Wounded Soldier Gets “Best Christmas Present Ever”

He had been wounded twice before while serving in Iraq, but the third injury proved to be the most devastating.

Army Staff Sgt. Michael Montange, 28, was with his regiment about 15 miles from Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated on August 22, 2007, sending a projectile through his buttock and out the opposite hip.

After flat-lining several times and undergoing 38 surgeries, Montange pulled through, though not without losing nearly half of his intestines. Recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., he will have to wear a colostomy bag for the rest of his life.

As Christmas neared, his father, Ron Montange, tried to figure out a way to get his son home to Chelsea, Michigan, for the holidays. It had been 10 years since Michael had seen his hometown. Ron decided to rent a van and drive to Washington and back, then do it all over again after Christmas to return his son to Walter Reed.

Meanwhile, a friend, Frederic Leeman, was looking on the Internet for better options. He discovered Air Compassion for Veterans and put Ron in touch with the organization. Missions director MJ Sablan contacted pilot Chuck Van Nostrand, who agreed to take the mission. Mike Pearson signed up as co-pilot.

Van Nostrand is a co-owner of the Beechcraft Bonanza based in Manassas that has been used to fly patient missions since it was first purchased in 1977. Equipped with a LifePort stretcher system, the aircraft is well-suited for accommodating non-ambulatory patients like Montange who do not need medical assistance while on board.

The flight was delayed for two days because of high winds, but on Christmas Eve, the pilots safely brought Sgt. Montange to Jackson County Airport where he was greeted by a crowd of family members, firefighters, and Army Reserve members. Later he was joined by his wife Amber and two young children who had traveled from Missouri.

In an article appearing in the Jackson Citizen Patriot, Michael’s dad was quoted as saying, “This is very meaningful all the way around. This is the best Christmas present ever.”

Michael flew back to Walter Reed in the Bonanza on January 3. “We were all proud to do it,” Van Nostrand said.

Doctors projected that the soldier’s recovery would take around 14 months, but report that he’s doing much better than expected. “He is taking bets he will be walking by April,” said his uncle, Mark Montange.

Maiden Flight Brings Healing to Family Torn by Abuse

Looking at Alex's angelic face as he takes the maiden flight of the new charitable program for veterans (Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom), it is hard to imagine that two weeks before the Nov. 20 trip, the 2 ½-year-old was hooked up to life support in a Texas hospital, with doctors offering no hope for recovery from his vegetative state.

Alex, whose father Jason is a sergeant in the U.S. Marines recently home from Iraq, had been hospitalized in Lubbock for severe injuries police said were due to abuse. The child’s mother and a man she met through the Internet were arrested and charged with injury to a child. They are being held in a Lemasa, Texas, jail.

Alex’s paternal grandparents traveled to Texas from their home in Melbourne, Florida.

“We went to the hospital in Lubbock and said a prayer over him,” said Bill, the boy’s grandfather, whose wife Sherry was there too. “His body began to tremble. Ever since that time, he’s been getting better.” Bill said the doctors “broke out crying” when they saw the little boy’s increased brain activity on the monitor. “They call it a miracle.”

The couple worked through legal channels to win their son’s custody of Alex even as they tried to find a way to transport the boy to Florida.

“We heard about Mercy Medical Airlift through my mom’s church,” Bill said.

His sister contacted Jim Smith, vice president of operations for Mercy Medical Airlift, which oversees the new air transport service for troops, veterans and their families affected by military deployment in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Bill, Sherry, and Alex flew “high and fast” in a Learjet to Orlando with the trip taking only 2 ½ hours. “It was a very good flight,” said Bill, who used to fly on Air Force planes as part of an air crew.

Jason was granted a temporary 90-day assignment in Florida to be with his son, whose remarkable improvement continued daily at the Arnold Palmer Hospital. On Nov. 30, the boy was discharged and admitted into a rehabilitation program at the University of Florida Brooks Center. His grandmother is staying with him for the two weeks of rehab.

“He’s doing very well,” Bill noted. “He smiles and continues to make progress toward standing and walking. He can count to ten and pull himself up into a sitting position.”

Though Jason has to return to California to handle more legal issues, the family hopes to be together at home for “a big Christmas” Ashleigh, Alex’s sister, is doing very well also and is now a normal 10-month-old baby girl.”

The first flight of the veterans air transport program will be remembered for a long time by his family and all those touched by the miracle of Alex.

Program Flies Parents of Wounded Warrior To Help with Wife, Baby

Marine Sergeant Nick Beberniss, a wounded veteran and brand new father living in San Diego, needed help for himself, his wife Leslie, and their baby, Taylor, born in September 2007. Still recovering from serious injuries he received while serving in Iraq in 2004, Berberniss learned of Air Compassion for Veterans. Jim Smith, the program director, bought airline tickets for Nick’s parents, Craig and Annette of Denver, Colorado, who flew out to be with their son and his wife Linda, whose pregnancy had been complicated by high blood pressure. Having Taylor’s grandparents on hand to help was a big relief to the first-time parents.

During a tour in Baghdad in 2004, Berberniss’ vehicle ran over a large anti-tank mine. The explosion left him with both legs broken, a shattered rib cage, a broken back and pelvis, and a punctured lung. Doctors told him he would never walk again. But not only can he walk (though he faces the midway amputation of his right leg this year or next), he reenlisted in the Corps as a small arms technician in September 2006. “My goal,” he said, “is to get back to Iraq.”