Wrentham Police Officers Bring Holiday Cheer to Wounded Vets at Walter Reed

As Wrentham residents were rushing to finishing their Christmas shopping in the days before the 25th, a group of Wrentham police officers were giving their own gifts to disabled veterans at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C.

After hearing about the trip set up by the Massachusetts Coalition of Police though a friend, Sergeant James Barrett of the Wrentham Police Department was willing to do more than make a donation that he was asked to give and wanted to know if he could join the trip himself.

“I asked if there was a way if I could actually go with them on the trip and she (Barrett's friend) secured a seat for me and a couple of other officers who asked if they could also go,” Barrett said.

Going to the medial center with Detective Barry McGrath and Lt. George Labonte, the Wrentham officers made the nine hour train ride to Washington D.C. along with 20 officers from other towns in Massachusetts to give gifts to the disabled veterans receiving treatment.

For Barrett, a Gulf War veteran, the trip was a chance to give back to those who sacrificed and help a group of soldiers who could use cheering after experiencing life altering injuries such as limb amputation.

Arriving with five to six tables worth of Boston sports merchandise and police memorabilia, the officers encouraged the veterans to take anything and everything they wanted for themselves and their family members.

Discussing the day on the Wrentham Police Association’s website, Barrett recalled one person with clear injuries to his head who wanted a teddy bear for his three children. Despite encouragement from Barrett to take two more, the veteran was hesitant to take more in case someone else wanted the other bears. The veteran only took the other two bears after being told that they had plenty in the back, despite the fact that there were not really more.

"He said before he left, 'Thank you so much for all of this,' and smiled. He started to walk away from the tables without taking anything for himself despite my urging him to take something. ‘I’m all set! Thank you,’ he said smiling, holding the plastic bag with the three bears inside like it was a trophy,” Barrett recalled.

When it was over, Barrett and the other officers were thanked countless times by the veterans for their time and their gifts.

“It was just an incredibly humbling experience,” Barrett said. “It was unbelievable because they were full of thank you's and thank you's for coming down and I’m thinking to myself, these are guys who have no arms or no legs or no arms and no legs and just the spirit these guys have and to say thank you to us, it’s humbling.”

To read Sergeant Barrett's account of his trip to Waler Reed Medical Center, click here.