I liked Luis Rosa-Valentin's T-shirt. :-) Nice to see such a fun sense of humor on someone who lost three limbs and hearing in one ear in the Iraq War. I predict great things ahead for someone with his spirit. The Annapolis, Md., Capital wrote a story about Rosa-Valentin's talk at his former high school and a slide show is available on its Web site. Here's the intro to the story:
At first, it is easy to see what war has taken from Sgt. Luis Rosa-Valentin.
Both of his legs and his left arm are gone. The 25-year-old soldier needs a hearing aid for his left ear, and a cochlear implant soon will be placed in his right. He has no sense of smell.
Luis' right arm, his only remaining limb, also is a symbol of loss. A tattoo of the memorial soldiers make for their fallen comrades - an arrangement of the dead's empty boots, helmet and rifle - adorns the inside of his forearm, set against the American flag. It stands as a reminder of his closest buddy in the Army, Staff Sgt. Steve Butcher, Jr., who was killed in Iraq before Luis' second tour.
But when Luis was wheeled into the gym at Meade High School yesterday for a charity event, it quickly became clear to those gathered what the Baghdad bomb that took his limbs could never sever.
The school is where many of Luis' closest relationships started. It is where he met his best friend, Joshua Hubbell, who has maintained a constant vigil during the recovery. It's also where he met America Rosa-Valentin, the mother his 4-year-old daughter, Milinda Rosa. America now is expecting their second child.
Yesterday's trip to his alma mater was for a kendo tournament, which Joshua helped organize, and it gathered clubs of the Japanese fencing sport for donations to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that assists injured veterans.
Luis, still an active duty soldier, was the honored guest.
