THOMAS NSAMA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
BUSH
AT PEACE
event, he stopped at the mention
of Emergent BioSolutions, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Rockville, Md.
“I was trying to figure out what
Emergent BioSolutions are. I wonder if that’s the stuff you put on
your rear before you ride,” Bush
said, to laughs. “Anyway, I’m glad
you’re here.”
Then each of the 13 veterans
said a few words.
Army Staff Sgt. Michael
Morabito talked about returning
from Iraq, after suffering “severe
HUFFINGTON
06.16.13
burns” and spinal cord injury during an attack in Ramadi in 2004,
for which he received the Purple
Heart. As with others I had heard
discuss being wounded, the most
poignant moment came when he
described how his own children
viewed him as he tried to overcome his injuries.
“I went down a dark road. But
my wife and my kids pulled me
out,” Morabito told the group inside the banquet hall. “My kids
were always looking at pictures of
Daddy being active, Daddy doing
this. And it was one of those days,
‘Hey, Dad, how come you’re not
doing this with me?’”
Bush shakes
hands with
Zambian girls
in Lusaka,
Zambia, in
December
2011.