Sounds like a true American.
Here's another one the whiners will never understand:
Former West Point punter from Alpharetta, wounded in Iraq, will be . . . At attention
Jack Wilkinson - Staff
Saturday, December 6, 2003
ajc.com
The tree, laden with ornaments, stands in a corner of an Alpharetta living room. It's an artificial Christmas tree, yet as genuine as a freshly-cut Fraser fir. It is, quite literally, the White family tree.
"This," Pamela White said, "is the history of our life."
The ornaments? Now family artifacts. The two infants in a cradle? The identical twins, Stephanie and Jessica, now 27. The soldier, an armed infantryman in full combat gear? Rick and Pamela White's son, Graham, 25. "Here's the cross and the flag, which protect him and our country," Pamela said, pointing to those ornaments.
Dangling above the soldier is an Army football player, No. 13. Graham White's number when he was a record-setting punter at West Point. And in between the soldier and the football player hangs the newest keepsake. The one Graham presented to his mother on Oct. 17 at Fort Benning, at a memorial service after his Ranger unit returned from Iraq. His Purple Heart.
"I'd like to give this to you," Graham said, "to keep."
"He said he loved us, and we told him we were glad he was safe," Pamela recalled, her eyes welling. "And I told him I was thankful for his sacrifices for our freedom."
His was nearly the ultimate sacrifice. On June 26, Capt. Graham White of Bravo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment was nearly killed by a bomb in Baghdad. White's convoy was ambushed when an artillery shell was detonated by the roadside. One soldier died instantly, another two days later from his wounds.
White later learned that he nearly died four times over the next several days. Shrapnel entered just below his left armpit, causing his left lung to collapse and stopping just short of his heart. He lost massive amounts of blood. Surgeons nearly amputated his left arm. When White returned to Fort Benning 17 days later, he'd lost nearly 30 pounds. He scarcely resembled the Chattahoochee High receiver who was an all-state punter in 1995, much less the greatest punter in Army history.
Today at 4 p.m., White will be watching TV in his Columbus apartment. He and his roommate, Tom Goettke, once a teammate at West Point and a fellow graduate of the Class of 2000, will savor our greatest football rivalry: Army-Navy.
White and Goettke had hoped to travel to Philadelphia for the game. But they're on "mission alert" status, and may not travel any distance from Fort Benning, in case they're suddenly deployed to Iraq.
A backup his first two years, White set Army punting records as a junior and senior. He's still the Cadets' leader for a career (44.1-yard average) and a single season (44.7 as a junior).
Some NFL scouts came to West Point. He punted in the Blue-Gray Classic. But with a five-year military obligation upon graduation, White never really considered a pro career.
"It was flattering, but I knew I wanted to go into the military," he said. "I didn't want to risk anything I'd done at West Point just for the chance to play [professionally]."
Besides, football had already enhanced his military career.
"Football prepares you for combat better than any other sport," White said. "Just the whole warrior culture on a team. You think of your teammates as a band of brothers."
On the night of June 25, Rick White went to Turner Field with an old Army buddy to watch the Braves and Phillies play. Late in the game, he felt a strange sensation. "I just had a premonition of sorts," he said. "Gloom and doom."
Only later did White realize the eight-hour time difference between Georgia and Iraq. In Baghdad, dawn was just breaking.
Pamela White was in California, visting her sister, when her cellphone rang. It was an Army major calling from Iraq. One soldier was killed in the convoy ambush; Graham was among the seven wounded.
"It wasn't unexpected. When you're married to someone who was in Special Forces, and have a son who does those things and it's covert, you're not totally surprised when you get the call," Pamela said. "I didn't get hysterical. I asked, 'Where was he hit, and how bad is he?' "
When the bomb exploded, Graham was in the right front seat of a Humvee. Sgt. Timothy M. Conneway, 22, the driver to White's left, was critically wounded. He died two days later of cardiac arrest. Cpl. Andrew F. Chris, 25, the gunner right behind Conneway, died instantly.
White was looking down at a map on his computer when the bomb detonated. Some of the shrapnel that killed Chris and fatally wounded Conneway hit White. But the Kevlar helmet he wore attests to a miracle. There's a gash in the front left side of the helmet, where shrapnel entered just over White's scalp. It lodged over the right rear cranial area, somehow missing his skull.
"If we'd have taken a bump in the road, or if I'd sat up in my seat, I'd be dead," White said, holding the helmet. "It's unbelievable I wasn't [killed]. It's an act of God."
An artery in White's left arm had been severed, stopping the flow of blood and nearly forcing surgeons to amputate. "His arm was the least of his problems," Rick said. "We were still worried about him living."
A foot-long scar runs from just below White's left armpit across the left side of his chest. Surgeons had to treat his chest wound and collapsed lung. Three chest tubes were inserted in Iraq, another once he was flown to Germany for more surgery.
White's injuries were so severe, doctors first feared he'd be the next to die after Chris. There were complications, more surgery, fluid in his lungs, flight delays to the U.S. With thoracic injuries, there are concerns about air pressure in planes and a patient's lungs. Pamela and Rick were cautioned that some- times, while relatives are flying to Germany, they may pass a son or daughter being flown home to the U.S.
"I'm a wee bit hysterical by then," said Pamela, who'd packed four times to fly to Germany, only to wait. "All I could think about was touching him and holding him in my arms, looking into his blue eyes and seeing he was OK. I just wanted to hold him, like any mother."
She had to wait 17 days for that reassuring embrace. Finally, after Graham was flown back to Andrews Air Force Base and then on to Columbus, his parents saw him at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning.
Before leaving Germany, White sent an e-mail to his family and close friends. "My body aches slightly, particularly my lungs and chest, but I assure you --- my will is not broken," he wrote. Of Conneway and Chris, he said, "My life changed forever on 26 June 2003 when I witnessed the loss of two of my Ranger brethren in Iraq. My heart will never stop hurting for the families and loved ones affected by this tragic event."
In Graham's absence, Rick and Pamela attended Chris' funeral in Huntsville, Ala., and later Conneway's funeral in Enterprise, Ala. Graham was still convalescing at Martin when Conneway's widow, Cathy, pregnant with their first child, visited him.
White still marvels at "the remarkable strength of this young wife. Here, her husband's dead, and she comes and visits me. And thanked me for being with him in his last moments."
"Cathy Conneway did more therapy by walking over to Graham and telling him, 'It's all right,' " Rick said. "She took a burden off him. I think it was very important in his healing."
After his first tour of duty in Iraq, White was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor for his role in the 10-day batttle to secure the Hadithah Dam in Baghdad. On Oct. 17, he was one of Bravo Company's wounded who were awarded the Purple Heart.
Today, wearing his KIA bracelet inscribed with the names of Conneway and Chris, he'll watch the Army-Navy game. Soon, he'll likely return to Iraq. Perhaps even before Christmas.
"We have a job to finish," said Capt. Graham White. |
