U.S. soldier fulfills his mission of getting Iraqi girl new legs

alanocu

5-11-2008 1:56 PM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/445f9470-ede0-41e2-b7cf-add1ee0656b6/36DDA4D7-1841-4C0A-B6BE-EC335864019D/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868" style="font-size: 11px;">news.yahoo.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868"><P>
                        BAGHDAD — Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon , 38, was patrolling the streets of Baqouba , north of Baghdad , when he saw Shahad Abbas . The 11-year-old girl was in a large decrepit wheelchair, and the stumps of her legs where her calves should have been were crusted with dried blood.                        
                        </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868">Falcon couldn't just walk on, so he stopped to talk. He came back the next day and the day after that, then every day for six months, bringing her toys, gauze for her legs, a new wheelchair. Anything she asked for he would bring.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868"><P>In a war that Falcon no longer really understood, Shahad became his mission. So when she asked for legs, that became his mission, too.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868"><P>On Friday his dream and hers came true, just three weeks before he's scheduled to leave <SPAN id="lw_1210370667_0" class="yshortcuts">Iraq</SPAN> . Shahad was fitted with prosthetic limbs in a <SPAN id="lw_1210370667_1" class="yshortcuts">U.S. military</SPAN>-funded clinic in Baghdad that normally provides artificial limbs for wounded members of the Iraqi security forces.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080509/wl_mcclatchy/2934868"><P>"We created a bond, and I didn't need a translator to interpret the bond we had," Falcon said.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/36DDA4D7-1841-4C0A-B6BE-EC335864019D/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

alanocu says:

One day, Falcon, a New Yorker from 1st battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, asked her what she wanted. He expected her to ask for a toy. "I'll get you anything you want," he recalled saying.

"I want legs so I can walk to school," she told him. One day she planned to be a doctor. School was important to her.

It was a daunting request. The family was too poor to pay for expensive prostheses. The travel alone to an equipped clinic would be too expensive. Her father is unemployed and ill.

So Falcon, who admits he wasn't sure about the Iraq war, wasn't sure he was making a difference, decided he'd get Shahad her legs.

He went to his commander, to his chaplain, to anyone who would listen. The quest was frustrating and took months of pleas. He threatened to walk away from the Army if he couldn't give Shahad legs.

11 Comments |

Add a Comment

5-11-2008 2:35 PM

Socratoad

Ah, a good news story .... how refreshing .... how reassuring.

Thanks

5-11-2008 3:52 PM

boozich

Ahh, out of the abyss that's become this prolonged killing field, rises one story that gives hope for us all...i just wish it never bottoms out to "guilt" before anyone decides to do good..

5-11-2008 5:44 PM

blueridge

Wonder how she lost her legs? It would only be just to help her if she were "collateral damage", as about 1 million Iraqis have been since the start. Better to prevent human catastrophes of the innocent than to repair them later.

5-11-2008 5:57 PM

merrie

"We created a bond, and I didn't need a translator to interpret the bond we had," Falcon said.

Says it all....Staff Sgt. Luis Falcon is a real hero.

5-12-2008 4:18 AM

mugofcoffee

moved...wonderful clip Alan...

5-12-2008 4:28 AM

hitchhiker08

Falcons are known to reach great heights - Sgt. Luis Falcon has gone where ordinary beings cannot...great clip, Alanocu, very touching.

5-12-2008 5:37 AM

vk2yoc

There should be more people like that, well done Sgt Falcon.

5-12-2008 12:37 PM

silvanaraihane

What a wonderful story. Thanks for sharing this with us. out of the ashes comes hope!

5-12-2008 3:27 PM

carrerinyes

It's good to see a nice story come out of Iraq.

5-12-2008 3:42 PM

papananook

..and for the other children and families who have suffered at the USA's hands?
I know, I sound unappreciative of Sgt Falcon...but that's not true...I agree with all of you that it is a moving and beautiful story of one man's love in the face of bad odds, but still...what ABOUT the others?

5-12-2008 5:00 PM