You and Welcome Home patch. Because they deserved a parade in 1970 and they got silence. I wanted to give them the words America forgot to say.
Then I learned the number that kept me up at night. Number 3 was the 22 patch. 22 veterans a day. 154 a week. 660 a month. 8,030 a year. Dying by suicide in the USA. That number is not a statistic. That is brothers and sisters who survived the war and could not survive coming home.
And behind that number is the reason. Number 4 was the Survivor Guilt patch. That guilt of why did I make it and they did not. My dad carried it. Every combat veteran I have met carries it. It is the invisible wound that leads to the 22.
My dad, my hero, passed away in August.
He served at Marble Mountain, First Marine Division, April 69 to May 70. He is the reason I started. He is the reason I will not stop.
In order, I made them for him and for all of them:
1. Agent Orange Awareness 2. Thank You and Welcome Home 3. 22 A Day 4. Survivor Guilt
If you wear one, you are carrying his memory. You are telling a Vietnam veteran that he is not forgotten.
Thank you for your service, Dad. Welcome home. I love you. You will never be forgotten.
AGENT ORANGE AWARENESS REPORT
Additional Information
AGENT ORANGE AWARENESS REPORT
Operation Ranch Hand (1961-1971)
What It Was
Agent Orange was a tactical herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. It was one of the Rainbow Herbicides, named for the orange stripe on the 55-gallon barrels it was shipped in. It was a 50/50 mixture of two herbicides, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T, contaminated during manufacturing with TCDD, which is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, a highly toxic dioxin and known human carcinogen.
When It Was Used
First use in Vietnam was in 1961, with large-scale operations running through 1971. The program was called Operation Ranch Hand.
During that period the U.S. military procured over 20 million U.S. gallons of herbicides. Of that, about 11 to 12 million gallons was Agent Orange specifically. Some public counts round the entire herbicide program to 20 million gallons. The military flew at least 6,542 spraying missions, mostly from C-123 Provider aircraft and helicopters, over South Vietnam, eastern Laos, and parts of Cambodia.
The Human Cost
U.S. military deaths in Vietnam: 58,220.
Veterans groups and state Department of Veterans Affairs publications report a second toll from exposure itself. Roughly 300,000 veterans have died from Agent Orange exposure, that is almost five times as many as the 58,000 who died in combat, with some estimates reaching 400,000 veterans killed or maimed by exposure over the decades.
Health Effects Recognized by the VA
The Department of Veterans Affairs presumes these conditions are related to Agent Orange exposure for veterans who served in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971:
AL Amyloidosis, Chronic B-cell Leukemias, Chloracne, Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Hodgkin's Disease, Ischemic Heart Disease, Multiple Myeloma, Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Parkinson's Disease, Early-Onset Peripheral Neuropathy, Porphyria Cutanea Tarda, Prostate Cancer, Respiratory Cancers, Soft Tissue Sarcomas. Bladder cancer, hypothyroidism and hypertension have been added in recent years.
Why Awareness Matters
Symptoms often appeared years after service, so veterans need lifelong screening. Children of exposed veterans may be eligible for benefits for certain birth defects. Presumptive status means veterans do not have to prove the exposure caused the illness to file a VA disability claim.
Sources: U.S. National Archives and VA data for 58,220 deaths, War Legacies Project and Military.com for 12M/8M breakdown, North Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs for 300k estimate.
It's Never Too Late to Do the Right Thing
Death From Above
We can't undo, what was done but, we can make sure we Never Forget the Sacrifice.
The death that followed them home
Barrel after Barrel of Death!
WHY VIETNAM VETS DESERVE A THANK YOU AND A WELCOME HOME
WHY VIETNAM VETS DESERVE A THANK YOU AND A WELCOME HOME
They never got one.
When Vietnam veterans came home, there was no parade. There was no thank you. There were airports where they were told to take off their uniform so they would not be harassed. There were people who called them baby killers for a war they did not start. There were jobs that would not hire them. There was a government that told them to forget what they saw.
They did what America asked them to do.
They were 19 years old. Average age 19. Kids from South Carolina and Detroit and small towns nobody has heard of. Drafted or enlisted because they believed in duty. They went through boot camp, they went to the jungle, and they watched their best friends die in rice paddies and on hills that did not matter the next day. They carried 80 pounds on their back in 110 degree heat. They did not sleep for days. They wrote letters home saying I am fine when they were not fine at all.
They served honorably. 3.4 million served in Southeast Asia. 2.7 million served in country. 58,220 never came home. Their names are on a black wall in Washington.
And when they landed back in the USA, America looked away.
We sent them to spray and breathe Agent Orange. Over 20 million gallons of herbicides, 11 to 12 million gallons of Agent Orange, laced with dioxin. We told them it was safe. Now roughly 300,000 to 400,000 have died from that exposure. Almost five times the number who died in combat. Their cancers, their heart disease, their diabetes, their kids with birth defects. That was the price of serving.
We sent them into trauma that never left. Survivor guilt. PTSD. Nightmares for 50 years. They came home and could not sleep in a quiet house. They could not hold a job because a loud noise put them back in the jungle. They self medicated because there was no VA that knew how to help. And then America had the nerve to say 22 a day. 22 veterans a day dying by suicide. 154 a week. 660 a month. 8,030 a year. Many of them Vietnam vets who carried it for decades in silence.
