PDA

View Full Version : Wounded Marine Welcomed Home



thedrifter
11-22-07, 05:12 AM
Wounded Marine Welcomed Home
WXIA-TV Atlanta

He wasn't supposed to live, but a Marine from Hiram gets a Thanksgiving homecoming that gives his family new life. Corporal Justin Kinnee was on foot patrol in Iraq two years ago when an IED exploded two feet away from him.

Kinee lost 90 percent of his blood, which caused a stroke and then paralysis. He fought his way out of a coma and then learned to walk again. Now, thanks to the community, he’s coming home to a completely renovated home.

The rolling thunder of American Legion Riders rumbled into Hiram. Deputies and police officers from the community joined in the escort. They called it a heroes welcome, and as former military men walk to shake the hand the man they're calling hero, that hero makes it obvious he's uncomfortable in the glare of this attention.

Dozens of people, businesses and church groups came together to renovate the house for Kinnee and his mother, who helps with his care.

Karen Allen, project coordinator said, “There are a lot of people that honestly appreciate our military and they appreciate the job they're doing sense they really are fighting for our freedom.”

This is what that fighting did to Kinnee. The picture is from October 2005 just days after the explosion that was supposed to kill him. It shows Kinnee in his hospital bed in Baltimore with tubes and wires attached to his body.

“I'm not breathing on my own, I'm being fed through a tube.. I'm not moving and both legs are not working at this point,” Kinnee said.

Two years of hospitals and surgery and he's back on his feet. His new community is helping make sure he stays that way. It's difficult to find the words to say thanks.

“Especially a community that I don't even know.. would want to come and thank me. It's like speaking Chinese to me, I don't know what that is and I don't know how to respond to that,” Kinnee said.

A Marine, not used to hearing thanks, hears in it a big way from an entire community.

“It's the house that God built,” said Hazel Kinnee, his mother.

Kinnee still has a lot of recovering to do. His left arm is still paralyzed. His face is still numb, but he will probably be out of the Marines by January or February. Then it's on to his new life.

Ellie