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Vt. town comes together for paralyzed soldier

HYDE PARK, Vt. — For Pfc. Andrew Parker, it was a bittersweet homecoming: He was hailed as a hero, feted with a star-spangled parade and showered with gifts at a welcome home ceremony.

He had to watch it all from a wheelchair.

Parker, a 21-year-old Army cavalry scout, was paralyzed in November when a roadside bomb blew up the vehicle he was driving on patrol in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, after months of rehabilitation in Veterans Administration hospitals and a community fundraising effort that added wheelchair-accessible accommodations to his parents’ house, the wounded warrior came home.

Riding in his wheelchair in the back of a flatbed truck, a smiling Parker took in the flag-waving well wishers and the hand-lettered signs — “For your sacrifice and our freedom” and “Thank you, Andrew” among them — on a six-mile parade to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7779.

“To welcome him like this, it means a lot,” said organizer Diane Marcoux-Laclair, 54. “It means a lot. ’Cause he’s paid a big price.”

In the bombing, Parker was thrown from the vehicle and landed on his head, breaking his neck. He was paralyzed from the chest down. He has movement in his arms but his hands are severely injured.

His injury triggered an outpouring of support in his small northern Vermont hometown.

Marcoux-Laclair, Parker’s kindergarten teacher, and others began soliciting donations and in-kind services so his parents could renovate their modest ranch house, turning a garage into a new living space with a wheelchair ramp, special shower, bed and living area.

All told, the work cost about $100,000.

“It would’ve been a heckuva lot tougher without all this support,” said his father, Greg Barnes.

The American Legion, VFW, Norwich University, Disabled American Veterans, Military Order of the Purple Heart and numerous others participated in the parade.

“I cried the whole way,” said his mother, Winnie Barnes. “Tears of joy.”

The process was greeted by a phalanx of honor guards lining the entrance to the VFW post, where Parker was hoisted onto a stage and sat quietly as more than two dozen speakers, including Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas.

Many called him a hero, toasting his sacrifice or giving him gifts — a key to the town, a check for $100,000, a lifetime pass to the adaptive ski program at Smugglers’ Notch ski resort and full scholarship offers from Norwich University and Johnson State College, among other things.

Parker, an aspiring teacher who acquaintances say is a man of few words, never spoke during the ceremony, except when a flustered speaker said she hadn’t expected to be called up to the podium. “They didn’t tell me I was going to be up here, either,” he cracked, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

Asked about all the accolades after, he said: “It was awesome.”

Parker, who plans to attend college and wants to be a history teacher, is already planning his next moves. One of them is getting out of the wheelchair.

“His spirit throughout all of this has been amazing. He’s bound and determined he’s going to get through this. He’s looked at me straight in the eye and told me ‘I’m going to walk again,’ ” said Marcoux-Laclair.