Couple hid ownership of other homes from charity

Nonprofit won’t give home to injured vet
The Associated Press Posted : Friday Jun 19, 2009 11:43:42 EDT

PASADENA, Md. — A nonprofit group that builds homes for injured U.S. troops won't be turning over the keys to a Maryland home to a family of an Iraq veteran as planned because officials say the family concealed that they already own two homes.

Taunton, Mass.-based Homes for Our Troops planned to present Sgt. David Battle with the $800,000 home built by hundreds of volunteers in Pasadena, Md., on Thursday.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/06/ap_amputee_home_061909/

UPDATE
Sgt. David Battle's side

Charity Denies Injured
Vet Donated Home
Updated: Saturday, 20 Jun 2009, 11:08 PM EDT
Published : Saturday, 20 Jun 2009, 9:33 PM EDT

Chris Shaw
FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) - The family of Army Sgt. David Battle said confusion over a charity's gift and their use of injury pay from the Army has placed a dark cloud over the injured veteran's homecoming and his future.

Two years ago, Sgt. Battle lost an arm and two legs when he stepped on a roadside bomb during his second tour in Iraq.

On his first trip back to Georgia, he wasn't sure if he would be cheered or booed.

As soon as Battle touched down in Atlanta, there was applause. A patriot guard escorted him home to Fayette County where everyone from the fire department to the neighbor kids, stopped by with gifts.

It was not what he and his family expected.

"I've been on the Internet, looking at blogs from different people, and one that hit me the most was, 'Sgt. David Battle: Hero or Fraud?'" said Battle. It was a painful question for the soldier.

Battle has been getting treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center. Because he still has years of therapy ahead him, a non-profit charity, "Homes For Our Troops," built a $800,000 house in a Baltimore suburb, near the hospital, for the Battles and their four children.

However, the day before they were set to get the keys to their new home, the charity decided not to give it to the family -- calling them deceptive.

"I'm not a fraud. I didn't hide anything," said Battle.
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Charity Denies Injured

I don't know what to think now. First, all of these people stepped up to build this house thinking Battle did not have a place to live, a home of his own. Then they find out they owned two of them but they said they were not going to live in either of them. The point is, they had two homes they could live in, when other veterans have nothing at all. When they are in the military, they live on base with their families or are given funds to help house them. When they are wounded and discharged, that's it. They are left to find their own.