Family of fallen service member starts foundation to help sexual abuse in military
By Hannah Hoffman
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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WBAL) — In 2019, Danny Buck’s mother got a phone call no family member ever wants to hear. Her son had taken his own life.
Buck, an Annapolis native, served as a hospital corpsman in the U.S. Navy but during his service, he was sexually abused. Now, his family wants to prevent others from experiencing that pain with the HM2 Buck for Hope Foundation.
“I had a five-hour Facetime with Danny the day he took his life, and one of the things he said is ‘Mom, you are like a force of nature when you love something’ and he said ‘I don’t have the strength to do it anymore.’ At that point I still didn’t know what was about to happen and he said, ‘I need you to make people understand what is going on,” Danny’s mother Elizabeth Buck said.
The foundation opened its headquarters Wednesday in historic Annapolis. Its mission to make others aware of the abuse that can happen in the military and alongside the foundation’s building is this mural honoring Buck’s legacy.
His mother shared the symbolism behind the design.
“When you lose a child, they give you a folded flag. Until you go through that, you don’t understand what that does to you,” Elizabeth Buck said.
The foundation is working with Anne Arundel Hospital to start a scholarship for mental health nurses.
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