Bikers say 'thanks' to Marine
Motorcycle club donates $1,300 to aid in recovery from his injuries in Iraq
A Picatinny Arsenal worker's stepson, who suffered life-threatening shrapnel injuries to his head while serving as a Marine in Iraq, got a boost recently when he visited the Rockaway Township Army base.
The Tri-County Motorcycle Club presented a $1,300 donation on Aug. 2 to Sgt. Jacob Knospler of East Stroudsburg, Pa., Picatinny officials said in a statement released on Wednesday. The arsenal employs his stepfather, Jacob Wood.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/COMMUNITIES43/608270303
08/24/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
BY MATT MANOCHIO
DAILY RECORD
At the time of his injury on Nov. 12, 2004, Knospler was a corporal in Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Patty Wood, Knospler's mother, said her son had taken the lead while clearing a house in Fallujah, where an insurgent unleashed a grenade that exploded near him, ripping shrapnel through his face and across his body.
The shrapnel entered his face approximately one inch in front of and one inch below his left ear, she said. It passed though the bones of his face and exited through his right cheek, just above the corner of his mouth.
Wood said that as a result, all the bones in her son's face and jaw were broken or blown away, and he lost his upper palate, as well as all but three of his upper teeth.
Wood explained that either a piece of shrapnel or a piece of bone passed upward behind her son's right eye, striking the eyeball, rupturing the retina and lodging in the right frontal lobe of his brain.
In addition, Wood said Knospler had numerous shrapnel injuries on his legs and arms.
In all, he received loss of hearing in his left ear, loss of sight in his right eye, loss of upper palate and upper teeth, a collapsed lung, a right frontal lobotomy and seizure activity, Wood said.
Despite Knospler's injuries, Wood said he was able to walk to medical evacuation transportation and even joked to his buddy about not being "pretty" anymore.
However, his brain soon started to swell, and he required emergency brain surgery in Baghdad.
Medically evacuated
After the life-saving surgery, Knospler was medically evacuated to Germany and eventually was transported to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland to recover from his wounds.
Wood said it was at Bethesda, on Knospler's 23rd birthday, that he received the Purple Heart from President Bush.
Knospler was the focus of a March 20 Newsweek article that said the Marine travels to Bethesda once a month from his Pennsylvania home for continued treatment.
Before he was hit, Knospler had pulled an injured gunnery sergeant from the streets as snipers fired continuously at them, Picatinny officials said. Sgt. Ryan Shane received injuries to his legs and abdomen that made it impossible for him to move himself.
The motorcycle club found out about the injured Marine because Knospler's stepfather is a longtime friend of fellow Picatinny employee Walter Wurster, a member of the motorcycle club.
When Wurster told the motorcycle association of Knospler's condition, its members decided to do something to help the wounded Marine and his family.
'Basket of cheer'
To raise money to assist with expenses, Wurster said the association raffled off a "basket of cheer," which contained crackers and $300 worth of liquor. They raffled the basket for $1 per ticket and also accepted personal donations.
In all, they raised $1,300 to present to Knospler.
"We wish it was more, but we're just glad we could do something," said Tri-County Motorcycle Club President Bill Johnson.
Marine 1st Sgt. William Meisinger spoke at the ceremony, and Gerald Schreck, a Picatinny sergeant major, presented Knospler, Wurster, Johnson and Gordon Meyer, another member of the motorcycle club, with commander's coins.
About two dozen members of the motorcycle club, Marines from the 2/25 Marine Reserve Command, and Knospler's family, including his wife, Sheena, and daughter, Jahna, attended the ceremony.
'Thank you'
"I would just like to say thank you, to all who participated in the fundraiser and ceremony for Jake. This experience is just overwhelming," Patty Wood said at the ceremony, according to the press release from Picatinny.
"When people who don't know us give their time and monies so that Jake's life might be a little easier, 'Thank you' just isn't enough," she said. "I have the advantage; I know what Jacob did in Iraq. I know what an honorable Marine he is. I know the extent of losses suffered by his company, and I am eternally grateful that he is with us today."
She said, "He is my hero. For Tri-County and Picatinny to recognize and honor him, it reaffirms my faith in the American people. Thank you to all."
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