Re: Ladies motivational thread
<span style="font-weight: bold">R.I.P</span>
An Iraq war veteran
from New York has lost his inspiring three-year battle to overcome horrific burns suffered in a roadside bomb attack, the military announced Thursday.
Marine Sgt. Merlin German, 22, had been burned over 97% of his body and underwent 150 surgical procedures to repair the damage from the 2005 attack.
But he died last month after a relatively minor operation to help reconstruct his lip.
“It’s tough, but we know he’s in a better place,” said Ariel German, 25, the sergeant’s brother. “He had such a good heart.”
German started making national headlines through his amazing will to recover – and his even more incredible urge to help others.
The wounded warrior hoped to use his story to inspire young burn victims and wanted to create a charity called Merlin’s Miracle.
A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Friday night at German’s alma mater, Woodlands High School in Hartsdale, Westchester County.
“What he went through, it really showed his character,” said Jedd Chesterson of Hartsdale, a high school friend. “He’s the toughest kid I know.”
German was raised in Washington Heights and attended A. Philip Randolph High School in Harlem before moving to Hartsdale as a teenager.
He fulfilled a lifelong ambition when he joined the Marine Corps after graduation.
Just days away from returning home after fighting for nine months in Iraq, German was hit by a roadside bomb in strife-torn Anbar Province on Feb. 22, 2005.
Doctors gave him just a 3% chance of survival, but German refused to give up his fight to live. He stayed in the hospital for 17 months and underwent scores of surgeries to replace scorched skin.
“His strength, his will to live, had a lot to do with it,” said Norma Guerra, an official at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Tex.
A born prankster, he would cheer up horribly disfigured fellow soldiers and concerned relatives with self-deprecating one-liners.
“He put a smile on everyone’s face,” Ariel German said.
German recovered enough to meet President Bush and to attend college basketball’s Final Four as a guest of comedian Dennis Miller.
Friends and relatives were stunned when German died suddenly on April 11, after what was considered a fairly routine procedure.
The Marine Corps Thursday attributed his death to the wounds suffered three years ago in Iraq.
“For all of us, it was extremely unexpected,” said Chesterson. “We thought he had been through the worst already.”