Richard ‘Rick’ Brody
Guest Column I would like to share with your readers my recent experience attending the presidential inaugural in Washington, D.C. I was invited along with others from my veterans organization, Veterans of the Vietnam War and The Veterans Coalition, to attend the “Salute to Heroes” veterans ball following the inauguration ceremonies. It was an honor to meet a few of the 240 or so living Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.
President (George W.) Bush and his wife, Laura, made that ball their first stop. The president gave a very patriotic and apparently heartfelt speech to all the military veterans and active military there. Vice President (Dick) Cheney and his wife, Lynne, came in later on. Security was omnipresent around the capital and all over the D.C. area, as you might imagine.
On Jan. 21, along with my veteran colleagues, I went to visit wounded Marines at Bethesda, Md., National Naval Medical Center to say thanks and to offer some words of encouragement. We visited with all the wounded Marines and soldiers that we could. Bethesda National Naval Medical Center is normally the first stop in the United States for seriously wounded troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Walter Reed Army Hospital has many more wounded recovering there.
The Bethesda National Naval Medical Center was impeccably clean, staff very serious about their work (about what I expected from a military-run hospital). Our young soldiers and Marines are getting the best care possible. Banners signed by school kids from all over the United States could be seen papering the hallways, and thanking our troops. School children’s crayon-colored cards could be seen on the patients’ bedside stands.
Lance Cpl. Rudy Guzman lives in San Antonio, Texas. He was severely wounded by shrapnel received when the Humvee he was riding in was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device). He had severe wounds to both legs and one arm. Rudy is recovering well from surgery to his arm and legs, but still has to undergo additional surgery to one leg. He says the doctors plan to take some bone from his hip. He was lying in bed with his left leg elevated in a metal cage with long rods attached to his leg. Rudy’s other leg was in a bandage and cast. His right arm was bandaged from the wrist to the elbow. A small shrapnel fragment in his right shoulder was visible through the already healed skin. Doctors told him the shrapnel will likely remain. Rudy’s already looking forward to his recovery, and getting back to his job at his Marines unit.
I also met Justin Gower, from Austin, Texas. He was sitting downstairs in the outpatient section with his wife of one year (neither looked older than 19). Justin had facial reconstruction surgery and he’d been at Bethesda for two months. He and his wife were waiting for a final doctor’s clearance for Justin to go back home to Texas. Justin sounded pretty positive, and like Rudy and all the other young Marines and soldiers I met at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center, Justin was in high spirits and ready to get on with the rest of his life.
I met the actor Matthew Modine (he played Joker in “Full Metal Jacket”), who was there visiting with the wounded. He came walking out of one patient’s room just as I was about to walk in. Matthew stopped and spoke with us for a while and I thanked him for taking the time to visit our wounded soldiers and Marines and to help boost their spirits.
It was a proud moment for all the Democrats and Republicans there, and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who came from all over the United States to be a part of the 55th U.S. Presidential Inaugural — hundreds of thousands of Americans proving to the world that America indeed had survived the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City and our nation’s capital, which killed thousands of innocent people.
The theme of the presidential inaugural was “Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service.” Like the soldiers and Marines at Bethesda National Naval Medical Center, America has endured much pain and suffering. And, like so many brave men and women who were wounded fighting in the war against terrorism, America as a free nation and a democracy will recover and will go forward. Thanks to our troops.
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf” — George Orwell.
Richard “Rick” Brody
New Jersey state coordinator
Veterans of the Vietnam War
and the Veterans Coalition