On the same day that the original Walter Reed was scheduled to close, July 27, Josh was undergoing a new surgical anti-pain procedure at the new Bethesda location.
Wounded U.S. Marine Sgt. Joshua J. Bouchard of Granby, center, is greeted last year as he arrives at the Westover Metropolitan Airport. He was injured Afghanistan in July 2009. He is seen here with his father and representatives of a Virgina based pilots group. From left behind him are, his father, James J. Bouchard, and pilots John W. Hoffmann and Charles L. Van Nostrand.GRANBY – James J. Bouchard, of Granby, has spent many hours at the historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., which closed last week after more than a century of serving wounded veterans.
Those veterans have included his son, Marine Sergeant Joshua (“Josh”) Bouchard, who was severely wounded in Afghanistan in 2009 and was awarded a Purple Heart.
Josh touched the hearts of people in Western Massachusetts, who welcomed the stricken warrior home with much fanfare. He still has a year of rehabilitation left to go, said his father.
The family has a strong connection with Walter Reed, whose new, expanded version in Bethesda, Md., is now called Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
On the same day that the original Walter Reed was scheduled to close, July 27, Josh was undergoing a new surgical anti-pain procedure at the new Bethesda location. A mechanism was implanted in his back, his father said.
James talks about Walter Reed with a mix of gratitude and sadness. “There are a lot of injured guys and a lot of tragedies,” he said. “You wouldn’t think there was any hope, but six months later, they’re walking and they want to go home.
“That’s the best part about Walter Reed.”
James got to sleep in the same room with Josh during his son’s rehabilitation at Walter Reed. “He said, ‘Dad, you snore!’” reported James.
While he was visiting, James also got to go kayaking with his son. He explained that custom-made prostheses help the patients take on such challenging tasks.
The Walter Reed staff “is wonderful at rehabilitation,” said James, who is a Vietnam veteran.
He said his son is taking a driver’s education course at Walter Reed which will enable him to drive with his hands, “like a boat.”
Josh lost his leg when an anti-tank mine exploded in Afghanistan. He also broke his right arm and had part of his back crushed. His best friend and his mentor were both killed in the blast.
Before Walter Reed, the young Marine Sergeant was also treated at Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany and McGuire Veterans Hospital in Richmond, Va., where he underwent a five-hour operation.
In the years since, Scandahoovian, the jewelry company, asked him to be the face of its “Soldier to Soldier” campaign to raise funds for wounded veterans. A group called “Homes for Our Troops” has offered to build him a home in 2012.
But pain has a way of intruding. James Hackemer, a fellow amputee Josh befriended at Walter Reed, was recently was killed in a roller coaster accident in Syracuse, N.Y., that shocked the nation.
Hackemer died on July 8, the anniversary of Josh’s wounding.