Bradley Tiegs, co-founder and executive director of the Undaunted Warhorse Initiative, left, with a veteran client who received a donated trailer after his former trailer and its surrounding structure was destroyed in a house fire. Courtesy photo

Bradley Tiegs spent years serving others—as a Marine, a teacher and a coach—but it wasn’t until 2019, nearly two decades after his military service, that he learned asking for help could lead to a new mission.

While seeking treatment for a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Lavon resident met a Vietnam veteran known as “Yosemite Sam” who, at over 70 years old, was facing homelessness again after leaving the same facility. Sam refused to risk the dangers of a shelter.

“I told him, ‘The VA has to have something to help you,’ and offered to put him up in a hotel while I started doing some research,” Tiegs said. “I started to find out there really is no help from the VA that doesn’t go through an incredible amount of red tape.”

That encounter marked the beginning of the Undaunted Warhorse Initiative (UWI), a nonprofit Tiegs co-founded in 2020 with fellow veteran Jeff Johnson.

For more on this story see the April 17, 2025 print, or digital edition of the Murphy Monitor. Subscribe today and support local journalism in your community.