Published: July 03, 2006 08:14 pm      

JULY 4 PROFILE: Wounded vet wants to finish the job

Frank Washburn did not march in Lockport’s Independence Day parade Monday, and it wasn’t because half his left foot was blown away last year in Iraq.

Washburn can walk, with a limp, and hoped to march on the Fourth of July, but the 42-year-old Army lieutenant had to work on Monday. Washburn is a corrections officer at the Wende Correctional Facility.

“I was going to participate in the parade here in Lockport, but I asked for the wrong day off,” the former Lockport High School soccer player said.

With the help of several organizations, Washburn has returned to a normal life and would return to Operation Enduring Freedom if his country called.

“I would be glad to go back,” Washburn said. “I’m not going to make a phone call and say take me because my children have already seen me in the hospital once.”

Washburn said the consensus of men he served with was, “We belong there. We’re doing the right thing.”

There’s a sense among the wounded that they didn’t want to leave their comrades — that they were forced out of a job left undone.

His patrol found more improvised explosive devices (IEDs) than any other in the 467th Engineer Detachment. He noted that they continue to find hidden bombs and planes, dogs that are stuffed with explosives and bikes with bombs.

“The war, should it be going on?” he said. “I would be glad to see it end, but I don’t want to see us come home until they have their own security ... There are a lot of Iraqis paying the price. There are a lot of Iraqis fighting along side of us. That’s nice to see. I respect them.”

On May 17, 2005, Washburn was a leader on a trailblazer patrol looking for IEDs when his armored Humvee struck a roadside bomb.

“When the explosion happened, obviously it was very sudden,” he said. “As a platoon leader, I was on the radio talking to people behind me. When it exploded, I felt something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I was telling my guys to get out of the vehicle because everything was black with smoke.”

His gunner suffered an arm injury, but the other two men escaped.

Washburn was airlifted to Germany, and then to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. He initially thought he only lost a couple toes, but doctors had to do a transmetatarsal amputation. That is, half of his foot is gone.

Operation Second Chance, Operation First Response, Resources For Soldiers and other veterans groups stepped in.

“These organizations did so many different things,” he said. “What impressed me is that they just started out with different ladies, who had nothing to do with each other, and they just started doing nice things for us.”

They brought blankets, cookies and clothes, but most important, they made it possible for families to visit the wounded.

There was housing for families and a community kitchen. And, they provided airline tickets donated by people who had frequent flyer miles saved up.

“There are so many people who fly who don’t use their miles. They help out to bring family members down,” Washburn said. “Those are the things that made a humongous difference.”

Frank Washburn Jr., 21, Joelle,13, and Megan, 10, were able to visit dad thanks to organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project, Disabled American Veterans, Operation Second Chance, Resources for Soldiers and Operation First Response

Washburn graduated from Lockport High School in 1982 and joined the Army. As an enlisted man, he served as reconnaissance scout in Germany and Texas. After his initial hitch, he majored in social science at Niagara University and joined the National Guard.

He was assigned to Ground Zero in New York City on Sept. 12 and worked security for 32 days, 18 days longer than the rest of the Lockport unit. “I was so moved, I stayed for another couple of weeks,” he said.

Washburn is getting back into country line dancing and, after taking his daughters to soccer practice, feels he could play soccer again. “My injury doesn’t hamper me at all, as long as I have my prosthetic on,” he said. “Most of the time I don’t have a limp.”

He was honored with Mark O’Brien and Mark Byers prior to a Buffalo Sabres playoff game against Carolina.

Washburn, who is in the process of returning to the service, spoke about his buddies. “They did their job. We never had a problem with somebody saying I don’t want to go out on patrol. You would think they would have morale problems —they wanted to come home — but they did their job. They felt they were doing something great.

“The truth is, I don’t have a problem going back now.”