Memorial Day usually is a solemn occasion for Americans to remember and thank U.S. military personnel who lost their lives in combat.
But there was no sorrow during a ceremony held last week near Fairbanks to honor Army veteran Andy Armstrong who survived a brush with death. Armstrong was given a new house, courtesy of a program that helps wounded combat vets rebuild their lives.
The only tears shed at Thursday’s gathering to honor Armstrong’s service came from his wife, Elise, after one of the sponsors of the event gave her the keys to the cabin.
“So please join me and welcoming the Armstrong family to their new home!” said Adam Little, a regional Bank of America/Merrill Wealth Management marketing executive.
Elise also gushed when Little said his company and the Texas-based Military Warriors Support Foundation, which organized the event, also want to ensure the home is furnished.
“This is a gift card for you to choose your furnishings for this home,” he said. “We took care of all that for your home.”
“Thank you for doing this for all the veterans that are out there, and for their families,” she said, “because, like you said, there’s a lot of sacrifices that veterans go through and that much of the country doesn’t quite understand.”
Armstrong struggled to find the words to express his appreciation.
“I can’t thank you guys enough,” he said. “What you do is absolutely phenomenal.”
Armstrong was medically retired in 2012 after he and three other soldiers he was with sustained serious injuries when the truck he was driving hit an explosive device buried along a road in Afghanistan. He was awarded a Purple Heart, and after rehab returned home to upstate New York, where began working as logger.
Then late last year he got a job that brought him to Alaska, driving fuel trucks up the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Deadhorse.
“It’s challenging,” he said. “With truck driving, it’s very monotonous — in the Lower 48. Here, that road changes, by the hour. And it’s never the same. It keeps you kinda sorta on your toes.”
Armstrong says he and his wife have long dreamed of living in Alaska. And now that he’s got a job and a home in Fairbanks, Elise and their 1-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Andi, can both join him.
“When I was in the Army, me and my wife had actually wanted to get stationed up here,” he said. “And we tried and tried, because Alaska’s kind of always been our end goal. She had never been up here, I had never been up here. We just kind of knew that we wanted to come up here and see what it’s all about.”
Military Warriors Support Foundation Executive Director Ken Eakes says the organization is dedicated to helping veterans injured in combat to heal and achieve their dreams.
“We’ve awarded nearly a thousand houses that are mortgage-free to our combat wounded veterans and Gold Star families over all 50 states,” he said. The house given away Thursday is the third to be awarded in Alaska.
Eakes says Bank of America donates homes to his organization, often repairs and renovates them with locally hired workers, then awards them to deserving veterans. The program also teaches budgeting and other skills to help veterans build a new life in their new home and offers other services to help wounded vets recover.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
