Today on Memorial Day, we remember Americans who have sacrificed their lives for our country.

One of the sad facts of our history is that many of our veterans, when serving our country, started smoking at the same time.

Veterans are much more likely to smoke and use tobacco than the rest of the U.S. population. They also are heavier smokers and have higher rates of smoking-related illnesses. During World War II and the Korean War, cigarettes were often provided free as part of K-rations. 

"Many in the military thought then that smoking was a good way to help keep soldiers alert and awake in the battlefield and the command, 'smoke 'em if you got 'em' is one that many older veterans remember," according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. "Recruits may have even been able to earn smoking breaks during military training and boot camp. Unfortunately, this early tobacco use led quickly to a lifetime addiction and a wide list of health-related problems."

Joe Clement was one of those veterans. Here's his story.

Joe started smoking many packs of cigarettes a day when joining the Air Force in 1957. His health really started deteriorating in 1997 with complaints of shortness of breath necessitating trips to the emergency room in Fremont. 

Never did Joe complain, but he did say many times, “What have I done to myself?” 

Joe had smoked too long. 

In 2000 we started seeing doctors at the VA in Omaha. 

Joe had a great will to live,  starting at birth. He was born the smaller of twins, weighing less than two pounds. Born on  a farm in Missouri, there were no special incubators or life support, just the care from neighbors. His heart was damaged at birth, but no one knew until his second heart attack in 1970, at which time they found the scarring of his first heart attack and the heart damage at birth. 

These last 14 years had their active good times, but in 2001 Joe was put on oxygen. At that time, he only used the oxygen tank at night. In 2004, after heart bypass surgery, he was put on oxygen 24/7. 

At first Joe was still able to climb stairs, but golf was something he no longer could do. In 2007, the stairs were too much and we built on to our home because Joe needed a downstairs bedroom. Joe started using a wheelchair in 2009. These last two years there was steady weight loss and loss of appetite. 

Joe was definite about his last days on earth. He did not want to have life saving devices and no ventilators. 

Joe died peacefully. No struggling for air, as he had done for many years. Kind nursing and the wonderful help from doctors made Joe’s life much longer than you might expect. 

Joe asked if it would be a help to young people to go and talk to the junior and senior high students. 

I asked him if he would  have listened if someone had come and told him to quit smoking. Of course, the answer was ‘no.’ 

I am sharing this story with the  hope, and Joe’s dying wish, that maybe someone will read it and realize the terrible death that awaits so many cigarette users. 

Just don’t start. 

Has your life been touched by tobacco use? Has someone you love been hurt by smoking? Have you quit smoking? Or do you love smoke-free worksites?

If you have a story that's related to smoking, tobacco use, please consider sharing your story. Your story can help others avoid the harms of tobacco use.

Quitting smoking is possible.

Continuing smoking, on the other hand, can mean lung cancer and early death.
That's the message Rick Stoddard has to share in this moving public service announcement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Despite tremendous progress in reducing tobacco use in the United States, smoking-related diseases remain the number one cause of preventable death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in five adults smoke cigarettes, and:

• An estimated 46 million people, or 20.6 percent of all adults (aged 18 years and older), in the United States smoke cigarettes. Cigarette smoking is more common among men (23.5 percent) than women (17.9 percent).
• Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths, or one of every five deaths, in the United States each year.

If your life has been impacted by smoking or other tobacco use, we invite you to share your story with us. Simply by sharing your story, you can help promote healthy, tobacco free kids in Nebraska and help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use.

"It's my lungs and my life."

That's what the man depicted in this video by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told his wife when she asked him to quit smoking.

She was "always getting on his case" to quit smoking, he said. She even threatened to quit kissing him.

And yet he smoked.

He learned, by losing his wife to secondhand smoke, that he wasn't only hurting himself. His wife became one of the 50,000 people to die from secondhand smoke each year.

"My wife was my life," he said. 

Each year, 280 Nebraskans die from exposure to secondhand smoke.

If your life has been impacted by smoking or other tobacco use, we invite you to share your story with us. Simply by sharing your story and becoming a member of Nebrakans ACT, you can help promote tobacco free kids in Nebraska and help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use.

How old are the people who die from smoking?

In this video by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the story of one man brings home how young a woman can be when her life is taken by smoking.

Rick Stoddard explains how his wife, Marie, died at age 46 from lung cancer caused by smoking cigarettes. 

Stoddard's mission is to tell as many youth and adults as possible across America about the dangers of tobacco use.

The video also reminds us that it's not only those whose lives are taken by smoking who lose out: Stoddard's wife died, and he lives to grieve her loss.

Each year, 2,200 Nebraskans die from their own smoking, leaving behind loved ones and friends. Stoddard's message is a compelling reminder of why the Nebraska effort to promote tobacco free kids and support efforts to help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use is so critical.

Nebraskans who have lost a loved one to tobacco use or who suffer because of smoking or tobacco use can share their story, become a member of Nebraskans ACT, and help promote tobacco free kids and help Nebraskans in their efforts to quit smoking and quit tobacco use.

Today, Nebraskans have a new way that they can get involved in the effort to promote tobacco free kids and to join the effort to help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use: They can share their story of how smoking and tobacco use has impacted their lives.

Nebraskans now have the opportunity to share their story about how smoking or other tobacco use has impacted their lives, or about how efforts to promote healthy tobacco-free lives have helped them. When they do so, they will join the growing number of Nebraskans who are taking action to promote tobacco free kids and help Nebraskans quit smoking and quit tobacco use.

They'll become part of Nebraskans ACT (Action Challenging Tobacco) and add their voice to the effort to reduce tobacco use in Nebraska.

There is no cost or obligation to be part of the effort, which is sponsored by Health Education Inc., a non-profit serving the health of Nebraska for more than 30 years.