SANFORD — It was the early 1990s when Joe Armstrong said he realized, through the help of a counselor at the Sanford Vet Center, that the misery he was experiencing, day after day, night after night, was post-traumatic stress disorder.

It is a malady that stretches back nearly 50 years.

Armstrong had enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17, on July 5, 1965. Eleven months later, on June 9, 1966, Armstrong, a member of the 173rd Airborne, was sent to Vietnam. He returned Sept. 18, 1967, after a 13-month hitch.

Except the hitch goes on and on, even today, for Armstrong, and so many others who served.

“People ask, ‘When was the last time you were in Vietnam?’” he said in an interview earlier this week. “I say last night.”

He’s handling it better now, through lots of work with counselors, but it lingers.

He has nightmares, still, all these years later. Smells of burning wood can trigger images of Vietnamese villages.

He’s said before, and will likely say again, “I went in at 17 and came back an old man.”

But for the past several years, even as Armstrong copes with his own issues, he’s been among those who served who have made it their mission is to help other veterans.

These days, Armstrong is president of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 1044. The group, which had been based in Sanford since its inception five years ago, moved to Biddeford a few months ago because the location was more convenient for the majority of members.

According to the U.S. Veterans Administration, there were 44,836 Vietnamera veterans living in Maine as of Sept. 30, 2014.

And they’re all getting older – the youngest veterans are now in their late 50s.

Armstrong and Vietnam Veterans of America want to help them as best they can, bringing information about health care and health issues, benefits and more – big issues and ones that may seem small, but are necessary, like the “Warm Feet” project. Last year, through the generosity of donors, VVA Chapter 1044 collected 600 pairs of socks for veterans and their families who needed them.

Armstrong first “put his toe in the water,” as he calls it, establishing a chapter of Rolling Thunder in the Sanford area. After a few years, he stepped back from that role, then looked into and then started the VVA chapter.

Most recently, the group, which has 123 members from Fort Kent to York, has focused on issues like Hepatitis C, PTSD, Agent Orange, suicide and more.

Hepatitis C is a bloodborne illness that affects the liver. It is transmitted through blood from an infected person and, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control, can be transmitted through needle sticks in healthcare settings, and by sharing needles, syringes and other equipment used to inject drugs. Back when Armstrong was getting ready to ship out to Vietnam, he remembers passing through rows of medics with air guns, each dispensing vaccines against this or that disease to him, to the recruits in front of him and those behind him. And, he said, the guns weren’t always sanitized from one recruit to another.

Armstrong has tested negative for the disease, but knows two veterans who tested positive and been treated with new, effective medications.

“We’re urging people to get tested,” he said.

Armstrong himself was exposed to Agent Orange, a defoliant used to clear the jungle and later determined to cause cancer, diabetes and some forms of heart disease among other illnesses.

Those who tune into Biddeford Public Access might catch the Veteran’s Voice, a television program hosted by Armstrong that features health issues and more.

And there have been special events over the years, honoring World War II veterans, Korean War veterans, Tuskegee airmen, female veterans and, of course, Vietnam veterans.

Those who take in the Veterans Day parade in Biddeford and Saco will see them marching.

Vietnam Veterans of America 1044 meets at 1:30 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month at the American Legion 26, at 508 Elm St. in Biddeford.

Veterans or family members who need help with benefits, filling out military paperwork and more can talk to Armstrong, an accredited veterans service officer, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Or they can drop by at those times just to talk and kick back.

“We offer coffee, people can talk or not; just relax. We’re trying to create an oasis,” he said.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.

Veterans or family members who need help with benefits and other issues can speak with Joe Armstrong, of Vietnam Veterans of America #1044, at the American Legion 26 at 508 Elm St. in Biddeford, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays.