Wounded veterans killed by train made us pay attention

Ever since this happened, the stories coming out about these veterans and their families have started to be told. A charity Show of Support wanted to do something nice for these wounded veterans. It ended in tragedy with 4 dead and many physically injured. All the survivors and witnesses are emotionally injured. Some will see the pain pass, ease with time, but others will see it take control. The whole nation is paying attention to this story. The fact that these are stories we wouldn't have known about had this not happened is something we all should be reflecting on.

Veterans killed in Texas train crash survived gunshots, IEDs, grenades in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Associated Press

The four veterans killed when a freight train barreled into the parade float they were riding on were decorated military men who served on the front lines multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan.

They survived gunshots, explosions and grenade attacks that left some with brain injuries that slurred their speech and made it difficult to walk.

One had a wife back home battling cancer while he fought through a brain injury in Iraq after an improved explosive device hit his truck.

Another was starting a new career with a defense contractor after more than two decades of military service.

They were husbands and fathers. Soldiers and a Marine. And they made sacrifices for those they loved, including at least one who died after pushing his wife to safety.

The men had traveled to Midland, Texas, from all over the country for a hunting trip organized to honor their service and to spend a weekend with those who would understand them best — their fellow veterans.

Here’s a look at them, compiled from interviews with friends and family, along with autobiographies they wrote for the website of Show of Support, the group that organized the parade and hunting trip.

In January, there was worse news: Daylyn had thyroid cancer.
“During her radiation, I was injured for the first time,” Michael wrote. He suffered a traumatic brain injury when an IED hit his truck, but he wasn’t allowed to go home.

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Staff Sgt. Joshua Michael died saving wife

Would we have known how much Sgt. Michael loved his wife otherwise or what they went through had it not been for this event in their lives. What about all the other events that came with his deployments and what she went through back home?

Would we have known about any of the others, their actions, their wounds, courage, passion, loyalty, devotion or anything they and their families went through for the rest of us?

No and frankly too few would have paid any attention to them at all had this not happened.

Camp Lejeune Marine killed in Texas tragedy
By DAILY NEWS STAFF
Published: Friday, November 16, 2012

This undated family photo provided the Show of Support, Hunt for Heroes committee shows Chief Warrant Officer Gary Stouffer, 37, one of four veterans killed when a parade float he was riding on was struck by a freight train at a crossing Thursday in Midland, Texas.
AP Photo/Family photo courtesy Show Of Support

Shannon Stouffer learned of her father’s death in a 5 a.m. Friday call from her grandparents in Pennsylvania to the Stouffer family’s Hubert home.

“Your daddy’s gone,” the 17-year-old recounted them telling her.

The news was still sinking in Friday that Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gary Stouffer, 37, with 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was one of four — two others from North Carolina and one from Texas — killed on Thursday when a train hit a float carrying military veterans and their spouses as part of a parade to a banquet to honor the returning war heroes.

“I'm in a mourned shock right now,” said Shannon, a senior at Swansboro High School.

“It hurts because he's gone and he won’t be at my graduation or walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.”
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