Monday, May 5, 2008
Army Sergeant Matt Lammers, an Iraq War veteran from Olathe who lost three of his four limbs in Iraq last June, accepted an award on behalf of Bob Dole Friday night at the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics.
The department of special education named the award after Dole for his lifetime work for people with disabilities as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
CONTRIBUTED
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said, “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate special education than we have been able to do it tonight.”
Dole, who could not be there because of scheduling conflicts, personally requested that Lammers accept the award for him.
“I am just another soldier,” Lammers said. “I am not greater or better than anyone else.”
It has not even been a year since Lammers lost both of his legs and his right arm in an explosion, and he is already standing, walking and joking about how his new arm can rotate 360 degrees.
“I picked my arm up off the ground,” Lammers said, remembering the day of the explosion, “and I was more worried that I had messed up my tattoo than anything else. I paid $100 for that thing.”
Gary Lammers, Matt’s father, said that he never knew where Matt’s life would take him next.
“Matt has always wanted to be of service in a large way,” Gary said, “and while we would have chosen different ways, we have still been supportive of that.”
“I always joked about getting blown up,” Lammers said. “I guess you should be careful what you joke about.”
The KU department of special education is number one in the United States according to a US News and World report. Chriss Walther-Thomas, department chair, said the need for people in special education was high, but the school was making strides on a national level to benefit people with disabilities.
She said that after 50 years, it was a good time to stop and reflect on all the work they had done.
“Each person here represents thousands of people that we could have invited who have been touched by special education at KU.”
Walthers-Thomas said that Dole was a fabulous role model for the department on its 50th anniversary and Lammers was the perfect person to accept the award.
Lammers said Dole befriended him. He said Dole and his wife, Elizabeth, picked deserving war veterans to help instead of giving each other birthday and anniversary gifts. He said they found him when he was at the hospital.
Lammers said the worst part of the whole thing was at the hospital.
“I hate making women cry,” Lammers said, “and when I got back, one of the nurses told me that I made them all cry.”
But the hospital wasn’t all bad.
“When I woke up, I had all these beautiful women around me,” Lammers said. “I thought I must be in heaven.”
Lammers never remembered losing consciousness during the aftermath of the explosion, and he even recalled telling another soldier he was sorry for getting his uniform bloody.
“But he said it was OK,” Lammers said.
Lammers has two daughters who look up to him.
“I love them to death, and I just want to get better so I can take them to the playground and do all the things a good daddy is supposed to.”
The department of special education will name the Dole award annually to a deserving Kansan who has helped advance the field of special education.
— Edited by Daniel Reyes
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