When retired Marine Cpl. Scott Harrison was stationed at U.S. Marine outpost Con Thien during the Vietnam War at the age of just 19, it was a music box sent by his sister that brought him hope during his darkest hours. Years later, Harrison used that hope to build a unique carousel to help and inspire others. Steve Hartman has his story.

Nederland

Retired Marine Corporal Scott Harrison endured the hardships of the Vietnam War at a young age, finding comfort in a music box sent by his sister. The music evoked a vision of a peaceful carousel in a mountain meadow, offering him hope amid the conflict. After returning home and struggling with PTSD, Harrison decided to turn his vision into reality by restoring a broken carousel and carving new animals for it over 26 years.

Now located in Nederland, Colorado, the Carousel of Happiness operates as a nonprofit and has welcomed more than a million visitors. Harrison credits the project with aiding his own healing and providing joy and comfort to others, transforming his personal journey into a source of community happiness.

How a Marine veteran turned to a carousel to conquer his demons

During the height of the Vietnam War, if you were stationed here at Marine Outpost Khan Tien, it was like a death sentence. Was there a worse place you could have been? Not then. It just seemed like a matter of time for everybody. Scott Harrison, then a 19 year old corporal, says he got through those dark days. Thanks in no small part to a music box. Like this one. His sister sent it to him, and during breaks in the fighting, he used to hold it tight to his ear. And I would close my eyes and I would think of a carousel in a mountain meadow, a carousel, a carousel in a mountain meadow, an image totally opposite of where people are trying to kill each other, and it was always the same image. Yeah. Over and over, yeah. Scott says that delicate tinkling of a simpler time lowered his adrenaline and tempered the brutality. Eventually he was wounded, evacuated and reintegrated into civilian life. Scott left Vietnam in 1968, but the war never left him. He battled PTSD with alcohol, tried living alone on a boat in the ocean, but nothing worked. And that's when he circled back to that carousel vision, that one he conjured so long ago. I thought that if I could start actually making that vision come true, it would keep me on an even keel and make me happier. So he bought a broken down carousel and for the next 26 years, carved brand new animals for it. Today, here in Netterlin, Colorado, in a mountain valley, just like the one he envisioned, you'll find a carousel like none you've ever seen. The Carousel of Happiness is a nonprofit and over the past 15 years it has delighted more than a million people and profoundly changed at least one. Just to go to that carousel and see everybody having such a great time is good medicine for me. Because I started out trying to treat myself and then it just changed into. Something that I could do for others. The healing power of compassion. It's what makes the world go round. Steve Hartman on the road in Netterlin, Colorado.

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