Friday late afternoon/evening we visited at WR, Ann and Ted of the HOTH (Help on the homefront) MD PGR were gracious enough to meet up with us and take us with them on their rounds.  I just can’t say enough about these two amazing people.  They not only go to WR a couple times each week but they might pick up a family and bring them back to their farm for an afternoon of relaxing and good food.  They might bring a wounded soldier their favorite home cooked food.  Or, they might take the soldier and family out to their favorite restaurant.  Ann and Ted are truly Angels to our wounded warriors.

Neither Susan, Deb or I had been to WR before.  It’s a big place with lots of buildings and security to get through but the guards knew Ann and Ted so all went very smoothly.  Susan and I had hoped to meet with a Tn soldier (Sue Downes) who’d been injured in Iraq, she lives around Knoxville.  But Sue had already moved to a private apt and was not available.  So, we just handed off our goodies for Sue to Ann & Ted.  Before we even got to the elevator though they ran into Jeff.  Jeff loved the goodies we had, dvds, t-shirt, cds…..  He was such a fun guy to talk with.  He was thanking us for coming there.  We were there to thank HIM, not the other way around.

This is the flag Susan brought which had been signed by PGR members and the towns people of Dickson, Tn when we were at the funeral for Lance Corporal Jeffrey Adam Bishop.

A bit later on in the evening we ran into Jeff again and he had on his new t-shirt plus he had a gift for Susan.  It was his Combat Action Badge he received on August 13th, 2005 for the firefight he was in where he got injured.  We all had a good cry and lots of hugs. 

Because Ann & Ted knew I was originally from MN they brought us to visit with Mark who’s a MN National Guardsman.  Now Mark, here’s another amazing soldier.  I just couldn’t believe how upbeat and positive he was.  His brother and a friend were there with him.  Mark couldn’t decide which dvds he wanted, there was an interested pile, maybe pile and for sure pile.  He wanted to find a dvd for his brother to watch!  We had to take a picture of his tat since the surgeon had done such an incredible job of aligning the tat when Mark’s arm was sewn back together after surgery.

Pretty cool huh!

Here’s a photo with all of us hovering by Mark

Mark has some great get well cards and art work from his nephew’s class.

I had brought my copy of Team America World Police to donate and the following soldier was almost giddy when he saw it in the bag.  He had already chosen a couple of dvds and was not sure about taking it. We all said go ahead and take what you want.  When you’re done with the movie, just pass it on.

That’s Ann and Ted on the left (first in front and back),  then in the back is Mark’s wife,  Susan, Deb and myself with Mark (yes it’s another Mark).

One final photo is a Fort Richardson soldier who was originally from MN.  Josh had not been at WR long but I’ll tell you, he couldn’t say enough nice things about the people working at WR.  He also went gaga when he saw Casino Royale in the bag. 

We also visited the Soldier Family Assistance Center to find out about having the signed PGR flag put on display.  Met up with the Assistance Liaison for the Center.  We had an interesting talk with her about the whole media flap regarding WR.  The media had been hounding her to the point of almost driving her away.  This person started at WR in January of 2007.  So did her husband.  Her husband was one of the casualties!  How can that be right.  The media had been invisible as far as following up at the hospital but they are still on witchhunts for people to be fired.  How does this help the wounded soldiers and their families?  Our visit seemed to rejuvenate this person and she was thanking US!!

I can’t emphasize enough how much our visit was appreciated by any soldier or family member we interacted with when we were there to express out gratitude and appreciation for their service and sacrifice.  I can’t wait to go back, these soldiers and their families deserve our time and gratitude.  What has happened though, there is no longer a way to mail to any soldier at Walter Reed. 

The liaison gave us information on how we can send mail to her office.  What is needed are international calling cards, electric razors and Gift Visa Cards. With the gift Visa gas can be purchased without worrying about finding that specific retailer.  I thought it was a great idea and to be honest had never seen them before. 

If you’re interested in getting the info for sending cards and needed items to WR just send me an email.  You can email me at bearcreekledger at bearcreekledger dot com.

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