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Yarmouth Police Help Veteran Get Canoe To Explore Cape Cod

YARMOUTH (CBS) - An 85-year-old veteran is crossing one more thing off his bucket list today- a canoe.

He wants to take his wife to explore Cape Cod's lakes and ponds. But it's how he got the canoe, and what it might mean to other vets, that's the real eye-opener.

Jim Goetschius is a Korean War veteran who lives in Hyannis.

A couple of days ago he came to the Yarmouth Police Dept. because he knew the Deputy Chief there does a lot for vets.

He explained that as a young man he was a canoe instructor and that, he would love to paddle again, but he and his wife, Maxine, cannot afford a canoe. "It enables me to go and visit some of the 300 lakes on Cape Cod before I die," Jim says.

Yarmouth canoe
Jim Goetschius and his wife Maxine (WBZ-TV)

Deputy Chief Steve Xiarhos put out the word. "If you ask Americans for help, they'll help," he says.

Within a few hours, there were offers to donate 15 canoes. The young man who donated the canoe that was given to Jim was motivated by remembering canoeing with his own grandfather, a World War II veteran.

"As soon as he heard the story he cried, and he thought of his grandfather and he thought, this canoe belongs to this man," says Xiarhos.

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Jim Goetschius and his wife Maxine (Photo credit: Yarmouth Police Department)

And now it does. "We're going to have a picnic. There are a lot of ponds on Cape Cod. We've seen some and some we haven't, but now we can," says Maxine Goetschius.

And since people were so generous toward him, Jim has an idea. Maybe younger veterans, scarred physically or mentally by war, can find some peace in the quiet and calm of canoeing.

"We honor our country in many ways, and taking care of veterans is one immensely good way of honoring your country," Jim says.

Yarmouth Police Deputy Chief Xiarhos is a Gold Star father. His son, Nick, was killed serving in Afghanistan. Chief Xiarhos hopes to take Jim's idea of canoes for vets and help make it a reality.

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