Around this time of the year, I think more often about Brian and again in April the month he died. I mentioned to one of my son's yesterday that yesterday was the 19
th anniversary of Brian's accident. And my son made a comment of how I kept track of things. It was a derogatory remark from him, but that's the way he is. For whatever reason it is natural for me to keep track of dates and how things affect me on that day. That son wasn't around on that day so he wouldn't have know how the telephone call from the military about Brian's accident affect Bob and I.
It was 5:30 in the morning when the call came through from his commanding officer. Brian was serving with the U. S. Army in Stuttgart, Germany. Both Bob and I were getting ready to go to work. I worked at Southwest Gas and Bob at Hoover Dam. Receiving any call that early in the morning makes you wary, but the quality of an overseas call has always been poor quality and this one was no different. Plus, getting a call to say your son was injured the shock factor sets in immediately and all reason and thinking goes out the door. Who thinks of grabbing a pencil and paper to write what you are hearing, I certainly didn't. I couldn't remember much after the officer hung up, I can't remember today what he said. But, I do remember what I did the rest of the day and those days and months following that telephone call.
I have just started putting photos in Brian's
slide show on the upper right corner. The first one is when we lived on the farm in Kentucky. Brian was on the right end, and he must have been about 10 years old. The rest are his military photos and when he came home on leave. The photo the boxes are what the military shipped to us after he was placed in the VA hospital in Los Angeles from the
Landstuhl Army Hospital, Germany via Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington. Bob and I traveled to LA and stayed in the travel trailer purchased for the purpose of monitoring Brian's condition and care. After one year, I couldn't stand the failure of the staff to give him appropriate care and monitoring and we requested to bring him home. There are photos of Brian in bed, in his wheelchair and with his family. I have many photos to add to this blog but it will take me time.
This time of the year always reminds me of what we went through to get Brian back to the states. The doctors in the
Landstuhl Medical Center in Germany didn't expect him to live after his accident. I will continue to add to this blog, and the talk about the trials and travels we went through as a
testament to Brian and the loving person he was.
Bob, granddaughter Alexandra, and I went to the Boulder City Veteran's Cemetery where Brian is buried last night. We went to honor Brian for serving with the military and to remember his life and commemorate his death. Brian was a gun-ho soldier and he loved serving with the Army. He was well respected by his commanding officers and those he worked with - we know this first hand because we met them at the hospital in Landstuhl, Germany.