Vet who gave so much gets home

But he isn’t complaining. This Christmas will be a lot merrier for the 33-year-old, his wife, Tracy, 27, and their five children.

A year ago he was lying in a hospital bed in Hawaii recovering from a broken back suffered that October while on patrol with the Afghan military police he was training in Afghanistan. He fell through the roof on an adobe building he had climbed to get a better look over the area. There still is pain when he tries to lift his arms over his head.

Earlier, during one of his two tours in Iraq, he was hit by shrapnel in his legs and side. He returned to combat the next day.

“We are blessed,” said Pendergrass, standing near the Christmas tree in the living room while one of their twins crawled on the rug. “I am grateful for my wife and children and everything that has been done for us.”

He was referring to a home in the upscale Spanish Springs neighborhood that was fixed up and donated to him and his family to honor his service to the nation and his personal sacrifices.

“Thank God for this home,” he said . “I would not be who I am or what I am without the Army. I am grateful for the Army. I believe God has a path for all of us and ultimately we end up where he wants us to be.”

LOVES CHILDREN AND TATTOOS

The heavily muscled Pendergrass weighs 260 and has many tattoos, including those that honor his children – Peyton, 6, Hayley, 4, Ethan, 3, Kyli and James Jr., both 10 months – and important events in his life. One marks the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The attacks directly led to his three years of serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I joined the Army to see the world and saw it,” he said. “They don’t tell you it is not Switzerland but only the bad parts of the world you see.”

That last sentence is a joke, added Pendergrass, who laughs and jokes a lot despite his obvious pain.

He and Tracy are proud they both served their country. He has learned to walk normally but faces more months of physical rehabilitation once he leaves the Army in a few months.

He was surfing through the Internet in August when he discovered the Military Warriors Support Group and its Homes for Heroes program. Free homes were being given to worthy service members.

Much of the application work was done by Tracy, who served seven years in the Army and met James when both were working as military police officers in South Korea.

At the time they discovered the program, Pendergrass was undergoing 11 weeks of hospital treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. Earlier he went through nine months of rehabilitation work for spinal injuries and a broken back.

SUPPORT GROUP HELPS HEROES

In September, the Military Warriors Support Group posted a picture on its website of a home available for a deserving family in Spanish Springs, about 50 miles north of Douglas County where Pendergrass grew up.

They put their names in. Eventually they were told to show up at the home on Oct. 29 to get their keys.

“It was just amazing,” he said. “We were in awe. It was like winning the lottery. I cried.”

It is a fine home in a nice neighborhood with immaculate lawns, good schools and parks. Pendergrass figures that the home sold for more than $500,000 before the recession and still has a value of $320,000.

Founded in 2007, the San Antonio-based Military Warriors Support Group has donated 254 homes to needy service members. Eleven of the donated homes are in Nevada.

The organization was founded in 2007 by retired Lt. Gen. Leroy Sisco, a 42-year member of the Army.

“He saw the need for current injured soldiers, airmen and Marines,” said Andrea Dellinger, a veteran who serves as program director. “He wanted to help them in their transition to civilian life.”

Four banks – Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and GMAC – have donated the foreclosed homes to the support group. Before the homes are donated, the banks make necessary repairs so they are in solid shape for their new families.

The heroes also receive three years of financial guidance from the Military Warriors organization before they receive the actual deed to their homes.

In the past, Pendergrass said, heroes were given the deeds at the beginning, but some had little knowledge of finances and would mortgage their homes and then never have money to pay off the loan.

Both he and his wife said they appreciate the financial guidance .

“We are not in a bad financial situation where we have to get a mortgage and we want to remain that way. It is not an intrusion. We appreciate the mentoring,” he said.

Dellinger said her organization tries to find homes for the service members in areas where they have plenty of family support.

Pendergrass’ mother, Diane, lives in Fallon. His stepfather, Mark Gradillas, is the principal of Smith Valley High School in Lyon County. Many of his friends still live in Minden and Gardnerville.

FOOTBALL AND MUSIC

A member of the Douglas High School class of 1998, Pendergrass won all-conference honors as a 180-pound defensive end and offensive guard. He also was a member of the marching band and the school’s major singing group. He won a singing scholarship to the University of Nevada, Reno, but left after one semester.

“The music program was too intense for me, so I joined the Army at 19,” he said. “I always wanted to be a cop or to serve my country. I got to do both.”

When you need a meal, the Army provides it. When you need housing, it is there for you, he said.

Not all civilians are as lucky, particularly the Vietnam War veterans who often are seen begging on streets. People should not shun them but offer them some assistance, he said.

“People say terrible things about the homeless vets. In reality they have serious problems. The Vietnam soldier is the reason we have it so good now. No one was really there to talk to them,” Pendergrass said.

He said 90 percent of the people he met in Iraq and Afghanistan were fine people. In training those nations’ soldiers to be military police, he usually lived off base at their police stations.

“Nowhere in the Koran does it say to murder people to win blessings,” said Pendergrass about the other 10 percent.

Neither his former Douglas High football coach, Mike Rippee, nor marching band director Bill Zabelsky was aware that Pendergrass had been injured in combat, but they are pleased he will be returning to a nice home.

“What a great kid he was, a terrific young man with a gift of gab,” said Rippee, who retired after 27 years as the Douglas High football coach. “If a guy can overcome what he has gone through, it’s James.”

Zabelsky remembers that Pendergrass played trombone in the band and that he often had to “share him with the football team.”

When football practice was over, Pendergrass went to band practice. On days when the football team wasn’t playing, he would march with the band.

REHABILITATION PROVES DIFFICULT

Overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder hasn’t been easy, said Pendergrass, who will return to his base in Hawaii on Jan. 2 and continue rehabilitation and preparations for leaving the Army by March or April. His current leave is for three weeks.

“I don’t do well in large groups. It is almost nauseous to go to the store. It is hard on my wife. I do leave the house, but it is difficult,” he said. “It is going to be nice to come home. I have missed so many of my kids’ birthdays and watching them make their first steps.”

Aware that he will not receive a
100 percent disability rating, Pendergrass knows he must continue rehabilitation in civilian life, go to college or trade school and find a good job.

“I haven’t been in the economy like other people. It is going to be a whole new start to our world. Our finances are on my mind every night before I go to sleep. I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. Times are tough for a lot of people. My prayers go out to everyone. Merry Christmas to everybody.”

He looks for a career in business and intends to serve as an active member of organizations such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“I fought and bled and I want to give more to my country and to be a soldier for the people,” he said.”

That means politics. While soldiers cannot take sides, Pendergrass is a Republican who wants to work with Democrats and minor parties. He vows to speak for average people and not line his own pockets.

He has reason to work with Democrats. He said U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and his staff helped Pendergrass secure proper medical treatment when a superior officer gave him a Motrin pill and ordered him back to combat duty after he broke his back.

Within a year or two, he sees himself running for office, perhaps for a seat in the state Legislature.

“You’ll see me again,” said Pendergrass with a smile on his face.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.