Veteran Moves Home; Needs Help

Kendra Coleman, known as Kendra Pieper when she attended Jasper County High School, has come back home to Jasper County and is building a house on the very spot where she was raised.

Ms. Coleman joined the Army on July 25, 2007, after graduating from high school in Henry County, because she wanted to fight in the war on terrorism.

She lost a leg during an insurgent attack while serving with the U.S. Army 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan. On May 11, 2010, she was clearing a village, when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded, taking her leg.

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“I knew I was hit,” she said. “I reached down to my left leg pocket to grab my tourniquet. My pocket wasn’t there, just the remaining pieces of what was my left leg,” she says of that day. She now wears a prosthetic leg.

Ms. Coleman decided to move back to Jasper County, and after doing her part to fight terrorism, she is asking for some help from her fellow Americans, and, more specifically her neighbors here at home.

“I came back because I feel comfortable here and I have a good support group here. So I bought the house that was here, which was a trailer at the time. We removed the trailer and now we are building a house that will be handicap accessible, except for the stairs going up to the loft because going up or down stairs is good physical therapy. I am staying with relatives presently, but I hope to be moved in by a month or so.

“What I really need help with is the landscaping of my yard by paving it and building sidewalks to make it handicap accessible. I also need kitchen appliances. I need a stove, a refrigerator, an oven and a microwave. And I would like to say thanks to everyone for their support since I was injured.”

Anyone who has appliances to donate, or perhaps sell for a low price is asked to contact Ms. Coleman. Also, anyone wanting to help in the landscaping will be put to work, she said. The house is located on Jackson Lake in Jasper County.

Besides helping to build her house, Ms. Coleman is studying Prosthetics at Georgia Tech, and working as a contractor.

She plans to earn a masters in prosthetics and worth with other wounded warrirors. She hopes to motivate others to never give up, saying, “Don’t let the enemy determine your future—improvise and overcome.”

The best way to contact Ms. Coleman is via her email: kendracoleman@entouch.net, or by phone at 210-238-0619.