CWO JUAN BELTRAN

Pico Rivera, CA

Army Chief Warrant Officer Juan Beltran, a husband and father, was severely injured in Tikrit, Iraq in an Apache helicopter crash. While supporting ground operations, the helicopter’s gear box failed causing loss of tail rotor control, spinning the chopper as it fell 800 feet before smashing into the ground.

The co-pilot of the helicopter, Juan returned home paralyzed from the neck down. Navigating his home in a wheelchair was almost impossible. Although Juan’s house had two bathrooms, neither was wheelchair accessible; the master bathroom needed complete remodeling to make it ADA compliant and accessible.

Local businesses and individuals played a major role in this retro-fitting project. Homes For Our Troops focused on identifying possible sources of donated materials and services that were needed to complete the work and with the community, volunteers, and donors working hand in hand with Homes For Our Troops, CWO Beltran’s home was specially adapted to meet his needs.