Pfc. Joshua Sparling: Plus- Supporting the troops this season

[Jolie Rouge]

Pfc. Joshua Sparling: Not forgotten
Plus: Supporting the troops this season
By Michelle Malkin · December 05, 2006 01:04 AM

Michelle Malkin



http://michellemalkin.com/archives/images/sparling.jpg

A year ago today, Fox News broadcast the story of Pfc. Joshua Sparling. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade and FNC "War Stories" host Oliver North had visited Walter Reedy Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. and learned of a disgusting, anti-military death wish card received by Pfc. Sparling. It was the only Christmas card he got:


http://michellemalkin.com/archives/images/card002.jpg

Fox News, bloggers, and talk radio coverage prompted an outpouring of support for Pfc. Sparling.

Now, a year later, he is still at Walter Reed. Pfc. Sparling recently underwent surgery and is recovering from a leg amputation (via the Port Huron Times Herald): http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../611170304/1002

After more than five hours of surgery Wednesday, Pfc. Joshua Sparling is slowly recovering from having his right leg amputated, his father said.
Doctors had hoped to save the 25-year-old Greenwood Township man's leg after he was hit by a bomb in Iraq nearly a year ago, but the damage was too extensive. The surgery was done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Sparling, a graduate of Yale High School, is a paratrooper with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne. Mike Sparling said after doctors amputated his son's leg, they found the blood vessels had hardened and were choking the blood supply. Also, no new nerve endings had grown in the leg. "It became a necessary amputation, rather than just one because of the pain," Mike Sparling said.

Josh Sparling made national news after he received hate mail shortly after arriving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center last year. He was hurt while on foot patrol in Ramadi, Iraq.

Please send your good wishes to Pfc. Sparling again this year:

Pfc. Joshua Sparling
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

Let him know his heroism and sacrifice are not forgotten.

***

You can send cards to other wounded troops at Walter Reed here:

Red Cross
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Heaton Pavillion
3EO5
Washington, DC 20307

Several readers recommend "Let's Say Thanks," a service that allows you to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women. Let's Say Thanks

Stars & Stripes has a comprehensive list of ways to send good cheer to the troops this season. Messages of support

Marshall at On Tap On Tap » A Wreath for Every Grave and WaPo columnist Marc Fisher call attention to the Wreaths Across America project. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6120200928.html

You remember the unforgettable photo:


http://michellemalkin.com/archives/images/wreaths.jpg

Well, the company that quietly started the tradition of laying wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery 15 years ago, Worcester Wreath Company founded by Morrill Worcester, is now a national phenomenon--and has a website and video:
Maine Rememberence Wreaths

YouTube - Arlington Wreath Project

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