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ladyrider 
Posts: 140
Member of CP
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| 10 Aug 2006 7:40 PM |
 Alert
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please read this he deserves our honor and respect his biggest fear is coming
home and no one caring about him and what he has been thru.
thanks Deb
Il. help on the homefront coordinator
Please help us welcome him home is tenatively fri. 8/18/06
flying into o'hare going home to machesney park Il
Steve Mraz | S&S (Stars & Stripes) | |
Air Force doctor Lt. Col. Warren Dorlac (far left) finishes an arm amputation on Spc. 4 Joe Keck recently at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Warren Dorlac is the chief of trauma services at Landstuhl. Keck will have a prosthetic arm after his left arm was amputated below the elbow because of injuries sustained in a Humvee accident in Afghanistan.
| Published: August 5, 2006
Local News: Machesney Park
Surgeries done for soldier
Joe Keck of Machesney Park, hurt in an accident in Afghanistan, is due home next month.
By Geri Nikolai
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Click here for more information about Geri Nikolai
Army Spc. 4 Joe Keck hopes to come home to Machesney Park next month to engage in some of the finer things in life.
Like his mom’s cooking. Playing dodge ball with buddy Gary Armstrong. Going to Hooters with pal Joe Fink. Riding a motorcycle he bought in May, while he was far away in Afghanistan.
Keck, 22, will be doing those things with a prosthesis. His left arm was amputated below the elbow in Germany, less than a week after a Humvee accident in Afghanistan July 16. He was manning the gun turret when the Hummer rolled and pinned his arm underneath. Surgeons operated four times trying to save the arm, then told Keck they would have to amputate.
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OAS_AD('300x250_1');</script> 
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How to help
Friends of Army Spec. 4 Joe Keck want to throw a party for him in September. If you can provide a hall or food, call Doreen Banister at 815-988-5122.
If you want to send Keck a card, his address is:
Spc. Joe Keck
Walter Reed Army Hospital
Ward 57
6900 Georgia Ave.
Washington, DC 20307
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</script>
</script> | In what his mother says is characteristic for her son, Keck says the news “wasn’t really all that bad.
“I just look at it that I’m still alive. It could have been a lot different,” he said Friday in a phone interview from Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington.
Keck was the only person injured in the accident. He and his unit were providing security for an Army base.
He has had several surgeries since the amputation, to clean his wound and graft skin from his thigh. Friday, he reported that the operations are over. Now it’s a matter of healing and getting fitted for an artificial arm and hand.
A left-hander, Keck has been learning to use his right hand for such things as writing and pulling on socks. He’s getting pretty good, Keck said Friday.
“I’m really looking forward to coming home and seeing everybody,” Keck said. “The doctor said I still should be able to ride the motorcycle.”
After his leave, Keck wants to get back to work.
“My goal is to go down to Fort Bragg, N.C., and be a heavy-equipment operator, which is what I was trained to do,” he said.
Keck graduated from Harlem High in 2003 and joined the Army for a four-year stint that summer. Since then, he’s re-enlisted for five years and intends to fulfill that commitment.
“I’m glad I enlisted and had the opportunity to go over there and fight for freedom,” he said. “And I made a lot of real good friends.”
Army doctors told Keck’s mother, Monika Vaught of Machesney Park, that her son was lucky.
“They said when you’re a gunner, you usually get more injuries than what Joe ended up with,” Vaught said Friday as she drove back to Machesney from a trip to Missouri. After a day’s rest, she and her husband, William, will fly to Washington for a second visit with their son since his return.
“He was elated to see us,” said Monika Vaught. “He just gave us one big hug and said I love you to both of us.”
Vaught, who adopted Keck when he was 9, isn’t surprised that he’s taking things in stride.
“I was upset when I found out he would lose his arm, but I knew he could handle it,” she said. “He is fantastic mentally and just wants to get back to his unit ASAP.”
Vaught is looking forward to having son Joe around for a while, with his two brothers, Jared Donegian and John Keck. She vows not to worry when Joe goes motorcycle riding.
“He’s very strong,” Vaught said. “Whatever he thinks he can do, we’re going to let him do.” | |
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PROUD MOM OF S.P.C. ADAM VEACH (ARMY)ARRIVED HOME FROM IRAQ 12-6-06/ Leaving for Afganistan in Jan. -08- for 15 months
I RIDE IN MEMORY FOR MY DAD (US. ARMY),WITH RESPECT FOR MY OLDER BROTHER LARRY (RETIRED NAVY), MY BROTHER JIM (HAPPYWOLF)( RETIRED AIRFORCE), MY YOUNGER BROTHER JASON(U.S. MARINES) AND MY SON ADAM (ARMY)
AND ALL OTHERS PAST AND PRESENT AND FUTURE !
...MAY THE CREATOR ALWAYS
WALK WITH YOU IN SPIRIT AND GUIDE YOU!
ALWAYS WALK THE GOOD ROAD. |
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pennsylhead
Posts: 27
York PA
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| 11 Aug 2006 6:22 AM |
Alert
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May God Bless soldier Joe Keck. There are times when I think our country is going to hell in a hand basket then young people like Joe Keck steps up to remind me that our future is in great hands. I am so thankful and in awe of our military and the many sacrifices they make.
From the bottom of my heart, thank Mr. Joe Keck.
pennsylhead |
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History does not entrust the care of freedom to the weak or timid."
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
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ladyrider
Posts: 140
Member of CP
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| 11 Aug 2006 5:07 PM |
Alert
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Could the Wisconsin moderator please change joes last name in the header
to keck......typo error...........................thanks deb |
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PROUD MOM OF S.P.C. ADAM VEACH (ARMY)ARRIVED HOME FROM IRAQ 12-6-06/ Leaving for Afganistan in Jan. -08- for 15 months
I RIDE IN MEMORY FOR MY DAD (US. ARMY),WITH RESPECT FOR MY OLDER BROTHER LARRY (RETIRED NAVY), MY BROTHER JIM (HAPPYWOLF)( RETIRED AIRFORCE), MY YOUNGER BROTHER JASON(U.S. MARINES) AND MY SON ADAM (ARMY)
AND ALL OTHERS PAST AND PRESENT AND FUTURE !
...MAY THE CREATOR ALWAYS
WALK WITH YOU IN SPIRIT AND GUIDE YOU!
ALWAYS WALK THE GOOD ROAD. |
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