SSGT ANDREW ROBINSON

Florence, NJ

Mission Accomplished on Nov. 10, 2008

June 20, 2006, was a day that began like most others for Marine Staff Sergeant Andrew Robinson. SSgt Robinson, a counterintelligence specialist, was on a mission with the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, when his vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device (IED). The blast ripped the front half of the truck off while taking the lives of the driver, vehicle commander, and turret gunner. Andy sustained compound fractures to his lower legs, collapsed lungs, and a fractured vertebra that left him paralyzed from the chest down with partial paralysis in his arms.

Despite spending seven months in the hospital, undergoing several major surgeries, and continuing an aggressive rehabilitation regiment, Andy and his wife Sara continue to move forward with their new appreciation for life in their specially adapted custom home. In 2012, the couple became parents to twins, Collin and Leah.