When Rowdy Freeman and his family from McLoud were invited last week up to the House of Representatives in Oklahoma City, they figured it was maybe to honor him as their Veteran of the Week.
Freeman spent 11 years in the Marines and suffered a serious injury while serving in Afghanistan.
Little did they know lawmakers had something much bigger than just Veteran of the Week honors.
Much to their surprise, Rowdy and his family were informed they are getting a new house.
“We didn’t know anything about the house presentation until it happened,” Rowdy exclaimed. “We knew about the Veteran of the Week program the House does each week. But they didn’t let on about the house at all.
“I was Veteran of the Week and we are getting a house on top of that,” he said.
The house was built for and gifted to them by the Military Warriors Support Foundation, a nonprofit that provides programs designed to facilitate a smooth and successful transition into civilian life for combat-wounded veterans and Gold Star families.
State Rep. Kevin McDugle, R-Broken Arrow and State Rep. Rusty Cornwell, R-Vinita, were the two legislators who surprised Freeman.
McDugle is also a Marine and served in combat in Somalia and Saudia Arabia, according to the House Media staff.
McDugle said of Rowdy, “Staff Sgt. Freeman exemplifies what it means to be an American patriot. He served his country bravely and this presentation is one small way we can thank him for his service.”
Rowdy said, “I don’t know how they chose us. They specialize in combat-wounded veterans and the Gold Star spouses and families,” he explained, referring to the Military Warriors Support Foundation.
He acknowledged he’d gone through an application process, noting, “They’ll let you know they have everything they need.”
Rowdy stressed, however, “There was no indication to us at all before the presentation.”
He related, “This is extremely special what they did for us.”
Rowdy suffered his injury on Dec. 26, 2010. “I was wounded. That’s the date on my Purple Heart certificate,” he stated.
“Our light armored vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED). In addition to me in the truck were my driver, my gunner, my vehicle commander, two of my Scouts and one of our interpreters,” Rowdy vividly recalls.
“Everyone was rattled,” he said. His gunner was also injured.
“My gunner and I were taken by a ground macvac to a control base first and they flew me to Camp Leatherneck, a large base in Afghanistan.
“They treated me there 40-50 days. I was able to rehab there and rejoined my unit about two months later.”
Rowdy added, “I was presented my Purple Heart after joining my unit. I was in Afghanistan about another 2 ½ months.”
He mentioned that during his service in Afghanistan, he was single. “I was a bachelor and a guy in our unit who I had gotten to know pretty well, he and I were injured two days apart. We pretty much had identical injuries,” Rowdy said.
That guy is now his brother-in-law. Rowdy explained that he came home about two weeks before his unit because his mother, who lived in Shawnee, passed away.
He said, “After we got back from deployment, my now brother-in-law, who was married at the time, invited me over for a barbecue. They were living in the 29 Palms, Calif., area.”
Rowdy said the guy’s wife had an identical twin sister who was at the barbecue. “She was a single mother of three kids and I was a bachelor,” he noted.
She (Glory) was living in Phoenix, Ariz. They had met in 29 Palms, but they got married in Phoenix.
“We moved back to this area in 2016. That was when I was honorably discharged,” Rowdy stated.
He grew up in the Bethel area and that’s where he graduated from high school. He, Glory and four of their five children, Tatum 14, Cheyenne 10, Audrey 8, and Korbin 5 reside in the McLoud area. Their oldest son, Chase, 17, lives in Phoenix with his father, Rowdy said.
Rowdy points out their new home, that is almost finished, is 3,600 square feet, has five bedrooms and three bathrooms.
“That’s almost three times the size of what we are living in,” he said.