Sgt Michael Fry

Salem, OR

Home Award Program Recipient

Army Sergeant 13 was born in Montgomery, Al. After serving in the Navy from June 1994 through May 1998, Michael still longed for more adventure, and in September of 2003, he joined the Army.

In 2008, SGT Fry deployed to Iraq with Charlie Company, 14th Engineers, serving as a heavy equiptment operator.

On March 9, 2009, after returning to base from a convoy, Sergeant Fry and his team were preparing to fill a bucket loader when the vehicle’s gas pedal malfunctioned, causing it to stick. The operator’s efforts at applying the brakes to stop the vehicle were unsuccessful, and Sergeant Fry fell behind the loader. The operator then proceeded to backup, crushing Sergeant Fry’s left foot between the bucket loader and a metal plate on another vehicle.

Following the accident, Sergeant Fry was taken to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Adder Medical Center where he was medically evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for the first of his 12 surgical procedures. He was then transported to Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington where he spent three months undergoing a dozen surgeries and recovering from his injury. Later in 2011, doctors amputated his left foot.

In 2009, Michael, who had four children from a previous marriage, met Tracy Golden, and the two married on July 4, 2010, combining the couple’s nine children into one family. Michael and Tracy also have two sons and a daughter together. In November 2012, while attending a Veterans Day dinner at a Texas Road House restaurant, Michael learned about a possible home ownership opportunity for him through Homes For Our Troops and its Home Award Program.