thedrifter
08-24-09, 07:37 AM
Local Marine recovering from wounds
By Lucretia Cardenas
Published: 08.24.09
A Conroe Marine is returning to the states Tuesday with two bullet holes and a long road to recovery ahead.
Less than a week ago, Sgt. David McCreary, 25, awoke to gunfire as enemy forces attacked his base in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. He began firing back but was forced to the ground when a bullet hit his left knee, shattering the outside femoral ball and taking part of his femur as well, said his brother, Raymond McCreary, a patrol officer with the Conroe Police Department and Marine veteran.
Later, as he was wheeled into a shock trauma hospital, a doctor told David McCreary that he also was shot in his armpit. The bullet exited his back but didn’t hit any vital organs. He hadn’t felt it at all, Raymond McCreary said.
The message the Marine Corps gave the McCreary family back home sounded much more serious. Thursday morning, their father received a call at work notifying him that his son was shot in the chest and in the thigh. By the afternoon, David McCreary called his parents to tell them he was all right and that the injuries weren’t life-threatening.
“I’m not a very religious person, but I became religious that day,” said Raymond McCreary, who heard the news after spending an evening promoting the Wounded Warriors Project at a Def Leppard concert.
The assault happened Wednesday evening, just four days after a roadside bomb ignited the Humvee David McCreary commanded. It was the second time in a month his team hit one. At the command of the Marine base medic, David McCreary and his team were remaining at the base for two weeks to be monitored for any affects from the bombs, as none of them sustained visible injuries.
Tuesday, David McCreary will arrive at a military hospital in the United States from Germany, where he’s been receiving treatment. He is hoping to be in California where his wife Cassie and two daughters, 2-year-old Riley and 6-month-old Elliot, live. While Raymond McCreary knows this would be ideal, he also hopes his brother is sent to San Antonio so that he and the rest of the family can be by his side.
Although he’s alive, David McCreary may have to undergo as many as four surgeries on his knee and one may include a knee replacement, meaning he may not be able to walk for six to eight months.
“In my opinion, I’d rather have him limping with a peg leg than have my brother coming home in a body bag,” Raymond McCreary said.
The McCreary family is one dedicated to service. Raymond and David McCreary’s grandfathers fought in World War II. Their father, Grange McCreary, wanted to join the Marines but was convinced not to by his mother because the Vietnam War had ended. Instead, he went into community service and is now a sergeant with Conroe PD, heading up narcotic investigations.
Raymond McCreary signed up for the Marines while he was a junior at Caney Creek High School. He served as an organizational mechanic from 1999 to 2003. The following year, David McCreary, also a Caney Creek graduate, went off to boot camp and, when he signed up, he went in with the intentions that it would be his life – that’s why the knee injury is so disheartening to him, Raymond McCreary said.
“The way he looks at it is that he signed the papers and planned to make a career out of it,” Raymond McCreary said. “He’ll have to go before an examination board and pass all the physical fitness tests so he’s not sent home for medical reasons.”
As David McCreary continues his recovery, the McCreary family asks for the community’s thoughts and prayers.
Ellie
By Lucretia Cardenas
Published: 08.24.09
A Conroe Marine is returning to the states Tuesday with two bullet holes and a long road to recovery ahead.
Less than a week ago, Sgt. David McCreary, 25, awoke to gunfire as enemy forces attacked his base in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. He began firing back but was forced to the ground when a bullet hit his left knee, shattering the outside femoral ball and taking part of his femur as well, said his brother, Raymond McCreary, a patrol officer with the Conroe Police Department and Marine veteran.
Later, as he was wheeled into a shock trauma hospital, a doctor told David McCreary that he also was shot in his armpit. The bullet exited his back but didn’t hit any vital organs. He hadn’t felt it at all, Raymond McCreary said.
The message the Marine Corps gave the McCreary family back home sounded much more serious. Thursday morning, their father received a call at work notifying him that his son was shot in the chest and in the thigh. By the afternoon, David McCreary called his parents to tell them he was all right and that the injuries weren’t life-threatening.
“I’m not a very religious person, but I became religious that day,” said Raymond McCreary, who heard the news after spending an evening promoting the Wounded Warriors Project at a Def Leppard concert.
The assault happened Wednesday evening, just four days after a roadside bomb ignited the Humvee David McCreary commanded. It was the second time in a month his team hit one. At the command of the Marine base medic, David McCreary and his team were remaining at the base for two weeks to be monitored for any affects from the bombs, as none of them sustained visible injuries.
Tuesday, David McCreary will arrive at a military hospital in the United States from Germany, where he’s been receiving treatment. He is hoping to be in California where his wife Cassie and two daughters, 2-year-old Riley and 6-month-old Elliot, live. While Raymond McCreary knows this would be ideal, he also hopes his brother is sent to San Antonio so that he and the rest of the family can be by his side.
Although he’s alive, David McCreary may have to undergo as many as four surgeries on his knee and one may include a knee replacement, meaning he may not be able to walk for six to eight months.
“In my opinion, I’d rather have him limping with a peg leg than have my brother coming home in a body bag,” Raymond McCreary said.
The McCreary family is one dedicated to service. Raymond and David McCreary’s grandfathers fought in World War II. Their father, Grange McCreary, wanted to join the Marines but was convinced not to by his mother because the Vietnam War had ended. Instead, he went into community service and is now a sergeant with Conroe PD, heading up narcotic investigations.
Raymond McCreary signed up for the Marines while he was a junior at Caney Creek High School. He served as an organizational mechanic from 1999 to 2003. The following year, David McCreary, also a Caney Creek graduate, went off to boot camp and, when he signed up, he went in with the intentions that it would be his life – that’s why the knee injury is so disheartening to him, Raymond McCreary said.
“The way he looks at it is that he signed the papers and planned to make a career out of it,” Raymond McCreary said. “He’ll have to go before an examination board and pass all the physical fitness tests so he’s not sent home for medical reasons.”
As David McCreary continues his recovery, the McCreary family asks for the community’s thoughts and prayers.
Ellie