During the recent State of the Union (SOTU) address, the entire House Chamber — the entire nation — was mesmerized by the young uniformed soldier sitting, and then standing, in the front row of the House gallery, next to First Lady Michele Obama.
Then, when President Barack Obama finished telling his moving story about Army Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg, the entire House Chamber came to its feet and offered a rousing ovation to the Army Ranger — one of the longest in recent history.
For what the president told the nation about this young soldier — blind in one eye and with only partial use of his left side — was nothing short of heart-rending and inspirational.
Obama told the nation how he first met Cory Remsburg, a proud Army Ranger, at Omaha Beach on the 65th anniversary of D-Day. “He was a strong, impressive young man, had an easy manner. He was sharp as a tack. And we joked around, and took pictures, and I told him to stay in touch.”
But a few months later, on his 10th deployment, Cory was nearly killed by a massive roadside bomb in Afghanistan.
The president continued:
His comrades found him in a canal, face down, underwater, shrapnel in his brain.
For months, he lay in a coma. And the next time I met him, in the hospital, he couldn’t speak; he could barely move. Over the years, he’s endured dozens of surgeries and procedures, hours of grueling rehab every day.
Even now, Cory is still blind in one eye. He still struggles on his left side. But slowly, steadily, with the support of caregivers like his dad Craig, and the community around him, Cory has grown stronger. Day by day, he’s learned to speak again and stand again and walk again, and he’s working toward the day when he can serve his country again.
The president then quoted Cory saying, “My recovery has not been easy. Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy”
Here is when the president asked Cory to stand up and when the extended cheers and applause took place.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other defense leaders applaud Army Sgt. 1st Class Cory Remsburg during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. DOD Photo
When the applause eventually faded, the president concluded by exhorting Americans to work together, to “summon what is best in us, the way Cory summoned what is best in him.”
It has now been more than two months since that emotional, rousing moment that brought Americans together, regardless of political affiliation. While many of us have gone back to politics as usual, most still vividly and fondly remember the young “Purple Heart recipient in the First Lady’s box.”
But how about the man standing to the right of Cory?
That man happens to be Cory’s father, Craig Remsburg, who along with Cory’s step-mom Annie is Cory’s caretaker and has been by Cory’s side ever since that roadside bomb in Kandahar left him in a coma for three and a half months, partially paralyzed and brain-damaged.
I had not given Cory’s parents much thought until I listened to a program on National Public Radio’s (NPR) Weekend Edition this Sunday morning.
In the program, Craig tells NPR’s Rachel Martin what it was like the day Cory began to wake up: “It was incremental,” he says. “He opened an eye, just one eye, and then he moved [an] arm, then he moved a leg. It’s not like you sit up out of bed and start talking; it took him eight months to talk.”
Although both Craig and his wife, Annie, had full-time jobs, “there wasn’t a second thought about how they were going to do it, they simply committed themselves to the around-the-clock care that Cory would need.”
According to NPR:
For six months, he and his wife traded shifts at the VA hospital in Tampa. For two weeks at a time, one would be with Cory while the other was home in Phoenix. They’d have about an hour at the airport to swap keys and let the other know of any issues.
“We finally decided that [was] not healthy,” he says. So Craig’s wife quit her job of 22 years to become her son’s full-time caregiver in Tampa.
The financial burden was high, but Craig Remsburg received some help for the flights back and forth from a charity that sponsors severely wounded veterans.
Today, Cory is back in Phoenix, doing four to six hours of physical therapy a day.
A certified nurse assistant helps take care of Cory, but each night either Craig or his wife stays with Cory, according to NPR.
NPR concludes:
It’s difficult, Craig says, but he and his wife make it a point to find time together.
“We do a date night … every Friday, we make that a point,” Craig says. “We [make] sure we go out and get away from all of the stuff.”
In the long term, Craig says his son wants to find independence again and be able to function and live on his own. Craig’s goal is to help Cory get there.“We’re going to get him as close as we can to that independence and make him feel that he’s contributing back to society, because that’s what he wants,” he says. “He doesn’t want to be a drain, he wants to do something. And he knows he’s got to take care of himself first.”
Thought you might like to know ‘the rest of the story.’
Listen to the interview here.
Lead photo: White House
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.