Ryan's Story

I wanted to tell you a story about a young wounded soldier who came to the terminal one night to greet his battle buddies who were returning home. His story was first written by a Red Cross volunteer named Carol. She is also the founder of the Adopt A Soldier program. She writes a column for the newspaper here. You can find her article here:
http://savannahnow.com/node/638823 But even though Carol told the story, I too wanted to tell it. Because I was so inspired by what I personally witnessed and it's something I will never forget. So here is Ryan's story in my words:
I was coming from the storeroom when I saw a young soldier in a wheel chair sitting by the USO table. He was being pushed by another soldier and there was a woman with him. I walked over to my table. The Colonel saw me and called me over and introduced me. The guys name was SGT Ryan Shurtleff and the woman with him was his mom. He was here from Tampa to see his friends return home. I shook his hand and in doing so placed an angel penny in his palm. he opened his hand, looked at it and said, "thank you mam. I can use an angel right now." I told him considering he was here I'd say he had one somewhere. People began gathering around him. Mostly officers who had been in Iraq when he was injured. He was answering questions..yes sir..about a week sir.....until I saw a corporal and a specialist walk over to him. he looked up and in a single movement was out of his chair and standing up straight. He clutched his 2 buddies in a group hug. Each one had a hand on the back of the head of the other. We all just stood and watched..then he lost his balance and sat back down in his wheelchair. Only then did I realize that he wasn't supposed to stand up. His feet couldn't take the weight of his body. His accident happened less than 3 months prior. every bone in his body had been broken. He wasn't supposed to live...yet here he was..standing in front of me...and he stood for his buddies. I was in awe. the more I heard of his condition the more I admired this brave young man.
When the time came for the plane to land i saw him being pushed with his mom out to the stairs. It was dark so it was hard to see anything really going on. I could see him and see men bending over hugging him. When all of his unit had gotten off the plane I saw the Colonel pushing him our way...the Colonel wanted him to go thru our line so he could get a welcome home. I saw him coming. He was being pushed thru the American flags that line each side of the welcome home line. His face beamed with pride as USO and Red Cross volunteers were stopping him, thanking him and shaking his hand. All but me..I stood there with tears running down my cheeks ...applauding him..unable to say a thing. Then it dawned on me..his accident was September 25th..Christmas was three months to the day later. The day he was going to walk again. Not everyone gets their wish granted on Christmas..but I sure hope he did.
I have had the chance to witness many things that just leave me speechless. Acts of kindness, courage, selflessness to name a few. I try to write about them so i can share with everyone who takes the time to read what I have to say. I am not a writer and don't claim to be. I'm the person behind you in the line at Walmart. I'm the person in the car next to you at the red light. There is nothing about me that would make you give me a second glance. I just happen to be fortunate enough to be a USO volunteer. And my fellow volunteers I work with are some of the best people you could ever know. Together, along with the Red Cross we are blessed to be able to support the heroes of this country, the troops.

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