ABOVE: Local TV station KTVT was on hand to see Sgt. Dotson get the keys to his new home
TORONTO – A former U.S. Army medic who gave so much in service to his country, was himself given an amazing gift.
Volunteers with the Texas Sentinels Foundation joined with local residents to present Sgt. Greg Dawson with a brand new, mortgage-free home for him and his six daughters on Wednesday.
“It has been a crazy journey,” Dotson told the gathered crowd. “I was really reluctant, at first. I turned down a past house because I just couldn’t save everybody. So I didn’t think I deserved this.”
According to 12 News in Beaumont, Texas, volunteers donated all the materials to build the new Dotson family home on Slide Road in Forth Worth.
Wood floors, furniture, landscaping, even new bunk beds for Dotson’s children – all were donated to the former Army medic.
During his 10-year career as a U.S. Army medic, Dotson served two tours in Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division stationed at Fort Hood. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and many other decorations.
According to his commanding officer, Dotson is credited with saving over 160 lives during his two tours.
But it came with a terrible cost: in 2007, Dotson was a victim of an IED attack while serving with his division in Diyala Province, Iraq. The resulting explosion cost him his left leg, part of his right, and peppered him with shrapnel in his face, head and body.
He has had over 30 surgeries since suffering his injury and still suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Yet according to a story shared by Dotson’s mother, on the day doctors were amputating her son’s leg, Dotson was wracked with guilt – three members of his unit were killed on the same day and he regretted that he couldn’t be there to help them.
When the Texas Sentinels Foundation, a local charity dedicated to building homes for wounded service personnel, was looking into Dotson’s record, they say they were amazed at the number of soldiers who spoke highly, even reverently, of the former medic.
“They said, ‘Hey, that’s Doc you’re talking about,'” Texas Sentinels Foundation spokesperson Susie Barlow said. “‘You know what great things Doc has done? He saved my buddy. He saved my friend. He saved my platoon sergeant.'”
When it came time to accept his new home, Dotson choked up. He said he was accepting the home not for himself, but for his six kids.
“It’s more for them than it is me,” Dotson said. “So I just want to thank everybody. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.”
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