VA a no show; store workers fix vet’s wheelchair

In this July 7, 2014 photo, Michael Sulsona, second from right, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs to a land mine 40 years ago, sits in a chair watching, as Lowe's employees repair his wheel chair in Staten Island, N.Y. Sulsona has been struggling with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the last two years in an attempt to get his worn-out wheelchair replaced. (AP Photo/Frieda Sulsona) In this July 7, 2014 photo, Michael Sulsona, second from right, a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs to a land mine 40 years ago, sits in a chair watching, as Lowe's employees repair his wheel chair in Staten Island, N.Y. Sulsona has been struggling with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the last two years in an attempt to get his worn-out wheelchair replaced. (AP Photo/Frieda Sulsona)

By Associated Press July 16, 2014 2 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – What the Veterans Administration failed to do for double amputee Michael Sulsona in two years, some New York hardware store workers delivered in an hour: They fixed his broken wheelchair.

The 62-year-old Vietnam veteran said he petitioned the VA for a new chair two years ago and received no reply. Then his wheelchair broke last week.

When Sulsona was in a Lowe’s home improvement store on Staten Island, a bolt on the already worn-out wheelchair snapped and a back wheel was about to fall off. Three Lowe’s employees stayed late after their 10 p.m. closing time to do the repair, for free.

“They said, ‘You’re not leaving till it’s like new again,'” Sulsona recalled.

The next day, Sulsona wrote a letter to his local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance, to thank the store’s employees.