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Published Sunday, July 19, 2009 in Local

Injured soldier at Walter Reed; helped by Soldiers' Angels

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Newnan Times-Herald

The California soldier injured in the firefight with two Newnan-based National Guard soldiers in Afghanistan is now at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Corporal Jonathan Morita was transferred to the United States on the same plane with SFC Mark Allen and Specialist/Medic Charles Benson, members of the 48th Brigade Bravo company unit stationed at Newnan's Jackson-Pless Armory.

Morita, who previously served in Iraq, has a serious injury to his right hand from a rocket-propelled grenade, said a source close to the unit who had spoken to Morita.

Allen remains in critical but stable condition at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Benson had a surgery recently and is expected to be transferred to the Augusta V.A. hospital soon.

During their journey from Afghanistan to Landstuhl, Germany, to the United States, the men were helped along the way by Soldiers' Angels.

When soldiers arrive at combat support hospitals, they receive Soldiers' Angels backpacks, said Patti Patton-Bader, founder of the organization. The backpacks have toiletries, fresh clothing, an international phone card, and a "blanket of hope" handmade by a Soldiers' Angels volunteer.

"We're trying right away to reach out to that hero to let them know they are cared for and loved, and to help with that healing," Patton-Bader said. "It helps not only that hero, but the doctors, nurses, medics and their families."

The motto of the organization is "May No Soldier Go Unloved."

At Landstuhl, where all soldiers go before they fly to the United States, Soldiers' Angel Mary Ann Phillips helps out as a liaison between soldiers and their families, and helps distribute backpacks and care packages. There are also angels at Bethesda and Walter Reed, and at smaller military hospitals all over the U.S., "so the family can know they are carried with angels the whole time," Patton-Bader said.

The angels also help the families. "Some people find out their hero is wounded, and they jump in the car and jump on the plane, and they don't even take extra underwear," Bader said. "We try to be sure that they have what they need."

The organization also sends care packages and letters to soldiers and has an "adopt a soldier" program.

Operation Top Knot assists pregnant mothers whose husbands are serving overseas. "Every day, for a while, here come gifts. Homemade blankets, baby sets, all kinds of things," Bader said. "We just throw a little nationwide baby shower. We do that for between 10 and 20 expectant moms each month."

The organization also works with soldiers when they get home. "Everybody who comes home is going to have a little PTS," that is, post-traumatic stress, said Bader. "They don't have a disorder, they're just going through a situation. By being proactive with them, it really helps when they get back home."

Soldiers' Angels is always looking for volunteers and donations. "With the economic downtown, I have had to cut some of the services at the hospitals," Bader said.

The organization sends out about 5,000 packages per week, Bader said. Postage alone is tremendously expensive.

When it comes to volunteer opportunities, "go to the Web site and see what you like," Bader said. "There is letter writing, adopting a soldier, making blankets, sending cards to the wounded, there is pretty much everything.

"If there is something you like to do, there is a team you can fit in with," Bader said.

Right now, "we really need people adopting a Soldier," she said. That means a commitment to write once or twice a week and to send a couple of care packages a month.

You can find out more about the organization, and all of its many programs, by visiting www.soldiersangels.org .