President Bush prayed with an injured Special Forces soldier at Walter Reed Medical Center.
On 12 April 2003 the President and First Lady did pay a call upon injured servicemen being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the NationalNaval Medical Center. Bush awarded ten Purple Hearts, the military's honor for those wounded in combat, and participated in ceremonies in which two injured soldiers - one from Mexico and the other from the Philippines - were naturalized as U.S. citizens. He also visited with a number of servicemen undergoing treatment in those two facilities, including Marine Sgt. Eric Alva of San Antonio and Navy Corpsman Brian Alaniz of Austin, both of whom lost their right legs in the conflict with Iraq. (Alva stepped out of a Humvee and onto a mine; Alaniz stepped on another mine while rushing to help Alva.)Aides who accompanied the President on the tour of the two hospitals report that he distributed his thanks and pride - and a few jokes - in every room, but none of the press reports about the visit mentioned the President's praying with any of these wounded men (although that would not necessarily have been out of character for him).According to MSG Richard Puckett of the Sergeant Major of the Army's (SMA) office, the gist of the story is true, but the detail about the President's praying with a wounded soldier is an embellishment:For the past several months the Sergeant Major of the Army has been speaking to groups about his visits to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other military hospitals to see soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq. The story involves the SMA and a visit by the President of the United States. The SMA and the President have never visited soldiers at the hospital together. The SMA's story of President Bush's visit to one particular soldier was relayed to him by one of the Special Forces soldiers in the hospital that day. On one visit he spoke to a young special forces soldier who lost his hand in an accident involving a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. As he was leaving, the soldier stuck his limb to the SMA and SMA Tilley gingerly shook the bandages to not injure him further. He presented him a coin and said 'God Bless You.' The same soldier was visited several days later by the President, who was awarding medals to many of the wounded soldiers. The soldier stuck his limb up to the President as he was leaving, and President Bush cupped his limb with both hands and said 'God Bless You.' He then knelt down and kissed him on the forehead. The story that is spreading around the internet is a well-woven embellishment of the SMA's story. MSG Richard Puckett Public Affairs Advisor to the Sergeant Major of the Army Office of the Sergeant Major of the Army
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