An alumnus of Riverside Military Academy will be presented with a Quilt of Valor after being seriously wounded while on deployment in Afghanistan.
Specialist Robert Healy, a 2012 Riverside Military graduate, was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. He was injured in an apparent suicide bomb attack by the Taliban at Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, on Nov. 12.
The attack killed four Americans and injured 16 others.
Healy received shrapnel wounds in his stomach and legs and was immediately evacuated to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany. He was then transferred to Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. where he was initially in ICU for several days before he was released in serious, but stable condition.
“His mom is very optimistic,” said Colonel William Gallagher, President of Riverside Military Academy. “Because of his grit and determination, that he’ll have a full recovery.”
Healy has had stomach surgeries and several leg surgeries that apparently went well, according to Gallagher, and is being considered for transfer to the Intrepid Center in San Antonio for rehabilitation sometime in the near future.
The Quilt of Valor, which will be brought to Healy in Washington, D.C. when Gallagher travels there this weekend, was hand-stitched by the wives of American Legion Post 7 and was presented to Gallagher during a special ceremony at Riverside Military Academy on Wednesday.
The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization that has presented over 150,000 service members and veterans with a personalized quilt since its inception in 2003.
The local Gainesville chapter, On Eagle Wings, was started just two years ago and has already presented 250 quilts. Nominations for quilts are made through the foundations website, QOVF.org, and are put on a waiting list. The quilts are made on a first come, first serve basis unless there is an expedited need based on age or emergency.
Nineteen women, many of them retired, work on these quilts in the Gainesville area on almost a full-time basis. It cost around $250 in materials to make each quilt and takes about 3-4 weeks to produce.
“Most of us have some family member that had been in the service,” said Peggy Johnson, one of the quilters on hand at the ceremony. “So it means a lot to us just to make sure that all the service people know that they’re appreciated.”
To the best of Gallagher’s knowledge, Healy is the first Riverside Military graduate to be wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.
“This is a great example of how Gainesville sees Riverside as an integral part of the community,” Gallagher said. “When something bad happens here, they rally and come out to help.
“We certainly appreciate that.”
