New Annapolis mural honors Navy veteran who died by suicide, calls for change in military
A powerful new mural in the heart of downtown Annapolis honors a Navy veteran who died by suicide, and calls for change in the military.
The mural for Danny Buck, a Navy corpsman who was stationed in San Diego, was painted at the corner of Duke of Gloucester and Conduit streets.
"You've got to spread the word, and that's what I've done day in and day out," said Elizabeth "Betty" Buck, Danny Buck's mother and the founder of the HM2 Buck for Hope Foundation.
Taking his own life
In 2019, Betty Buck got a call from her son, Danny Buck, who told her that while on a ship in Japan, he was sexually assaulted by three other seamen, who had assaulted others before him.
His attackers were still free, while Danny Buck suffered in silence for months.
"He wasn't allowed to tell family, and he got one psych visit," Betty Buck said.
During that phone call, Danny Buck asked his mother to make him that promise.
"He said, 'I don't have the strength to do it anymore,'" Betty Buck said. "I still didn't, at that point, know what was about to happen, and he said, 'I need you to make people understand what is going on.'"
Danny Buck hung up and took his own life, according to his mother.
"When you lose a child, they give you a folded flag," Betty Buck said. "Until you've gone through that, you don't understand what that does to you."
New HM2 Buck for Hope Foundation headquarters
A year later, Betty Buck started the HM2 Buck for Hope Foundation to raise awareness about sexual assault and suicide in the military.
"I just want them to have the ability to get the help that they need," Betty Buck said.
On Wednesday, state and local leaders, including Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley, joined Betty Buck to celebrate the opening of the foundation's new headquarters in downtown, and unveil the mural on its facade dedicated to Danny Buck.
Things like this, symbolic, meaningful murals like this, make people stop and think about what we need to do to make our country better," Buckley said.
"Something has to be done, their story has to be told, and people have to know it's OK to say, 'I'm not OK, I need help.'"
