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2/7 Corpsman Honored With Home In Houston
(January 21, 2010) |
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In this undated family photo,
Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Thompson, a
hospital corpsman with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine
Regiment, lays with his young son, A.J. Thompson
was seriously wounded by a vehicle-borne
improvised explosive device during his second
deployment to Iraq in 2007 with 2nd Bn., 7th
Marines. Courtesy Photo |
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HOUSTON (January 14, 2010) — “But daddy doesn't talk,” said two-year-old A.J.
Thompson to his mother Ivonne at the hospital visiting his
father, a hospital corpsman with
2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, who was seriously
wounded during his second deployment to Iraq with the
battalion in 2007.
Ivonne immediately responded,
“Daddy doesn't talk yet, but he will.”
Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Thompson is currently
undergoing intensive therapy at Kessler Rehabilitation
Center in New Jersey to help him regain his speech and
improve his quality of life after a vehicle-borne improvised
explosive device was detonated under an overpass near
Fallujah, Iraq where he was standing guard.
Anthony was found unresponsive after the blast and
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suffered a traumatic brain injury, an incomplete
spinal cord injury and a punctured right lung. |
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Since returning to the U.S., Anthony has made many steps
toward recovery, said Ivonne.
“As we continue to go through different [rehabilitation
centers], Anthony continues to progress,” Ivonne said. “His
eyes are open. He is awake all day and sleeps at night. He
responds to myself, his son, and men in uniform – he seems
to sit at attention for them.”
Ivonne said Thompson can make facial expressions to tell
her if he is in pain and can move his hands, arms and his
left leg.
“All are signs he is progressing and improving,” she
said. “They are tiny increments of improvement, but they
mean a lot in the grand scheme of things. Who knows how far
he will continue to come.”
While rehabilitation centers are helping him improve his
motor functions, the non-profit organization
Homes for Our Troops is helping his entire family
improve their way of life.
The organization kicked off a three-day ‘Build Brigade'
Jan. 7-9, providing the family with a weather-tight
structure, built specifically with Anthony in mind.
During the Build Brigade, more than 300 volunteers showed
up to help erect the house and provide support for the
project, said Vicky Thomas, the media relations specialist
with Homes for Our Troops.
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According to the
organization's website, the organization's mission is to
provide specially adapted homes for veterans who were
seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan since Sept. 11,
2001, at no cost to the veterans.
Ivonne said she contacted the organization shortly after
her husband was wounded, and the voice she heard on the
other end of the phone told her Homes for Our Troops had
been expecting her call.
Ivonne went through the application process in March and
soon after, the Thompsons were on their way towards a place
to call home.
In no time at all, she just watched a house rise from an
area where days prior there was only a concrete slab, she
said in a phone interview.
“In four to six months we will have a house
designed so that Anthony's wheelchair — his
rather wide |
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The house, slated to be
completed in four to six months, being built the
non-profit organization Homes for Our Troops for
Petty Officer 2nd Class Anthony Thompson, a
hospital corpsman formerly with 2nd Battalion,
7th Marine Regiment, stands two days into the
three-day 'Build Brigade' project Jan. 8, 2010
in Houston. Thompson was seriously wounded by a
vehicle-borne improvised explosive device during
his second deployment to Iraq in 2007 with 2nd
Bn., 7th Marines. Homes for Our Troops focuses
on building specialized homes for seriously
injured veterans at no cost to the veterans and
their families. Courtesy Photo |
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electrical wheelchair can make it into every
single room in the house,” said Ivonne, a Humble, Texas native. “The doors will all be
wider, there aren't going to be bumps on the thresholds,
there will be a roll-in shower built for Anthony. |
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Ivonne said she is very grateful to everyone in the
community for their volunteer efforts, and their concern for
her husband and family.
“It truly is one of those moments when you think humanity
is lost, and a group of wonderful people comes and shows you
kind and good-hearted people are everywhere, just waiting
for an opportunity to help in any way they can,” Ivonne
said. “I'm very thankful the community has honored him in
such a manner. They have given him a home – a great home
where we can raise a family.” | |
By USMC Pvt. Michael T. Gams
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms
Copyright 2010
Reprinted from
Marine Corps News
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