On one of the pages of this blog I give you the history of Operation Cane of Texas. I have just come to realize that I have not told the whole story. That page tells you about us and what we have done over the last seven years. It does not tell you what we have experienced and I want to share that with you.
Recently the Dallas Morning News, Neighbors Go section did an article on me which they titled “Labor of Love”. I had not thought of it that way but I realized that what they said was true. I was doing this as a mission because of my love for the young people that have been defending our country. Let me say at the outset I am an unashamed patriotic, and proud of this country. I am more proud of the young men and women wearing the uniforms of our military. And this is their story. I have talked to and shaken hands with hundreds of these young people and know some of their stories. Being of (almost) the “greatest generation” I can tell you with certainy they are made of the same stuff. Believe me you can tell what they are made of when you talk to a young man who has lost 3 limbs among other wounds and he is nothing short of upbeat and ready to get on with what ever the future holds. They are ready to look life in the eye and tell it like it is.
I am grateful to our country for the way we are embracing our military, giving care and support. It was shamefully different for those of us coming home from Viet Nam. We must never let that happen again, regardless of what we think of the situation. It is not the soldier that is at fault, our military do not start wars, our politicians do. Soldiers follow orders and are there, as before, to defend this country against its enemys.
In my history of Operation Cane I told of crying on the way home from my first visit to Brooke Army Medical Center. That trip home to Dallas from San Antonio of five and a half hours gave me a lotof time to think while alone with my thoughts in the car. My tears were not of sorrow, they were tears of pride and joy for our troops that I had met and shaken hands with. Pride for the staff on the wards that were taking care of these Wounded Warriors. Let me tell you a few stories, I won’t give you names as I don’t have the clearance to do so and it would mean nothing to you to have the names anyway.
On my first visit to the Warrior and Family Support Center, as I was taking a box of canes up to the second floor of the facility I observed a young man in civilian cloths with a young lady in BDU’s, she was a soldier. The young man was on crutches and missing one leg. They were going upstairs as I was. I was getting on the elivator with the box of canes and held the door so they could get on. He thanked me and said he would take the stairs. I met them on the second floor, he had come to get one of the canes. The young lady with him was his wife, they both were soldiers. I was able to have a long conversation with him. He was going to get his prosthesis soon as was working hard to get his body ready to handle it. What did he want for the future, to stay in the Army and get back to his unit. Also I met a young lady in the Rehab facility. She had lost both of her legs above the knees. We talked for a long time about a lot of “stuff”. Just before she left to go for her first visit on her prosthesis I asked her what the future was for her, she broke out into a big smile and said something like “..that is easy, I am getting my legs, going home, getting pregnant and raising a family.” I don’t think you can get more positive than that.
I made a total of 10 trips to Brooke, twice a year. Besides going to the Warrior and Family Support Center, I visited both the Ortho and the Burn Wards. On one particular visit when Diann Small, another woodcarver, was with me, we had the priviledge of meeting a young Black Marine, Cpl, who had been burned over 96% of his body. His injuries had happened early on in Iraq so when we met him he was back in the hospital for reconstructive surgery. He was not from Texas but had move his mother into a house he had purchase in San Antonio so he could be near BAMC for his treatment. This was one outstanding young man, very engaging in conversation and not the least concerned about his situation when carrying on a conversation with you. I learned from the Head Nurse that he had started a business and founded a Foundation to help the children of KIA Marines get an education. What an amazing young man he was, I say was because in April 2009 he died of cardiac arrest on the operating table during his 100 reconstructive surgery. It is a very sad ending to an amazing story. I am proud and honored to have met this young man.
There are hundreds of more stories that could be told by myself and the others that are carving canes under the Eagle Cane Project all across this country. This program, headed by Jack Nitz, of Tulsa OK, has carvers in about 28 states that have provided the commemerative canes to many hundreds of Wounded Warriors over the last 7 years. Go to eaglecane.com to see what has been done.
My final wish is that when ever and where ever you see one of our military, thank them for their service, shake their hands and wish them well. They deserve our heartiest support.
Walter Wharton, Chairman, Operation Cane of Texas
