LTC Gadson to be Featured on Sesame Street Special Production

Children’s show films Belvoir Soldier
Belvoir Eagle
By Julia LeDoux
Thursday, October 11, 2007

Sesame Street came to Fort Belvoir last week, as producers of the children’s show interviewed an Army family about how they are coping with their Soldier’s war wounds.

Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, 41, lost both his legs when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad around 9:30 p.m. May 7. The force of the blast threw the 1989 West Point graduate from his vehicle, leaving his legs seriously injured and him bleeding badly. Four days later, after being airlifted out of Iraq, Gadson was undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where doctors determined his left leg had to be amputated above the knee. Gadson and the doctors decided to amputate his right leg, which he said was not going to be any use to him, shortly after that.

“We are still working through this,” Gadson said. “Communication is very important. We have to take care of each other.”

Gadson, his wife, Kimberly; daughter, Gabriella; and son, Jaelen; are a tight-knit family whose bonds have only been made that much stronger as a result of his injury.

“I have a lot more time to spend with them now,” Greg Gadson said.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization that produces the hit kids’ show, is working on a DVD that will be distributed to military families, which is designed to help injured veterans talk about their disabilities with their children.

The Gadsons spent a couple of hours filming their portion of the DVD at their home last Thursday.

“It does help sometimes to talk it out,” said Gadson. “It cleanses it out of you.”

The DVD is expected to be available in January, a Sesame Workshop spokeswoman said. Military families will be able to download it at no cost from http://www.militaryonesource.com.

While he was in the hospital, Gadson had plenty of visitors, including his West Point classmate, Mike Sullivan, who is now a New York Giants receivers coach. Sullivan, in turn, told Giants head coach Tom Coughlin that the team might benefit from hearing Gadson speak. On Sept. 21, the former Army football player spoke to the New York Giants on the eve of their 24-17 win over the Washington Redskins.

Gadson currently spends about three to four hours a day working out and plans to be at Fort Riley, Kan., when his battalion returns from its deployment.

Gadson also served in Bosnia and Afghanistan and fought in the first Gulf War.