The 2016 Walk of Honor Warrior Award recipient is Marine Corporal Roger Rua.  Presentation of the Warrior Award and the Essay Awards will take place at the Walk of Honor on Sunday at the Danbury War Memorial at Noon.  A one-mile walk will follow the ceremony.

Cpl Rua was serving in Afghanistan with the Security Platoon attached to the 9th Engineer Support Battalion, when the vehicle he was riding in drove over a command detonated improvised explosive device. Cpl Rua sustained fractures to his spine, femur, and sternum and suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the explosion.  Although he was initially paralyzed from the chest down, miraculously through determination and physical therapy, Cpl Rua is now able to walk with the use of a cane.

He is currently on a wait list for a home from Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that builds mortgage free, specially adapted homes for severely injured veterans.

This year an essay contest entitled “What a Veteran means to me” was added to the event. The Participants were 4th and 5th graders from King Street Intermediate School with heart-warming results. Medals will be awarded to the top essay in each grade.

Event founder Mary Teicholz says many heroes walk among us, whose dedication to people they have never met is awe inspiring.  She says Roger Rua is one of those heroes.  Teicholz added that his story is inspirational.