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Marine, paralyzed by sniper, returns home

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hundreds of people turned out for an emotional gathering to welcome home a former Marine paralyzed by a sniper’s bullet in Iraq.

A gurney was used Tuesday in a hangar at Gerald R. Ford International Airport to wheel Joshua Hoffman, 26, through a sea of U.S. flags and cheering well-wishers. They included dozens of Marines in dress blues from his home unit, Grand Rapids-based Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment.

“To me, it meant the world, everyone showing up here,” his brother, Jacob Hoffman, 24, of Wayland, told The Grand Rapids Press. “All these people came to support my brother. To me, it means they care. To me, it’s bigger than any gift you can give.”

It was a bittersweet homecoming for Joshua Hoffman, who was paralyzed from his chest down after being shot on Jan. 6, 2007. He had been in a Veterans Administration hospital in Virginia since February of last year, and was a corporal when he received a medical discharge from the Marines in September.

Hoffman, who grew up in the Wayland area, joined the Marine Reserve in 2002 hoping to earn money for college. He was sent with the company to Iraq’s Anbar province in October 2006, then was transferred to the battalion’s Ohio-based Weapons Company for duty in Fallujah.

He was shot as he pursued an insurgent through a Fallujah alley. The bullet entered his neck and exited his shoulder blade, shattering his upper spine.

Joshua Hoffman’s fiancé, Heather Lovell, 21, who sat by his side at the VA hospital nearly every day for a year, said it was a relief returning to their Kentwood apartment. She and his mother, Hazel Hoffman, of Reed City, lived near the hospital while he recovered.

Her fiancé will receive 24-hour nursing care for now. Hoffman faces months, perhaps years, of physical rehabilitation and therapy as he strives to regain movement in his upper body and redevelop his language skills.

Their wedding plans are on hold while they wait for their lives to stabilize, Lovell said.

“No matter what happens, we’re home,” she said.