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Army 2nd Lt.
Matthew Homa ’02 |
UPDATE: Matt Homa returned to his hometown on December 8,
2003.
Select for the full report from PittsburghLive.com.
Army 2nd Lt.
Matthew Homa ’02 is recovering well from serious injuries he
sustained while on duty in Iraq.
While Homa’s
platoon was on patrol, the armored Humvee he rode in was struck by an
improvised explosive device (IED). His mother, Lou Ann Homa, wrote a
description of what followed:
“Matt blacked out
from the initial blast. He came to almost immediately, grabbed the
radio mike, and did a quick survey of his men to see if anyone was
hurt. He then noticed his sergeant was injured and called for a medic.
It was right after that he realized that he was also injured. He
called for the medic saying he was hit. The medic ran to Matt’s
vehicle and jumped in just as Matt’s lung collapsed. The medic began
to administer first aid, and they immediately got him to the base and
called in the medevac helicopter. He stayed awake the entire time, as
the medic would not allow him to pass out.
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“He was air lifted to
Al-Fallujah within fifteen minutes. We were notified less than two
hours after his injuries that he was hurt and that he wasn’t expected
to live more than 72 hours. They stabilized him and then transferred
him to Landstuhl in Germany, where he received additional surgery. He
was then sent to SICU at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Saturday,
October 18. He arrived with a ventilator, four chest tubes, and
several other lifesaving devices. He was strong and fought the
sedatives to stay awake and to stay in touch with [his wife] Jen, his
Dad, and me. He was breathing so well on his own that they removed him
from the ventilator the next day and he started talking right away. He
was moved to intermediate care on October 21, and he also met the vice
president that day. He spent six days in ICU before being transferred
to the cardiac step down unit, where his progress continued. On
November 1 he received the sad news that his best friend, 2nd Lt. Todd
Bryant, was killed by an IED near where he was injured.”
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Homa with his nurse and
mom, followed by his dad and uncle |
 Major
Paul Allmon, assistant professor of military science at IUP, visited Homa
in mid-November and reported that he is doing much better. He wrote: “He
is recovering well and is up and walking around. He was moved up to the
physical therapy ward on November 16. They did some cosmetic surgery on
him to close up some open wounds he had (skin grafts). He is not hooked up
to any machines but still has some tubes in his body that are capped
off. The funeral for his friend and fellow platoon leader, Lieutenant
Bryant, is at Arlington National Cemetery this week. They are going to
transport Matt there for the service and then back to the hospital.”
Homa took shrapnel in
the vicinity of his right arm pit which traveled through both lungs and
out the upper left chest, missing his other vital organs but blowing away
part of his sternum. He has shrapnel burns on his right shoulder and left
leg, and a ten-inch laceration on his right upper thigh (entrance wound of
another piece of shrapnel which exited out of the inside of his right
leg). He has a broken right thumb and limited use of his right hand,
although he has regained a lot of movement in his right arm. He had two
skin grafts, one on his left thigh and the other on his left chest. After
the blast, he was checking on the status of his troops and did not realize
immediately that he was injured. The medic on site was treating his
injuries within thirty seconds, which proved to be the key in saving his
life. Homa was evacuated to Baghdad International for surgery, which used
thirty-six pints of blood, before being flown to Germany.
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Homa was presented with
a helmet
signed by the IUP football team. |
Homa was stationed
in Fort Riley, Kan., before being deployed in Iraq as a tank platoon
leader with the
1-34 Armor Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, in early September.
Originally scheduled to return home in the fall of 2004, he was
medically retired from the Army at 0730 Baghdad time on the date of
his injury.
In the beginning of
December, Homa was moved
to the Malogne House located next to the hospital, and then returned to the Pittsburgh area.
Homa’s injuries
caused his family’s financial situation to change dramatically.
Donations are appreciated and can be sent to: 2LT Matthew Homa, Care
of IUP Army ROTC, Pierce Hall, 1140 Maple Street, Indiana, PA 15705. |
(Photos courtesy of Major Paul Allmon
November, 2003)
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