South Prairie hails its hero (Soldier comes home.)

U.S. Army Spc. Kris Atherton lost an arm in the Iraq war in July, but the 24-year-old still looks more like a college student than a Purple Heart recipient.

A healthy pink flush colored his cheeks as he rode through South Prairie Saturday morning in a vintage fire truck. His wife, Heather, sat on his lap and shivered in the light rain.

The small East Pierce County town saluted Atherton with a four-block-long parade and a reception at the Washington Soldiers Home and Colony in Orting. Atherton's hometown welcome followed honors at an American Red Cross recognition breakfast Nov. 21.

Atherton returned to Washington earlier this month on a two-week leave after treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Dozens of motorcyclists, firefighters, military personnel, veterans, family members, friends and others hailed Atherton in South Prairie and Orting. Many stood at the ends of driveways, waved flags and hooted or yelled their approval as the procession passed.

"Good job, buddy!" shouted Dennis Atherton, the veteran's father, who watched from a South Prairie corner.

"This is great. If we could do it for everybody that deserves it, it would be wonderful. Even for one, it's beautiful," said Alan Padgett, 66, who lives at the soldiers home.

Before Atherton arrived, Padgett left his cane and walker on the sidewalk and stepped out on the lawn to snap a few pictures of the American flags draped across the colony's entrance.

Bonnie Ford of Bonney Lake nervously smoked a cigarette while she waited for Atherton to reach Orting. "I'm just glad he made it back," she said. "Kris was like a second son to me." Ford's son, Lonnie Hites, grew up with Atherton. Hites and his son, 1-year-old Lonnie, also turned out to welcome Atherton home.

At Atherton's home, people who had never met him eagerly reached out to touch the hero. Atherton responded without hesitation; he shook hands and hugged Ford and many others.

After months of inactivity since the enemy attack that cost him his arm, Atherton's green dress uniform looked uncomfortably snug. When he reached out with his right hand, the prosthetic that serves as his left one hung limply at his side, a grim reminder of the damage done.

Terry Harder of Tacoma shook Atherton's hand while holding a 3-foot-by-5-foot American flag. "Thank you. Thank you for your service," Harder said, loud enough for the crowd to hear.

Harder, who has three children in the military, belongs to Operation Support Our Troops. Group members regularly demonstrate their loyalty by waving flags and holding patriotic signs on Interstate 5 near Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. And many turned out to honor Atherton.

Ron and Aris Caron of Puyallup, whose son, Joshua, belongs to the Air Force, held up a patriotic quilt Aris had sewn. The "United We Stand" quilt was covered with images of the American flag.

Valerie and Bob Hall of Tacoma, whose son, Robert, is in the Marines, had hand-lettered signs. "We go to support our troops rallies all the time," Valerie said. The couple also wore matching black USMC sweatshirts.

Tory Stroud, a 34-year-old firefighter who lives in South Prairie, brought her four children to watch the parade. "It's an awesome deal. He's a hero," she said of Atherton. "We need to be here."

Her oldest child, Kate, 10, knew exactly why: "That guy got his arm cut off. We're like saying thanks to him. He helped us," she said.

Well I can't find the original story.

Here you go:

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Soldier welcomed home as hero

24-year-old lost arm in attack, is credited with saving others

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH PRAIRIE -- While he was recovering from losing his arm in fighting in Iraq, Army Spc. Kris Atherton worried about how he'd be able to pick up the baby daughter he'd never held.

With practice, it's becoming more natural.

When he arrived at Sea-Tac Airport on Tuesday, Atherton kneeled down to his daughter's stroller. Six-month-old Mikiah grabbed his right hand and cooed, while Atherton's other arm, a prosthetic, hung at his side.

"I've got a lot of things I want to teach her," he told The News Tribune. "A lot of things I want to do with my family."

Atherton, 24, lost most of his left arm in an enemy attack outside Baghdad last summer. Now home in this East Pierce County town with his wife, Heather, and their daughter, he finds himself a hero.

At the airport, he was met by friends and family, and by pipers from the Tacoma Fire Department Honor Guard. Yesterday, the Tacoma Red Cross awarded him the first Marvin Klegman Memorial Award, named for an 11-year-old Tacoma boy who died saving another child in the 1949 earthquake.

During his two weeks of leave, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of Tacoma and the South Prairie Cares Committee will honor Atherton with a parade and party Nov. 29.

"Some guys fold, and some guys don't," said Terry Veltkamp, Atherton's woodshop teacher from White River High School.

On the day Atherton lost his arm, he maneuvered his Humvee to safety, preserving the lives of several companions while he was in intense pain and bleeding profusely. His severed arm lay in his lap.

"I knew I had a ticket home," he said. "I wanted to make it back to the base to claim that ticket."

Atherton said he "grew up" in the Army. At 19, he'd been rooming with his older brother, Kevin, in Auburn, and was making good money at a Tacoma cardboard plant. But he felt something was missing.

He signed up with the Army, he said, because it stresses core values such as selfless service, respect, honor and loyalty.

"I wanted all of those, and I wanted to get some schooling," he said.

Atherton's unit, Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, was deployed from Fort Riley, Kan., early in March.

His tank was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Inside, he gave first aid to a radio operator who had caught some shrapnel.

On July 26, while his tank was under repair, he volunteered for a mission that had him driving a Humvee, transporting a prisoner in a two-vehicle convoy. An explosion went off next to the driver's door.

"The next thing I knew, my left arm was in my lap," he said.

Gushing blood, he turned the vehicle around and headed toward base.

It took 20 minutes to get back to the base, where Atherton stopped at the gates and let the prisoner out, following security protocols. He recalls carrying his left arm in his right hand into the operating room.

One artery was still connected, and that might have kept him from bleeding to death. Surgeons amputated just above the elbow.

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