
A colonel, with the help of a local resident, provides retreats to families of soldiers who have served in war and who have been torn apart emotionally, financially and physically.
By Carla Fischer / Special to The Malibu Times
For wounded soldiers like 27-year-old James Lowman, a chief warrant officer with the U. S. Army, there is no way to explain the emotional and physical strain that the injury he sustained in Iraq has had on him and his family during the 12 weeks of rehabilitation at Fort Bragg, S.C. He suffered multiple spinal fractures from a helicopter crash.
“It’s a strain that continues into the present,” Lowman said. “The focus is on me being hurt instead of the three of us as a family again.”
Many families of soldiers serving in the war have been torn apart emotionally, financially and physically. For many who have permanent injuries or who have died, putting the family back together again is a tremendous challenge.
To help get a start on the road to recovery, Wounded Warriors, an organization founded by Marine Col. John D. Folsom, provides vacations for the families of soldiers who have been seriously wounded, injured or lost their lives in combat.
Wounded Warriors provides a week’s lodging at no cost, so families can spend time together bonding and begin to heal from the trauma of war.
Malibu resident Irit Ehrlich has been donating her time and energy as the West Coast representative for the Wounded Warriors. She said she feels a deep commitment to shine a nonpartisan light on the nonprofit organization.
“There are only two people involved with the foundation, the colonel and I,” Ehrlich said.
John Folsom is a Marine colonel in the reserves and at this point lives in Omaha, Neb. with his wife, who’s a newspaper editor, son and daughter. He spent one year in Iraq. People have found out about him and the organization from the Web site, www.woundedwarriors.org, by word of mouth and by his appearance on CNN’s Paula Zahn’s show.
Folsom and Ehrlich met as a result of a chance meeting in a hotel elevator at the Best Western Hotel where she was with her mom before hip replacement surgery at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. “The universe works in mysterious ways,” Ehrlich said.
Wounded Warriors got started when Folsom was assigned to Marine Forces Europe in 2003 as a liaison officer for U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany. One of his duties was to monitor the flow of Marine forces throughout Europe, ensuring that Marines and their gear were arriving properly. When the war began in March 2003, Folsom had to monitor Marine casualties. Wounded Warriors started as a very small, local effort by raising money to purchase televisions, stereos, DVDs, laptop computers and morale items to be used in the hospitals for patients at the Regional Army Medical Center in Germany.
Eventually, Folsom decided to provide condominiums for military families to take vacations if they have someone wounded, injured or killed in action.
Folsom explained, “I don’t think the Armed Forces owes families vacations. What I’ve done is for the family. It’s not designed to make things all better again. That’s impossible for me to do, but I can give the families a chance to be together as a family for a week in a very nice setting that’s at little or no cost to them.”
The families have to provide their own transportation and food. Wounded Warriors owns a fully furnished, professionally managed condominium unit at the Bahama Bay Resort in Orlando, Fla. where the venue and passes for Disneyworld, Universal Studios and SeaWorld are provided. A second property was acquired with all the amenities at the Victorian Resort in Galveston, Texas affording a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico.
“We need to have more space for these families, so we need more money. That’s why fundraising is important,” Folsom said. “We acquired some land to build the Wounded Warriors retreat in the northwest Nebraska high country. Located just east of Crawford, Nebraska, the retreat will be built on 80 acres of beautiful, ponderosa-studded land. Wildlife is abundant, with elk, mule deer, turkeys, mountain lions, foxes, coyotes, porcupines and eagles.”
Activities are designed to bring families closer together. Horseback riding and hiking, swimming, campfires and more will be offered at the Nebraska retreat.
“Our goal is to build a central lodge, six two-bedroom cabins, a swimming pool and a horse barn, with construction starting in the summer of 2008,” Folsom said.
Preference will go to enlisted members with children who have been separated from active duty because of injuries or wounds sustained in combat operations and those with families of greatest financial need.
Two benefits are planned to help raise funds for Wounded Warriors, May 16 and one in the fall. More information can be obtained at the organization’s Web site, www.woundedwarrior.org. Folsom can be contacted by mail at 1719 N. 60th St., Omaha, Neb. 68104 or by phone at 402.505.2381 or email at johnfolsom@woundedwarriors.org. Ehrlich can be reached by calling 310.383.5566