You will find two more TOUCHING photos of the President with Chad at
[4th and 5th photo from the top . . . Could you please post these photos?!!!]
http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=president+george+w+bush&c=news_photos
That is Chad's mom to his immediate right.
These are awesome pics Deb. They were not there when I went through that site earlier. Thanks.
Thanks, Deb, for your work today. Great info, as always. Those photos of Chad Watson were amazing! Thank you for pointing them out.
I looked online to read about him, and came a wonderful article from January 3rd. (This is the link: http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/01/03/news/local_news/1020214.txt ). It is a great article both about Chad and GWB!
"When President Bush entered Lance Cpl. Chad Watson's hospital room, the young Marine wanted to stand and shake his hand.
Just standing is quite a feat when you have just one leg and your foot is in a cast.
Supporting himself on a walker, Watson reached out his hand but immediately lost his balance and grabbed the walker.
"The second time I went off balance again," said Watson, 23. "My brother (Brandon) saw what I was trying to do and grabbed me under my arm. That stabilized me enough to shake the president's hand."
Surrounded by family members, Watson stood upright as a fellow Marine read his Purple Heart commendation, and the president pinned the medal on his blouse.
"It was all his upper body strength," said his father, Mike Watson. "There wasn't a dry eye in the house."
Then, the president said, "Lance Cpl. Watson, I command you to sit down."
"With a smile on his face, of course," Watson said.
Mike and Gina Watson said the president and first lady Laura Bush spent about 15 minutes with their family, which included Brandon, a Mount Zion High School sophomore, and Amy, a sophomore at Northern Illinois University. His other sister, Lindsey Damery, a nurse who helped Chad Watson tremendously while hospitalized, was unable to attend.
When Chad Watson asked the president if he had a few minutes to sign autographs for his siblings, he replied, "I'll sign all day for you."
A three-star general in the president's entourage told Chad Watson that he planned to tell the Marine commandant that a young Marine who was missing one leg, with the other injured, had made the effort to stand for the president.
"That is something I am most proud of," Chad Watson said. "
Chad's family also has a blog about his progress--there is an update about the event at the WH yesterday:http://chadmwatson.blogspot.com/index.html