As the Protestant chaplain at the Veterans Home of California—Barstow, U.S. Army veteran William T. Young sees serving veterans as his divine duty.

“I joined the Army in 1983 to pay back my missionary ‘debt,’” Young said.

He spent the next 32 years ministering to the spiritual needs of soldiers—from Fort Totten in New York; to Japan, the Philippines, Okinawa, and to Germany during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Germany, he worked in the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, where he ministered to members of all branches of the armed forces.

Their concerns became his concerns.

“As an Army hospital chaplain, I shared the anxiety, depression, fear, and tears with my clients, and celebrated their recovery as well,” Young said.

It also gave him long weekend breaks each month, when he could visit surrounding countries to enjoy and explore their art, culture, and history.

Young retired as a colonel in 2015. He became the Barstow Home’s Protestant chaplain in 2021.

“I find it gratifying to extend my service to them as a messenger, pastor, teacher, and facilitator of hope,” Young said.

And he gets much in return, enjoying their histories and stories as well. Among the veterans living at the home is a Vietnam War-era Army veteran and descendant of George Whitefield. Whitefield is a key figure in the Great Awakening, a time beginning in the 1730s that saw a revival of spirituality and religious devotion.

“It was my distinct joy and thrill to find out that one of my congregants, Joan Whitefield Smithey, is the great, great, great granddaughter of my favorite revival heroes of the first Great Awakening in 18^th century America,” Young said.

Young conducts Sunday services and Bible studies in the chapel. He ministers to those in hospice care. And each week, Wednesday through Friday, he picks up the paddles for what he calls “ping-pong devotion.

“While we’re playing, we get into conversations,” he said. They could be about the Bible or religion, or anything else of interest.

“I feel very much at home here,” Young said. “We have lots of things in common, lots of things to share.”

A veteran serving veterans, a divine duty, indeed. 

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This is one of a series of CalVet Connect posts introducing you to CalVet employees who are veterans of the United States Armed Forces—thus “Veterans Serving Veterans.”

Would you like the opportunity to serve veterans in your work? Join the CalVet team! We are dedicated to ensuring that veterans from every era, along with their families, receive the state and federal benefits and services they have earned and deserve due to their selfless and honorable military service. At CalVet, we prioritize serving veterans and their families with dignity, compassion, and a commitment to helping them achieve the highest quality of life. See our current job openings at www.calvet.ca.gov/jobs.