A hero is welcomed home

Valley Life editor

Solstice in Alaska is always a special time -- and it could be the perfect time for the homecoming of Sgt. Tyler Hall, a 1999 Wasilla High School graduate who was wounded in Iraq.

Hall, back in the Valley this week for the Salute to the Military, said he is hoping to come home for good around the middle of June. He has to go back to Washington, D.C., for more physical therapy after he had his leg amputated following an explosion in Iraq.

"Everything is going good, right on schedule," he said of the lengthy rehabilitation work he has already completed. "I still have pains, but I'm feeling better. The schedule is to come home for good in early July, but I'm hoping to spend summer solstice up here. I'm hoping I can be done by mid-June."

Hall was injured on Aug. 22, 2003 when he was traveling with five others in the 4th Infantry Division's 555th Engineer Group, 14th Engineering Battalion. The six were traveling north of Tikrit, when a small homemade bomb detonated underneath the vehicle.

Hall suffered a broken back, major head trauma, a punctured lung, a broken arm, fractures in his face and burns on his face and hands. His lower left leg was broken in more than 100 places, and at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C., it was amputated.

"Everything is still kind of surreal," Hall said Tuesday night. "And still kind of amazing."

Everywhere Hall travels, he is met with a hero's welcome. Tuesday night at the U.S. Army Field Band and Soldiers Chorus concert, he was honored and led the band in "Stars and Stripes Forever." He said the support he has received from the community has been overwhelming.

"It makes me proud to see all of this," he said, talking under an enormous banner that hung from the rafters of the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex that read "Welcome home Sgt. Tyler Hall." "I know it sounds weird, but I fell like I'm really lucky. First, I lived through that, and now all of the support makes me fell like a lucky guy. It shows that I live in the greatest place in the world."

Hall's trip to the Valley was short -- 10 days, and he is headed back to Walter Reed Hospital tomorrow. Still, he's got the summer to look forward to -- a summer hopefully spent with friends and family in his hometown, rather than a hospital.

"I know I can make it back for solstice," he said with a smile.

Considering what he has already accomplished, nobody is betting against it.