Metro

VA snubs veteran, so three Lowe’s workers fix his wheelchair

These Staten Island Lowe’s workers deserve a medal.

When disabled Vietnam vet Michael Sulsona’s decrepit wheelchair broke down in their Mariners Harbor home-improvement store, three employees jumped to his aid — and stayed an hour past closing time to fix it.

The 62-year-old vet, who lost both his legs in a land-mine explosion, heard a loud crack from a busted bolt holding the chair together. “I knew I was stuck and couldn’t go anywhere,” he told The Post on Wednesday.

But before Sulsona could panic, a red-vested employee nicknamed “Sal” came to his rescue. “He shouted out some orders and assembled a team of guys who came over and immediately started helping me,” Sulsona said. “They were like a well-oiled machine, like a SWAT team.”

The trio rallied around Sulsona, helping him into a nearby patio chair, and then spent their own time — off the clock — tinkering with his wheelchair, which the war hero had tried to get the Veterans Administration to replace.

“These are real stand-up guys,” Sulsona said. “People who won’t turn their back on you.”

After they finished the patch-up job, Sulsona said, the men were too modest to accept his thanks. They just kept repeating, “It was an honor to help you. It was an honor,” he said.

Michael Sulsona (second from right), a Vietnam War veteran who lost both legs to a land mine 40 years ago, sits in a chair watching as Lowe’s employees in Staten Island repair his wheelchair.AP

Sulsona was shocked by the insistence of the home-improvement superstore workers on helping him — something he’s not used to in his dealings with the embattled VA.

“They didn’t ask any questions, didn’t feel the need to fill out any forms or make phone calls. Someone needed help, and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity,” Sulsona said in a letter to the Staten Island Advance.

After his letter got noticed, Sulsona woke up with a new wheelchair on his doorstep from the VA — two years after he started filing paperwork for a new one.

“They got me the new wheelchair, and that’s good,” Sulsona said. “It’s just upsetting that as soon as you get a new wheelchair, you better order a new one right away because it’s going to take two years to get the next one.”

The VA issued a statement Wednesday apologizing for the delay in Sulsona’s request for a new chair. “Too many veterans wait too long to receive their care and benefits, and this has never been acceptable,” it said.

Sulsona only knows the names of his Lowe’s comrades as “David, Marcus and Souleyman.” Lowe’s declined to provide the names of the workers.