They deserve a thank you because they paid for a war with their bodies and their minds and their families, and they did it without thanks.
They deserve a welcome home because they never got one. Not in 1968. Not in 1972. Not in 1975. Every time you see a Vietnam veteran hat that says Vietnam Veteran, that is a man who is still trying to tell America I was there. I served.
So say it now. Say thank you. Say welcome home. Say it loud. Say it like you mean it, like you should have said it 50 years ago when he was 20 years old stepping off that plane scared and alone.
Say thank you for your service is not enough. Look him in the eye. Shake his hand. Welcome home brother. Welcome home.
Because no one else did.
SURVIVOR GUILT AND THE 22 PATCH - USA REPORT
What Survivor Guilt Is
Survivor guilt is guilt about surviving when others did not. In veterans it is often guilt about teammates who were killed, actions taken or not taken in combat, or coming home when others did not. It is often seen with PTSD, which is post-traumatic stress disorder.
Why The Patch Has 22
The number 22 on the patch comes from a 【entity-Department of Veterans Affairs¦canonical_name=Department of Veterans Affairs】 report that estimated 22 veterans in the USA died by suicide per day between 1999 and 2010. The patch is worn to remember that loss and the guilt that many who served feel after losing brothers and sisters in arms.
How Many In The USA Suffer From Survivor Guilt
There is no single national registry, so numbers come from peer reviewed studies of USA veterans:
- A study of hospitalized USA Army veterans found survivor guilt in 38 percent of responders. Similar Vietnam War samples in the USA found about 46 percent reporting trauma related guilt.
- In a clinic sample of people with PTSD who survived events where others died, over 90 percent reported guilt about surviving.
- PTSD affects about 11 to 20 percent of USA veterans who served in recent operations. Among those with PTSD who lost teammates, survivor guilt is one of the most common symptoms.
Applied to USA numbers:
About 2.7 million USA service members served in country in Vietnam. If 38 percent experienced survivor guilt, that is over 1,026,000 Vietnam veterans alone.
About 3.4 million served in Southeast Asia during Vietnam. At 38 percent, that is over 1,292,000.
This is not rare. In veterans who seek help for PTSD after losing teammates, it is almost universal.
How It Relates To Suicide
Survivor guilt alone does not cause suicide, but studies link it to higher risk:
- Survivor guilt has been shown to be common in veterans who attempt suicide and is associated with increased risk of suicidal thoughts.
- Veterans with survivor guilt often feel they do not deserve to live, do not deserve happiness, and do not deserve help. That belief keeps them from reaching out.
- The 22 per day is the end result. 22 a day. 154 a week. 660 a month. 8,030 a year. In the USA.
That is why the patch is number 22. That is why the next patch is survivor guilt. The 22 is the number. Survivor guilt is the reason behind the number.
If you wear this patch, you tell a veteran: You survived for a reason. Your guilt means you loved your brothers. You are not alone.
John 15:13 - "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
VETERAN SUICIDE AWARENESS - 22 A DAY
What 22 A Day Adds Up To
Every day in the United States, an average of 22 veterans die by suicide. That number comes from a 【entity-Department of Veterans Affairs¦canonical_name=Department of Veterans Affairs】 report covering 1999 to 2010, and it became the national symbol for veteran suicide awareness.
Building Awareness
Per Day: 22 veterans
Per Week: 22 x 7 = 154 veterans per week
Per Month: 22 x 30 = 660 veterans per month. Using an average month of 30.44 days, about 670 veterans per month
Per Year: 22 x 365 = 8,030 veterans per year. In a leap year, 8,052 per year
Why Awareness Matters
Veterans face a unique combination of challenges after service that can increase risk. These include chronic pain and service-related illnesses, PTSD, depression, anxiety and substance use, loss of identity and purpose after leaving service, isolation, financial and relationship stress, and stigma about asking for help.
Why Work With Us
I'm a former first responder and Army Veteran. I learned respect for God, family, country at a young age. I want to honor all who have served.
Design tribute patches to honor those who served. My first patch was inspired by my dad — a Vietnam veteran and 30-year firefighter — with the Vietnam Service Ribbon at its center, AGENT ORANGE, NEVER FORGET 1955-1975, and SPRAYED AND BETRAYED. Agent Orange is what took his life. My second patch, FROM MY HEART TO YOURS, THANK YOU AND WELCOME HOME, was made because Vietnam veterans never got the welcome home and thank you they deserved. Like my dad, I carry a connection to the fire service, and for the past six years I've spoken at St. Joseph about Agent Orange — now not just as a cause, but as my family's story. I create each piece so that when someone else sees it, they can say, "that's my story too" — a tribute to losing a dad, a hero, and a friend.
-Mitchell D. Herndon
Upcoming Events
Event Details
• Dates: March 11–12, 2027
• Location: Arizona State Fairgrounds, Phoenix, AZ
• Host/Organizer: Arizona Veterans StandDown Alliance (a program of the Arizona Housing Coalition)
• Target Audience: Homeless, at-risk, and low-income veterans and their families
• Services Provided: Housing assistance, VA benefits support, legal aid/court services, medical and vision care, haircuts, hot meals, clothing/surplus, employment resources, and pet care.
If you'd like, I can share information on what documents to bring or how to volunteer/donate for the event.
VA.gov Home | Veterans Affairs
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