Amherst Regional graduate injured in Afghanistan

By Larry Parnass
Staff Writer

Published on July 17, 2009

A Marine sergeant and former Amherst Regional High School graduate injured in an explosion in Afghanistan required 13 hours of surgery at a German hospital Monday to repair damage to his spine and nervous system.

As he recovers, Joshua J. Bouchard, 26, now of Granby, is now close to family - after his parents and stepmother flew there Sunday from New York City.

Together, they await more information on the extent of his injuries - and in particular, whether he will be able to walk.

Bouchard suffered a devastating injury to his lower back when an improvised explosive device went off near his position at the head of a convoy in southern Afghanistan.

Members of his family arrived Monday at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in time to see Joshua as he came out of surgery, according to the Marine's sister, Irene Bouchard, of Amherst.

"There were some subtle things that made it optimistic for him," she said, referring to movement in her brother's right leg. "They said he's doing as well as can be expected for the injuries he sustained."

Bouchard lost his left leg below the knee, broke his right arm and received shrapnel in his right leg and left arm, Irene Bouchard said.

The attack July 8 killed two Marines with Bouchard's unit, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, and injured three, including Bouchard.

Bouchard had undergone surgery last Friday as well.

The explosion shattered Bouchard's L3 and L4 vertebrae, his sister said. In surgery, doctors at the military hospital installed "cages" - small, metal devices - to replace damaged areas in his spine and to stabilize his lower back. An injury to his right calf was also addressed.

The amputation is below Bouchard's left knee, she said, and his kneecap appears to be in good enough shape to allow him to walk with a prosthetic leg, providing his lower-back injury and resulting nerve damage allows for that motion.

James Bouchard of Granby, Joshua's father, said before flying to Germany that he had hoped to be reunited with his son in Washington, D.C., as early as Sunday.

But the family was told Bouchard's condition after surgery Friday did not yet allow for him to be sent for care in the U.S.

"They wanted us to head out to Germany within the hour," James Bouchard said Sunday. "His condition is worse. They asked us to come up there."

The government is paying the international travel costs for Bouchard, his wife Sue and his ex-wife, Mary Hafford of Harwinton, Conn., Joshua's mother.

Members of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 92 plan to tap a fund account in order to help the Bouchard and Hafford families meet international travel expenses.

Paul Lavallee, of Springfield, a member of the DAV chapter, said Monday the group may work to raise money for Joshua himself. "There's going to be a lot of mental as well as physical agony. He's in for a long haul. He's going to have a lot of support - which he's going to need."

Bouchard was visited at the German hospital by Marines who had also been on the Afghanistan to Europe flight, his sister reports. Staff at the hospital said Joshua Bouchard was cheered by the visit and could be heard laughing with his fellow Marines.

When his family arrived Monday, they gathered with him for a prayer, Irene Bouchard said; he was able to squeeze his parents' hands.

When Bouchard is well enough to travel, he is expected to be transferred to the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in the Washington, D.C., area.

James Bouchard said that initially, the government agreed to pay only for his son's birth parents to make the trip to Germany. But a call to Camp Lejeune, the Marine base in North Carolina, quickly resulted in permission to have the Marine's stepmother, Sue Bouchard, travel as well.

Bouchard grew up in Bristol, Conn., and moved with his family to Amherst in 1993. He attended the Wildwood Elementary School and went on to graduate from Amherst Regional in 2001. He spent a brief time at Greenfield Community College before pursuing a career in the military. He went to boot camp at Parris Island in South Carolina and then spent two years training on Okinawa in Japan.

He has served with the Marines since 2004 and was on his seventh deployment when injured. Bouchard, whose specialty is vehicle maintenance, was sent to Iraq twice.

Roughly 4,000 U.S. Marines are taking part in a drive into Helmand Province in Afghanistan.