When David Battle left his family in Fort Stewart, Ga., in May 2007 to serve in Iraq, he never expected he would return with only one limb.
Almost a year after he was injured in Baghdad, Battle will become the first triple amputee and first Maryland recipient of a house built in Pasadena by Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit that finds volunteers to construct houses for wounded veterans.
A blast in December 2007 from an improvised explosive device took all of Battle’s limbs but his left arm.
“I was very scared, upset and scared,” said his wife, Lakeisa Battle. “When I first found out, they only told me that both of his legs were gone. They didn’t tell me about his arm.”
When he returned to the United States on Christmas Day — more than eight months before his tour of duty was to end — Battle and his family moved to Walter Reed Medical Center for additional treatment.
After a year of living in a room at Walter Reed’s Fisher House, one of 42 community homes for hospitalized veterans nationwide, the Battles are ready to move into their new four-bedroom house next year with their four children, ages 2, 14, 16 and 18.
“I am excited about receiving a home from Homes for Our Troops,” Lakeisa Battle, a store manager, said.
“We are desperately in need of one, and I can’t wait until we get it.”
John Gonsalves started Homes For Our Troops in 2003 after watching news about a soldier who lost his legs in a convoy attack in Iraq.
Gonsalves, who has a construction background, once built a handicap-accessible home for a couple with a daughter using a wheelchair.
Homes For Our Troops’ drew on its relationship with METALCON, the Metal Construction Association, to help with the Battles’ new house.
At its annual show this year at the Baltimore Convention Center, METALCON built a steel-framed structure — which is sturdy and energy efficient — specifically for the Battles.
Former Marines Spencer Padgett and Aaron Drummond, of Arrisbrook Builders, an Ellicott City-based construction company made up of Naval Academy and West Point graduates, volunteered to build the rest of the home.
“We’ve always looked for ways to give back to the people that are doing what we’re no longer able to do or not doing in terms of service,” Padgett, the company’s founder, said.
The single-level house will be built to accommodate Battle’s disability.
“The hallways, the doorways, all the counters, cabinets and so on in the house are designed so he will be able to maneuver his wheelchair around without any barriers,” Padgett said.
Drummond said they also are attaching a harness to the ceiling. It will be tracked to connect Battle’s bedroom, closet and bathroom so he can move without his wheelchair.
Homes For Our Troops, which is based in Taunton, Mass., has completed 33 houses and has 19 in progress in 24 states.
