Hey Gang, Barbie Mann sent this newspaper article to me today, so thought that I would pass it on to you all. I will also write to the reporters who wrote this article, and see if I can find out where Brian is hospitalized. God Bless America! Rose Area families feel gamut of emotions Date September 14, 2001 Source LILA LAHOOD;ELLENA FORTNER MORRISON Star-Telegram Staff Writers Section NEWS Edition FINAL It was a solemn salute from the president of the United States to a wounded soldier, an Army veteran lying in a hospital bed with third-degree burns covering his face, arms and hands. Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell, 39, a victim of Tuesday's terrorist attack on the Pentagon, struggled to reciprocate, ever so slowly. "When the president saw Brian starting to salute back, he held his salute until Brian completed his salute... [He] almost got his salute completely up to his head and down," said Birdwell's brother, Wade Birdwell of Mansfield. Wade Birdwell, a Fort Worth attorney, wasn't there to witness the president's visit at Washington Hospital Center. He was still on the road Thursday when his sister-in-law and a nurse recounted the meeting in a telephone call to Wade Birdwell as he drove from Texas to Washington. When Brian Birdwell's wife, Melva, told Bush that her husband was a fellow Texan, Wade Birdwell said, the president "hugged her and kissed her and gave her his and the first lady's love to my nephew Matthew," Brian Birdwell's 12-year-old son. Wade Birdwell, his wife, the couple's daughter and his mother left for Washington Wednesday evening and expected to arrive at the hospital early today. Brian Birdwell's Pentagon office was near the point where the hijacked plane slammed into the building, but he survived because he was not at his desk at the time of impact. As rescuers pulled people from the fringes of the devastated area Tuesday, colleagues recognized Brian Birdwell lying on a stretcher. They put him in a van and raced to Georgetown University Hospital, driving over sidewalks to get there, Wade Birdwell said. He was later moved to Washington Hospital Center. Brian Birdwell has been assigned to the Pentagon for a year. He is a Persian Gulf War veteran and has been in the Army 17 years, his brother said. Like the Birdwells, another area family considered themselves lucky that their relatives survived the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York... ...The Birdwell family, meanwhile, prays that Brian Birdwell continues his recovery. He was listed in critical condition Thursday but is improving and will undergo a third round of surgery today, Wade Birdwell said. When he heard about his brother's injury, Wade Birdwell, an attorney with the Fort Worth firm Wallach, Andrews, Florsheim & Stouffer - which changed its name this summer and had been identified in previous stories as Wallach & Moore - decided to drive to Washington with his wife, Liz, daughter Alexandra, 3, and mother Loretta Reves. The family received an immediate outpouring of help from friends and colleagues. Before they set out on the road, a local Goodyear service center that learned about Brian Birdwell's situation provided a free tune-up and free tires for their car. And the help continues to appear in unexpected places, such as a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Jackson, Tenn., Wade Birdwell said. "Someone must have overheard me on the telephone because they paid for our meal," he said. Staff writer Melody McDonald contributed to this report Lila LaHood, (817) 390-7725 llahood@star-telegram.com Ellena Fortner Morrison, (817) 685-3888 efortner@star-telegram.com PHOTO(S): CP