Tailshot Road in Naperville was overtaken by a sea of blue Wednesday morning as dozens of people in Pulte Homes jackets filled the sidewalk, joined by marching flag bearers and honking vehicles.
A golf cart pulled up to a two-story house dotted with balloons and American flags and a man stepped out, overtaken by tears and excitement.
Retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Tomee Phetsisouk, an Elgin native now living in St. Charles, was seeing for the first time the newly-built house that would be his new home.
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Nonprofit Building Homes for Heroes worked with residential builder PulteGroup to construct the mortgage-free residence presented to Phetsisouk and his family. It is the 102nd home built for a veteran by PulteGroup’s Built to Honor program, which partners with Building Homes to provide new houses to people injured while serving in the military.
Phetsisouk, 49, a nine-year Army veteran, signed up after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. On his second deployment to Iraq, he was badly injured when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb, causing severe head trauma, extensive shrapnel wounds and back and neck injuries. His service resulted in PTSD, traumatic brain injury, tinnitus and severe hearing loss. He was forced to medically retire in 2012.
Among his numerous service awards were the Army Commendation Medal, Valorous Unit Award and Combat Infantry Badge.
“I’m not even supposed to be here,” Phetsisouk tearfully told the crowd gathered Wednesday at his new home. “I want to thank God for giving me a second chance.”
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The road leading to the four-bedroom, three-bath house that will be home to Phetsisouk, his two daughters and his 73-year-old mother began when friends Ryan Shannon, also a Building Homes for Heroes house recipient, and Mike Mastrangeli told Phetsisouk that Shannon had nominated him for the same honor.
“One day I woke up to a text from both of them,” he said. “‘Hey, you got hurt in Iraq, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Why’d they both ask me the same question?’ … Come to find out, Mike calls me. He’s like, ‘Hey, this is Mike.’ And then I hear Ryan in the background.”
His two friends knew each other and immediately thought of Phetsisouk as someone deserving of the opportunity. Phetsisouk threw his hat in the ring not learning until May, when he was called in for an “interview,” that he’d been selected.
“He was under the impression that we were going in for an interview with the builder … it’s our organization’s role to present candidates to the builders,” said Tracy White, project manager at Building Homes for Heroes. “But in reality, they had already chosen him.”
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Construction on the house began in May so Phetsisouk was part of the process from the beginning.
“It was really a remarkable scene to be able to share with him that not only was he getting the house but have him participate in the ground-breaking ceremony as well,” said Andy Stern, president of PulteGroup’s Illinois division.
Phesistouk also got to see the home as it was being completed.
“We had an event called notes of love, which is where all our employees went in the home and wrote messages on the studs and the plywood of the home, expressing their thanks, appreciation,” Stern said. “I wrote, ‘These walls and your family make a home. Welcome home into the Pulte family.’”
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Nearly four months after breaking ground, the home was complete and the inside fully decorated with Phetsisouk and his family in mind.
“I’m in shock. I was expecting an empty house. They went above and beyond,” he said. “It means everything to me. Like four months ago, my life changed, this all changed. This is a new start for the girls (and) me.”
Some of the special touches include two cat trees for his daughter Taya’s five cats, a movie theater room with posters for “Star Wars” and “Black Hawk Down” (the latter of which Phesistouk says he can quote verbatim) and a sign that says, “You carried the weight of a nation — now let this home carry you.”
That first walk through the home was filled with screams and dropped jaws.
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“This is my room?” Phesistouk exclaimed the moment he saw it, plopping down on the bed and sinking into the mattress.
His daughters, 18-year-old Taya and 14-year-old Teagan, were just as excited — squealing as they turned each corner in the new home.
Their rooms — pink for Taya, blue for Teagan — were filled with gifts and decor to match their personalities.
“When I first saw my room, I was touched because it was like (the team) actually wanted to know me,” Taya said. “I’m really excited to see how my cats react to this house because of the cat trees and everything. I already picture them running around.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com
[SRC] https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/elgin-native-badly-injured-iraq-035600292.html
