2014 Defender of Freedom Award Recipient

Life, as Eddie Klein knew it, changed on October 22, 2012. That’s the day this U.S. Army Captain was patrolling with his men of the 2nd Infantry Division in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

 

Klein, who is known to his friends as “Flip” enlisted in the Army in 2000. As a Corporal, he had the rare honor of being selected from within the ranks to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. After graduating from one of our nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning, Eddie wanted to serve in the Army’s Special Forces and completed Ranger training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

 

In 2012, Klein deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. During that fateful patrol of October 22, Eddie encountered a roadside bomb that claimed both of his legs, his right arm, and three fingers on his left hand.

 

Eddie Klein was sent to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where, with the loving support of his wife Jessica, has endured more than 100 surgical procedures and countless sessions of painful therapy. In August 2014, after leaving the hospital, tragedy struck the Klein family again when their home caught fire and burned to the ground.

 

None of these adversities will keep Eddie down. He plans to compete in a triathlon and is going back to school to earn a Master’s Degree. His courage and determination to succeed have earned him our 2014 Defender of Freedom Award.

 

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