Aloha to Greg Gadson - The Shining Star of BATTLESHIP

As I mentioned yesterday, Renee and Nadja stood in line for the advance screening of BATTLESHIP on Pearl Harbor.


Renee posted her review here and the experience here.  She took pictures of the cast, including a double amputee. 


Nadja posted her review and experience on Facebook here.  She identified the double amputee - Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson.  

au.news.yahoo.com

Greg is the real star of BATTLESHIP.  From Yahoo in Australia (at this link):

However, when Lt. Col. Greg Gadson agreed to play the part of a double amputee in Battleship - he himself lost two legs while serving in Iraq in 2007 when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb - little did this 46-year-old career soldier realise how much screen-time he would get.

"I thought I'd be in the movie for just a couple of moments," admits Gadson. "So I was shocked when I found out that I wasn't just doing a cameo but that I was an integral part of the whole film."

Greg Gadson is a rock star.  My children met him through a mutual friend, Beatrice, on Fort Meade.  (Beatrice was my neighbor and her husband played football with Greg at West Point.  My children just happen to be playing football outside Beatrice's house when Greg arrived with his service dog).  In fact, Beatrice asked our neighborhood to support Greg and his family when they relocated to the DC area for his recovery at Walter Reed.   I called Beatrice today with the news of Greg's appearance in Hawaii.   She replied, "One door closed in his life.  He opened others for himself."

Let me repeat that.

 "One door closed in his life.  He opened others for himself." 

Again from Yahoo,

Battleship director Peter Berg had seen Gadson in a feature in National Geographic about "tomorrow's people", a group whose missing or ruined body parts were being replaced by devices embedded in their nervous systems that respond to commands from their brains.

As Battleship is about the US military fight against an army of robot-like aliens, Berg had the nifty idea to cast a real-life soldier who had lost both limbs above the knee and who could now walk because of breakthroughs in bionic prosthetics.

But Gadson proved to be such a charismatic, commanding presence as the gruff, gutsy veteran and amputee treated by Brooklyn Decker's physical therapist that he ended up showing his stuff in at least a dozen scenes - even getting the big heroic moment usually reserved for a major star.

I'm getting a bit teary eyed - this is powerful stuff.   

One more time from Yahoo,

For the past two years Gadson has been director of the Army Wounded Warrior Program, using his horrific experiences of war to salve the wounds, actual and emotional, of those who have returned with injuries even worse than his."We can help those who have been badly injured but ultimately it is about their personal resiliency and the resiliency of their families. There was one kid who was the first quadruple amputee and he had a heart of gold. You wouldn't know he was missing anything."

In honor of Greg, I am donating $1 per comment, up to $100, to HOPE FOR THE WARRIORS (at this link). 

The mission of Hope For The Warriors® is to enhance quality of life for U.S. service members and their families nationwide who have been adversely affected by injuries or death in the line of duty. Hope For The Warriors® actively seeks to ensure that the sacrifices of wounded and fallen warriors and their families are never forgotten nor their needs unmet.

On their own, our service members and their families are awe inspiring in the face of their disabilities and hardships - courageous and resolute. However, it is with the support of a grateful nation that they remain unfaltering in their determination and find hope and purpose beyond recovery. As a united support network, all individuals, whether of great or small means, can find an opportunity to honor those who have willingly sacrificed to defend and protect our freedom.

Comments are open through Memorial Day - May 28.

Mahalo,

Kim in Hawaii