 |
| Walter Reed |
April 09, 2003 |
| |
Dear Friends,
Rock Creek Parkway was full of commuters winding north through the city of Washington this evening, escaping to their homes in Maryland. We got off just before leaving the District of Columbia and found our way to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It is a huge place, a sprawling campus with a main building some ten stories high.
Through World War II, Korea and Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been treated there. There are 34 young Americans there tonight home from Iraq, recovering from injuries.
"I brought chocolate and magazines and words of thanks for their service from New Mexico.... Saying Thank You matters."
--Heather Wilson
|  |
A Colonel met me at the door and we chatted a bit. I asked him to use his judgement about who I might drop by to see -- perhaps soldiers who didn’t have family nearby who could come to see them. I brought chocolate and magazines and words of thanks for their service from New Mexico.
The Warrant Officer is an Apache Longbow pilot who grew up in Kentucky. He has a serious bruise on his head and had surgery today to put some pins in his leg. He flipped his helicopter on its back while landing in the blowing sand after a combat mission. I happen to know a Staff Sergeant who does maintenance in his unit. I told him I bet his crew chief was upset with him. "Yeah," he said, "He told me he had just gotten everything working perfect and then I broke it. I`m glad they aren`t deducting that one from my pay!" He’s been in the Army for five years and wants to stay in for a whole career. I saw the flash of worry cross his bruised face. "Don’t worry," I told him. "The leg will be okay soon. They’ll let you stay if you promise to land right side up." He smiled.
The Sergeant from the 507th of Fort Bliss was laughing with his cousin when I came in. His wife is in Florida with their 9 month old baby. He had just been assigned to Bliss for 2 weeks before shipping out. He’s a big guy – the kind of guy you would want to have around if things get tough. And things did get tough for him. He has nothing but praise for the Marines that came to their aid when they were ambushed trying to catch up to their unit.
"They did what nobody else would. And they med-evaced us out too."
The owner of the Baltimore Orioles invited him and some of the others out to see the game from his box last weekend. When they announced the soldiers were there, the whole stadium gave them a standing ovation and the dugouts cleared out. All the players stood and applauded too. That seemed to more than make up for the Orioles playing a lousy game.
There were others too. The medic shot by an enemy prisoner of war whom they were taking to the hospital, a quiet marine from Long Island, a man from Wisconsin hit by a truck that ran into a crowd of soldiers with the 101st.
My first commander when I was in the Air Force was an Army Major who had been a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and had spent several years as a POW. I don’t think there was a standing ovation from the Baltimore Orioles for him or his buddies when they came home. Saying thank you matters.
Wish you were here,
 |
|
|
|