Injured Pittsfield Medic Welcomed Home From AfghanistanBy Tammy Daniels
iBerkshires Staff
08:59PM / Friday, July 23, 2010
Pittsfield Veterans Agent Rosanne Frieri, left, takes a picture as Matthew Came's plane taxis in. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Helen Came didn't want to answer the phone last week.
"I saw that it said Fort Bragg, the number identification, and that scared me," said Came on Friday afternoon, her husband, David, at her side. "My daughter told me there was a phone call from Fort Bragg earlier trying to reach us."
The news was both frightening and gratifying: Their 21-year-old son Matthew had been seriously injured only a couple days before during a firefight in Afghanistan but was already on the mend and preparing to come home.
"We were concerned as parents but glad to hear he was in stable, if serious, condition," said David Came. "He's in good spirits and happy to be coming home."
The Cames were waiting for Matthew at Pittsfield Municipal Airport, a flag-waving cadre of family, friends, veterans and members of the Pittsfield Here at Home Committee there with them to greet the returning soldier.
Devin Shea said he'd known Matthew since freshmen year at Taconic High School, and they'd led the soccer team. Their paths had diverged after graduationin 2007, and Matthew's announcement he was joining the Army two years ago "kind of came out of the blue," said Shea, who wasn't sure of his friend's choice. They've stayed in touch through Facebook and got together last December when Came had leave.
"His world experience is beyond what I can comprehend," said Shea. "I'm just so glad to see him."
Came, a medic with the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Airborne, had gone to investigate a an IED, or improvised explosive device, blast on the night of July 13 on Highway 1 outside Kandahar City, what his father described as a volatile area, when a bullet fragment ricocheted into his abdomen and hit his bladder.
Came, center, was greeted by a group of high school friends. |
The combat medic had been deployed in Afghanistan since last August, traveling with trucks delivering supplies to forward bases and command posts, and working in field hospitals, mostly with wounded Afghans. He had only six weeks left to go on his tour.
That night he was with an infantry patrol on the highway outside the capital city; there were some firefights around the area and several other soldiers were killed. When they heard the blast, Came's unit went to see what happened and if anyone had been hurt. But Came barely got out of his vehicle before he was taken down by small arms fire.
"He went out to see if he could help and that's when he was shot," said Helen Came, who was informed by military authorities that it occurred at 9:46 p.m. our time. "He was the only medic in the area at the time so he fortunately was conscious and was able to tell his squad mates what to do to patch him."
"Think of that for calm under fire," said Mayor James M. Ruberto later, as he presented Matthew Came with a citation from the city for his service.
The Cames, devout Catholics, said they were grateful for the prayers from across the country and by the Marian Fathers of Stockbridge, where David is the executive editor of Marian Helper magazine, and the support from the Army, other mothers and wives, and Matthew's fellow paratroopers during the past year.
"When he was joining the Army, I asked him why do you want to be a medic and he said I want to help people and that really touched my heart," said David Came. "He's really a model of the Good Samaritan; these soldiers, these medics are willing to lay down their lives to help their comrades who've fallen. They're such wonderful examples of mercy, compassion and love for the rest of us ... and Matt is really our hero today."
The hero himself arrived in his hometown after a series of flights that had taken him to the Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany shortly after his surgery in Afghanistan, then to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., and on to the 82nd's home at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. The Cames had made arrangements to fly to North Carolina but less than two days ago, Matthew let them know he was being discharged from the hospital and on his way home.
He was being flown into Pittsfield by pilot volunteer Jon Payson of Veterans Airlift Command, a group of more than 1,500 volunteers who donate their time and aircraft to bring wounded veterans home and back.
Exactly 10 days after he was wounded in a war zone, a small plane taxied to a hanger at the airport and Matthew Came stepped into his parent's arms. His wife, Joceline, and 2-year-old son, Tirian, were awaiting him in Lawrence at her family's home.
He seemed a bit nonplussed by the commotion. "I don't have to give a speech, do I?" he asked after Ruberto extolled his virtues, and declined to comment for the local press. "I'm just grateful to be home."
His mother, who'd been waiting an extra 90 minutes for her son's delayed flight to arrive was ready to cut the festivities short. "That's enough," she said. "It's time to go home."
Families of servicemen and servicewoman in Pittsfield are encouraged to contact the Here at Home Committee for help in welcoming their return home. The committee relies on local contact because information about servicemen and their return dates is limited by privacy laws. Contact Rosanne Frieri, director of veterans services, at 413-499-9433 or Mary Verdi through maryverdi.com.
Updated on July 26, 2010, to add flight information.
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