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Group builds disabled veteran a home in Murfreesboro




Liam Cronin, left, holds the microphone for Sgt. Bryan Camacho during a ceremony Dec. 1 to celebrate the ceremonial start of construction of Camacho’s home. Homes For Our Troops is building the disabled veteran a home in Murfreesboro.JASON M. REYNOLDS

Liam Cronin, left, holds the microphone for Sgt. Bryan Camacho during a ceremony Dec. 1 to celebrate the ceremonial start of construction of Camacho’s home. Homes For Our Troops is building the disabled veteran a home in Murfreesboro.JASON M. REYNOLDS

Disabled U.S. Army veteran Sgt. Bryan Camacho could have lived anywhere in the nation, but he said he chose Murfreesboro for the historic charm and the friendly people.

He has been living in Clarksville, he said, because it was his first duty station, but will be moving to Murfreesboro in 2019 after a custom home is built to accommodate his needs.

A non-profit organization, Homes For Our Troops, is building the house at no cost to Camacho. The charity held a ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 1 at Middle Tennessee State University to celebrate the groundbreaking of Camacho’s home.

Camacho said he first found Murfreesboro a couple years ago when visiting a friend who was filming an independent, short movie in a restaurant near the square.

“Driving down from Clarksville was incredibly beautiful,” Camacho said. “It was a Sunday, and the entire town was closed. I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing ever, I haven’t seen something like this, historic.’ It used to be something that happened a lot, the town closed on Sunday.”

“The few times I’ve been here and interacted with people, people down here are significantly friendlier,” said Camacho, a New Jersey native. “Once you cross the (Mason-Dixie) Line, it’s a whole other story. Tennessee’s been overall absolutely great.

His journey to Murfreesboro really began in Iraq in 2007.

On Dec. 21, 2007, Camacho, while serving as an infantryman with the 1-87 Infantry, 10th Mountain Division, was searching for an ammunition cache with his unit in Hawija, Iraq, when another patrol in a nearby village was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED), according to Homes For Our Troops. Camacho and his unit were responding when their vehicle ran over a secondary IED. The blast threw Camacho from the turret of the vehicle, breaking his back and paralyzing him from the waist down.

After returning to the United States, Camacho underwent intensive therapy for a year and a half and became independent in a manual wheelchair, HFOT said.

On Nov. 15, 2014, Camacho’s handicap-adapted truck spun on some ice and rolled into a ditch, HFOT said. He broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down, losing his independence. Liam Cronin, his friend since middle school, has served as his caretaker.

The home being built for Camacho will feature more than 40 major adaptations such as widened doorways for wheelchair access, a roll-in shower and kitchen amenities that include pull-down shelving and lowered countertops. The home will also alleviate the mobility and safety issues associated with a traditional home, including navigating a wheelchair through narrow hallways or over thresholds, or reaching for cabinets that are too high.

The house is under construction. No exact completion date for Camacho’s home is available, but building typically takes up to eight months, said Teresa Franco Verity, a spokeswoman for HFOT. Dan Morehouse of Hallmark Building Group is the contractor.

At the Dec. 1 ceremony, one of the speakers was Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Tom Landwermeyer, the HFOT president.

“Once we hand the keys off to our veterans and their families, to their new home, we don’t just drop them. We’ll stay in contact with them,” he said.

HFOT has built more than 270 homes since the organization’s founding in 2004. The organization relies on contributions from donors, supporters, and corporate partners for the building of each veteran’s home. The website is hfotusa.org.

Camacho, who will become one of HFOT’s 270-plus homeowners, told the audience, “Wow. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is kind of new, kind of weird for me. It just doesn’t seem like something I deserve. I feel there are better people out there, more deserving people out there.”

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