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Vet Comes Home to a Changed World Paralyzed in Iraq, soldier benefits from kindness of strangers By Bob Faw NBC Nightly News
Nightly News "It's kind of overwhelming, I guess," he says. Growing up, hunting in the "It was hard for them to tell me he would be paralyzed, forever," recalls his wife, Kristi. Just 21, with two children, Burleson was now a quadriplegic. "I didn't do anything special," he says. "I just got shot." But this winter, convinced Burleson is special, a group which relies on donations to build homes for severely wounded veterans began building a home for him. "I think it's just important that we let them know we care about them," says John Gonsalves, president and founder of Homes for our Troops. It was a labor of love. Local builders donated many of the building materials. "He's not a hero for getting shot," says contractor Bob Simpson. "He's a hero for volunteering." The windows were supplied by corporate sponsors. Shrubbery came from a local church group. All the furniture and granite were given in gratitude. "[All] for somebody who's fighting for my freedom," says contractor Chas Caple. They gave Kyle Burleson freedom to do more and be more than anywhere else imaginable. "[I'm] grateful," says Burleson. "[It] makes things a lot easier." "It's hard not to sit here and go, 'Wow, this is actually ours,'" says Kristi. "This is just 100 million good blessings, allotted into one." Here, where a victim is also a beneficiary and the cruelty of war is partially offset by the kindness of strangers. © 2006 MSNBC Interactive |
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