When World War I ended in 1918, the nation got a close look at one of the results the more than 200,000 wounded who returned home.

All over the country, servicemen and servicewomen picked up their lives, some missing an arm or a leg, some blind or deaf, some fighting issues related to mental stress and some with breathing problems.A couple years passed with no united effort to aid the wounded veterans. There was a training school for the veterans in Cincinnati called the Ohio Mechanics Institute for Disabled Solders. Also in Cincinnati was a Superior Court judge named Robert Marx, himself a disabled soldier. In 1920, Marx formed the Disabled American Veterans of the World War, and 741,000 veterans joined.Flash forward nearly 100 years, and the DAV organization is still going strong and serving thousands of veterans. But currently the DAV is challenged by a shortage of volunteer drivers for the van program.In Pennsylvania, there are 75 vans which yearly travel 1.5 million miles, transporting more than 70,000 veterans to VA hospitals. The fleet is replenished with about 15 new vans a year. Schuylkill County has four vans, which operate runs in Pottsville, Tamaqua and other areas."In all the counties, we are facing a big problem right now with not having people volunteer to drive the veterans," said Carmen DeSanti of New Philadelphia, who is Chairman of the Veterans' Service Committee for Pennsylvania and also the DAV Finance Chairman for Pennsylvania. DeSanti is a World War II veteran who served the the United States Marine Corps."We hope that a vet would want to help a vet, or that more citizens would want to help a vet, because we have many veterans who need help to get to their appointments at hospitals."The DAV van program was recently bolstered by a $1,000 donation from Andreas Post 5069. Post trustee Glenn Stevens said the group raised the funds by selling poppies.DeSanti said anyone who is interested in volunteering as a driver should contact the DAV headquarters at 4219 Trindle Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011 or 717-761-4060.Any veteran who would like to arrange a van ride should first make a doctor's appointment at a VA hospital, with the nearest located in Wilkes-Barre."Just call the Veterans Administration to make an appointment, and a van will pick you up," DeSanti said. "There is almost always a run every day.""And we hope to keep it that way," he said. "But we need people to volunteer to drive so we can continue to offer this needed service for our veterans."More about the DAVThe DAV is a veterans' advocacy and assistance group. It provides free, professional assistance to veterans and their families, to get benefits and services earned through military service and provided through the Department of Veterans' Affairs and other governmental agencies.