What are your favorite images of the Fourth of July? Fireworks? Watermelon? Fishing or swimming at grandpas?

How about the sacrifices made by America’s armed forces for the cause of freedom? Most of us don’t picture wounded combat vets when we think of celebrations on Independence Day.

A new program, Operation Proper Exit, has allowed six amputee combat veterans to return to the camps or bases at which they were stationed when they were injured.

Operation Proper Exit is a pilot program being introduced by the Disabled Veterans of America, a non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing lives of disabled veterans. The week-long visit was the vets idea. Gen. Heidi V. Brown, deputy commanding general, Multi-National Corp-Iraq, said she was glad they came back and that she hopes their visit here “closes the loop.”

The program will allow the wounded vets to visit FOBs, and to witness the changes that have taken place due to their sacrifices.

As America prepares to celebrate Independence Day, remember these warriors and all the others who have gone before them, to sacrifice for our country. Freedom comes at a price…our freedom must never be taken for granted. We salute these veterans and their comrades in arms, and lift up our prayers of thanksgiving for their service and sacrifice.

Read more about Operation Proper Exit here.

Tags: amputee, Fourth of July, freedom, Independence Day, Operation Proper Exit, sacrifice

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 at 12:01 am and is filed under From the Front, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.