For some firefighters, the eighth Operation Wounded Warrior trip to military hospitals early last month was a familiar reminder of the sacrifice given by U.S. troops fighting overseas – and the sense of pride they receive for making their recovery a little bit easier.
“It’s always bittersweet. Unfortunately there are still people being hurt and we just try to make things a little bit brighter,” said Michael Kushner, a vice chairman of Operation Wounded Warrior.
Many of the wounded at Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg in North Carolina, and the National Military Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. have sustained crippling injuries from roadside improvised explosive devices, known as IEDs, commonly used attack U.S. military convoys in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The type of wounds that we saw were typical to wounds that we had seen on previous trips. Each year that we go down, we see faces we’ve met before and new faces of kids who are there,” said Kenneth Fairben, ex-chief of the Floral Park Fire Department.
Kushner is a 15-year veteran of the Stewart Manor Fire Department, which began Operation Wounded Warrior in 2004 when some of its members collected socks and Christmas cards for the troops.
The effort has taken on a life of its own since then with 41 of the county’s 71 fire departments participating, including East Williston, Williston Park and Mineola. A contingent of 60 volunteers departed on consecutive days to Camp Lejeune, Fort Bragg and Bethesda early last month.
Kushner recalled the hospitality of Lori Sutherland, a Gold Star mothers at Fort Bragg who lost her son two years while serving in the 82nd Airborne. She’s the director of the Fisher House at Fort Bragg, which enables families to stay on the base for free while visiting their injured loved ones.
“They’re extended family. They’re an extension of the long red line,” Kushner said of the wounded veterans. “What can we give these people? We can listen and be there for them.”
The most intense moments of the visits come when the firefighters have personal encounters with patients when they present them with presents.
This year, Fairben said, the only thing one young man wanted was an Operation Wounded Warrior jacket.
The firefighters contacted Sport Loft in New Hyde Park, which had provided the customized jackets for the firemen. It’s a one-of-a-kind jacket that began being made after the 9/11 attacks for which special patches were produced. Other patients wanted the jackets when they heard about the first solider’s request. Fairben said Sport Loft located the 91 patches that still existed around the country, had them shipped and sewed the patches on.
Joseph O’Grady, Operation Wounded Warrior chairman who works for FedEx, made sure they got there on time.
O’Grady recounted a particularly difficult experience while distributing presents – including iPad minis this year – to patients in the Bethesda Hospital. He started talking to one young soldier in a hospital bed and realized the man had no arms or legs
“It was the toughest experience I ever had,” O’Grady said. “No matter what words I got out, I really wasn’t going to make a difference with this kid. I thought, ‘Oh my God, what good can I do with an iPad and some sweatshirts’?”
He wished the young man well and thanked him for his service.
“You can’t physically put your hand on the good you do,” he said.
It was O’Grady’s seventh trip for Operation Wounded Warrior, and the repetition – and the sense of mission – provides emotional preparation for the experience.
“It doesn’t get tougher because in the back of your head, you know this is what they need. That’s the reward, certainly the reward we get out of it,” O’Grady said.
Patricia Luger, Floral Park firefighter for more than years, visited the medical center at Fort Bragg on her sixth Operation Wounded Warrior trip this year.
One soldier in the hospital named Ray who’d has his gall bladder removed had been a fireman in California before he enlisted. He heard the firefighters were coming to visit and asked to meet them all.
Luger said when they entered his room and gave him a iPad mini, he couldn’t control his emotions.
“He started crying and said ‘I can’t believe I got to meet you’,” she recalled. “‘I can’t believe I get you meet you guys and you gave me a gift. You guys are the heroes’.”
The firefighters sent their picture with Ray to Ray’s father, who wrote them a thank you note, saying, in part, “I explained to Ray that while you are truly heroes in his eyes, the reality is that we are all brothers and sisters in service. We all answered a calling to serve, and there is no greater respect than that of one another.”
For Luger, it was the type of response that keeps him returning each Christmas.
“The most amazing thing is that you think there’s no way it’s going to be more inspirational than the year before. But every year, you meet someone who was more inspirational than the last year,” she said.
Kushner recalled asking one young soldier if there was anything he could get for him. He said, the veteran replied “Can you get me a leg?”.
“You have to have it together when you walk in. You don’t know what you’re walking into,” Kushner said.
During each year’s Camp Lejeune trip, the firefighters visited U.S. Marine Sgt. Eric Ericson, who suffered brain damage in an IED explosion.
“You can see that he looks forward to that visit. In a very small way, it’s definitely impacted his recovery in how he embraces us,” Kushner said.
He recalled the commanding Wounded Warrior officer at Camp Lejeune saying, “Here you guys are visiting us after Sandy doing something for us. We should be doing something for you.”
For the firefighters what they receive in the process of giving their time and the gifts they bring is well worth the trip.
“It’s something that’s almost indescribable,” Kushner said. “You give them a little bit of cheer from Nassau County. We let him know they’re people. They won’t be forgotten.”
Anyone interested in donating to Operation Wounded Warrior can do by donating on the organization’s Web site, www.NCFF-OWW.com, by PayPal, or by sending a check to: NCFF-OWW, 120 Covert Ave., Stewart Manor, NY 11530.
