TAMPA, Fla. — All November, we have been honoring Tampa Bay area veterans for National Veterans and Military Families Month.

One of those is Keith Smith, who served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and has been able to overcome PTSD through volunteer work.

Smith joined the Navy when he was just 19 and for decades after his service, he suffered from undiagnosed PTSD. 

“You can’t unsee what you’ve seen. You can’t unsee what you’ve heard,” Smith said.

“We had an incident where a plane missed the carrier, landed in the water and we tried to recover him. We lost him and we could see his eyes as he was going down in the water. Things like that stay there.”

A few years ago, Smith was introduced to a program called “Operation: Veteran Connect,” run by the local organization Seniors in Service. He went on to spend countless hours volunteering to help other veterans in need, from using his truck to help move homeless veterans into permanent housing to repairing bicycles so they could get to work.

Because of his efforts, Smith won this year’s Volunteer of the Year out of hundreds of candidates nationwide. It’s recognition Smith said he did not get upon his return from war and now appreciates. 

“That gives me a lot of fulfillment now,” Smith said. “And I think these last days are the happiest days of my life.”