Spc. Chris Anderson shows his prosthetic to fellow soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Jan. 11,
2013 at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Anderson lost his
leg to an improvised explosive device in July 2012. (Photo by
Army Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler) |
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SEATTLE, Washington (1/11/2013) - On June 12, while
conducting a dismounted patrol in aiwand, Afghanistan, an
improvised explosive device detonated near the men of 1st
Platoon, Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment,
2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Following the explosion, Spc. Chris Anderson's life would
forever be changed.
He lost his left leg, above the
knee, while sufferubg substantial damage to his right.
Another soldier suffered a lower extremity amputation in the
blast.
In the days, weeks and months following the
incident, Anderson said all he could think about was whether
or not his comrades would make it through the remainder of
the 9-month deployment unscathed. He kept in touch through
Facebook as he received nearly 50 surgeries at Walter Reed
National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
On
January 11, Anderson's dream to be reunited with his men
came true. With his doctor's approval, Anderson and his
wife, Spc. Jasmine Anderson, also in the 2nd Stryker Brigade
Combat Team, 2nd Inf. Div., planned how he could surprise
the soldiers of Company B. The couple purchased their
tickets on Jan. 9, but while Anderson was planning the
reunion, Jasmine had a surprise of her own.
She
contacted retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Anne Sprute,
founder and president of The Unfinished Mission, a non-profit
organization that, according to their website, “[offers] the tools
and gateway for Veterans to continue their personal and continued
mission.” Jasmine, a Charlotte, N.C. native, wanted her husband to
be greeted by the men he had to leave behind in a small welcome home
ceremony at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport.
Although there were only two
days to plan the surprise, Sprute went to work, and what
awaited Anderson at the airport was more than Jasmine could
have ever hoped for, she said.
Slowly, and
meticulously, stepping out of gate C 11 with a prosthetic on
one leg and spatial frame supporting the other, Anderson was
greeted by thunderous applause from airline and USO staff;
Port of Tacoma Police officers; TSA representatives; and
nearly 100 strangers, most with tears in their eyes.
But there was more in store for the young Pittsburgh
infantryman.
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After exiting the concourse, nearly 20 USO
volunteers held a large welcome home banner. Again, he was
welcomed with cheers. After posing for photos, Anderson was
sure that he and Jasmine were going to get their luggage,
pick up their rental car and drive to Joint Base Lewis-McChord,
where he would be able to finally surprise his men.
The SeaTac USO Center Manager, Bill Baker, told Anderson
they saved the couple the trouble of waiting in line and had
their rental keys and paperwork upstairs. Following Baker,
Anderson made his way to an auditorium upstairs and opened
the door to find a surprise of his own— nearly 40 men from
his company.
“There was never an option to say ‘no,
we can't do it,'” Baker said of the request to support the
event. “Having the soldiers wait for him is the final salute
to his service...a sense of closure, if you will.”
Anderson
stood in front of the men in disbelief. At one point, he had
to turn away and hide his face, the emotion almost too much
to handle, he said.
“Words cannot describe the
feeling of being able to have his friends surprise him,”
Jasmine said. “I saw his lip start to tremble, like he was
going to cry, but he held it together...this is all he's been
talking about. This is what he's been waiting for.”
Soldier after soldier approached Anderson and embraced him.
Smiles, laughs and, yes, even some tears spread through the
company.
“It's a relief... I'm so thankful you guys are
back here,” Anderson told the men. “I wanted to surprise
you, but I guess you got me,” he joked.
Anderson
spent time talking, joking and telling stories of his
outpatient rehabilitation. He explained his prosthetic, and
even passed it around to have it signed.
“I knew he
was coming in, and made sure I gathered as many of us as I
could,” explained Spc. Shane Ryan, a lead M240 gunner with
4-23 Inf. Anderson was Ryan's assistant gunner, but he was
not on the mission that July day. “My first worry when I
heard he had been hit was whether or not he was going to
make it back... it's a big relief to have him here.”
For one Army veteran and USO volunteer in attendance,
Anderson's reunion with his soldiers was “an honor” to see.
Denny Hamilton, a Vietnam veteran and former combat aviation
soldier, joined the celebration to thank Anderson for his
service, and said it was a relief to see him welcomed home
with such love and admiration.
“We came home [from
Vietnam] a very different way, and I am glad to see that
America woke up and gave him the hero's welcome he is most
deserving of,” Hamilton said.
The Andersons plan on
spending the weekend with their friends, most of whom
returned from Afghanistan last week.They will return to
Walter Reed on Jan. 15. Anderson is scheduled to have his
49th surgery on Jan. 16, when doctors will place new rods in
the spatial frame currently stabilizing his right leg.
More photos available below
By Army Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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