thedrifter
03-02-07, 09:55 AM
03/02/2007
Marine gets a surprise proposal
BY ROBERT KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
BERWICK — Wounded Marine Lance Cpl. Derrick Sharpe surprised his family Wednesday by arriving home a day early from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
After his welcome-home parade Thursday, he was at the other end of a bigger surprise.
Just as the pickup truck carrying Lance Cpl. Sharpe pulled in front of his Mulberry Street house around noon, Cpl. Sharpe’s girlfriend, Amber Frey, hopped in the truck’s bed and got down on her knee with an engagement ring in hand.
“I love you so much. I want you to be mine. I’m asking, ‘Will you marry me?’ ” Ms. Frey said, as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Stunned, Lance Cpl. Sharpe accepted the proposal, and the two sealed the engagement with a kiss.
Given a 30 percent chance to live after being critically injured in an explosion on Sept. 23 in Iraq, the 19-year-old whose right leg was amputated expected to simply return home to visit family and friends for the first time since the devastating blast. Instead, he got a hero’s welcome, paraded through town to his house by a convoy of firetrucks. And now, he’ll look forward to a new life with a new bride.
“At least now he knows he’s all I want. What better way to prove it?” said Ms. Frey, 20, a longtime best pal whose friendship grew to affection when she visited Lance Cpl. Sharpe in a military hospital in December.
“I told Derrick, ‘I would stick behind you even if you didn’t have any arms or legs. I would carry you on my back if I had to.’”
Ms. Frey admitted she always had a crush on Lance Cpl. Sharpe, but he had a girlfriend until he left for Iraq.
“We were meant to be,” Lance Cpl. Sharpe said. “When you have a good thing, you have to hold on to it.”
After his engagement, Lance Cpl. Sharpe parked his wheelchair in front of his house for more than an hour, greeting dozens of people who came up to thank him and offer words of encouragement. Later, he spoke about his recovery and his persevering passion for the Marine Corps.
A 2005 Berwick High School graduate, Lance Cpl. Sharpe continues a physical and emotional rehabilitation that has had peaks and valleys since the blast and seemed bleak several times.
He is just learning to use a prosthetic leg. One of his kidneys doesn’t function. He has short-term memory loss. Scars mar much of his body. He has flashbacks that prompt him to reach for his rifle.
But he says he’s just thankful to be alive. For weeks after the blast, he remained in a coma and came close to death several times.
“The doctors were amazing — the things they can do. I was basically Humpty Dumpty and they put me back together again,” Lance Cpl. Sharpe said. “I try my hardest to be positive. Worrying or stressing is only going to hurt me.
“God definitely has a plan for me. He kept me here, while some of my friends died. Maybe it’s to let other people know not to quit.”
Becoming a Marine was a lifelong goal for Lance Cpl. Sharpe, who had a grandfather and great-grandfather who were Marines. His father enlisted, but was ruled medically ineligible. His brothers, 15 and 17, plan to join.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe enlisted before he graduated from high school and did his senior graduation project on the Marines. He has a tattoo of the Marines emblem across his back and his unit’s number on his right forearm.
Though he can no longer fight, Lance Cpl. Sharpe still cherishes his current status as an enlisted Marine, a member of what he calls “the strongest brotherhood.”
A woman who came to greet him after Thursday’s parade innocently referred to him as a “soldier.”
“It’s Marine, ma’am,” he said politely, yet sternly.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe said he’s not bitter and has few regrets about his ordeal.
“I followed my dreams and did what I wanted to. ... I say I gave it (his leg) up for my country,” he said. “When people like me lose a limb, it shows we will do what it takes for our country.”
As he recovers, Lance Cpl. Sharpe said he often thinks about his buddies still in Iraq.
“I believe they are getting revenge for me now. I wish my injuries weren’t so bad because I would be over there by their side like they were for me,” he said.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe will be home for a month before returning for rehabilitation at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. He has six to eight months of extensive rehabilitation ahead of him. He’s weighing whether to stay in the Marines in an administrative capacity, or enter American Military University. He dreams of joining the FBI or CIA.
Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
Ellie
Marine gets a surprise proposal
BY ROBERT KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
BERWICK — Wounded Marine Lance Cpl. Derrick Sharpe surprised his family Wednesday by arriving home a day early from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
After his welcome-home parade Thursday, he was at the other end of a bigger surprise.
Just as the pickup truck carrying Lance Cpl. Sharpe pulled in front of his Mulberry Street house around noon, Cpl. Sharpe’s girlfriend, Amber Frey, hopped in the truck’s bed and got down on her knee with an engagement ring in hand.
“I love you so much. I want you to be mine. I’m asking, ‘Will you marry me?’ ” Ms. Frey said, as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Stunned, Lance Cpl. Sharpe accepted the proposal, and the two sealed the engagement with a kiss.
Given a 30 percent chance to live after being critically injured in an explosion on Sept. 23 in Iraq, the 19-year-old whose right leg was amputated expected to simply return home to visit family and friends for the first time since the devastating blast. Instead, he got a hero’s welcome, paraded through town to his house by a convoy of firetrucks. And now, he’ll look forward to a new life with a new bride.
“At least now he knows he’s all I want. What better way to prove it?” said Ms. Frey, 20, a longtime best pal whose friendship grew to affection when she visited Lance Cpl. Sharpe in a military hospital in December.
“I told Derrick, ‘I would stick behind you even if you didn’t have any arms or legs. I would carry you on my back if I had to.’”
Ms. Frey admitted she always had a crush on Lance Cpl. Sharpe, but he had a girlfriend until he left for Iraq.
“We were meant to be,” Lance Cpl. Sharpe said. “When you have a good thing, you have to hold on to it.”
After his engagement, Lance Cpl. Sharpe parked his wheelchair in front of his house for more than an hour, greeting dozens of people who came up to thank him and offer words of encouragement. Later, he spoke about his recovery and his persevering passion for the Marine Corps.
A 2005 Berwick High School graduate, Lance Cpl. Sharpe continues a physical and emotional rehabilitation that has had peaks and valleys since the blast and seemed bleak several times.
He is just learning to use a prosthetic leg. One of his kidneys doesn’t function. He has short-term memory loss. Scars mar much of his body. He has flashbacks that prompt him to reach for his rifle.
But he says he’s just thankful to be alive. For weeks after the blast, he remained in a coma and came close to death several times.
“The doctors were amazing — the things they can do. I was basically Humpty Dumpty and they put me back together again,” Lance Cpl. Sharpe said. “I try my hardest to be positive. Worrying or stressing is only going to hurt me.
“God definitely has a plan for me. He kept me here, while some of my friends died. Maybe it’s to let other people know not to quit.”
Becoming a Marine was a lifelong goal for Lance Cpl. Sharpe, who had a grandfather and great-grandfather who were Marines. His father enlisted, but was ruled medically ineligible. His brothers, 15 and 17, plan to join.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe enlisted before he graduated from high school and did his senior graduation project on the Marines. He has a tattoo of the Marines emblem across his back and his unit’s number on his right forearm.
Though he can no longer fight, Lance Cpl. Sharpe still cherishes his current status as an enlisted Marine, a member of what he calls “the strongest brotherhood.”
A woman who came to greet him after Thursday’s parade innocently referred to him as a “soldier.”
“It’s Marine, ma’am,” he said politely, yet sternly.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe said he’s not bitter and has few regrets about his ordeal.
“I followed my dreams and did what I wanted to. ... I say I gave it (his leg) up for my country,” he said. “When people like me lose a limb, it shows we will do what it takes for our country.”
As he recovers, Lance Cpl. Sharpe said he often thinks about his buddies still in Iraq.
“I believe they are getting revenge for me now. I wish my injuries weren’t so bad because I would be over there by their side like they were for me,” he said.
Lance Cpl. Sharpe will be home for a month before returning for rehabilitation at Walter Reed in Washington, D.C. He has six to eight months of extensive rehabilitation ahead of him. He’s weighing whether to stay in the Marines in an administrative capacity, or enter American Military University. He dreams of joining the FBI or CIA.
Contact the writer: bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com
Ellie