Legion helps make a veteran's wish come true

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Master Sgt. George Vera loves going to the beach, but doing so became a challenge after he was injured in combat in Afghanistan in August 2015.

A severe spinal cord injury left Vera in a wheelchair.

“I have big wheelchairs like this, which is good, but to get out in the woods or on the beach is always more difficult,” Vera said.

That will change with the track chair he received through Soldier’s Wish on Sunday night at the Tree Town Music Festival in Forest City, Iowa.

The American Legion is the official charity of the third annual country music festival, and for the third year, Legion representatives from the Departments of Iowa and Minnesota took to the stage to help present a wounded servicemember with a special chair.

Vera received a track chair donated by Rocket Mobility which will give him better access to his beloved beach.

“He’s currently in a rehab hospital from gunshot wounds he received in combat last August, and this is his first venture out from the hospital. It’s been a very steep learning curve for him and his family,” said Mark Ochsenbein, a Legionnaire and executive director of Soldier’s Wish. “Rocket Mobility is donating a track chair, an outdoor mobility chair, which will enable him to get outdoors and get in rough terrain. … It’s all about quality of life.”

Vera expressed his gratitude toward those who helped him and his family.

“It’s a different life now, but we have a lot of support from different organizations, from the VA," Vera said. "And we have another friend, he’s a (quadriplegic) named Romy Camargo. He was a chief warrant officer in Southern Special Forces Group where I was at, and his family and my family are very close because they’ve already experienced a lot of the stuff we’re experiencing for the first time. So they’re able to help us to get through some of the things."

“We couldn’t do this without The American Legion,” Ochsenbein said.

The chair presentation took place on the festival’s main stage before headliner Tim McGraw’s performance.

Other performers at the four-day festival included Sam Hunt, Miranda Lambert and Jake Owen. Jason Aldean is scheduled to headline next year’s Tree Town Music Festival.