Volunteers Build Homes for Wounded Vets

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Stan Roberts, who lost a leg during a tour of duty in Iraq, received a new home a week ago Thursday morning.

The newly built three-bedroom, two-bath home in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., in the greater Raleigh area was a gift from Operation: Coming Home, a team of veterans, homebuilders and other volunteers who are dedicated to providing free housing in the Raleigh/Durham area to severely wounded veterans of recent Middle East wars. (For another look at organizations building homes for vets, visit our sister site Politics Daily's story about the Massachusetts-based group, Homes for Our Troops.)

The home allowed the 29-year-old and his wife, Crissy, 30, to move their four children out of a rental community with mostly retirees and into a neighborhood with lots of other children. It also places them a short commute to the colleges they are both attending. Roberts is pursuing an IT degree and his wife is studying for an education degree.

But the home solves some other issues for Roberts beyond community and his commute. It was built to accommodate his disability and injuries from a blast that resulted in the loss of his right leg, damage to his right arm and traumatic brain injury.