The Associated Press

Thursday, November 22, 2007

LANDSTUHL, Germany: Iconic boxing promoter Don King dropped in on wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans Thursday in a U.S. military hospital in Germany for a Thanksgiving Day visit.

King visited Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in the late morning, shaking hands with swarms of troops, passing out little American flags, posing for photos and even handing out a few pair of boxing gloves.

“The women and men that are wearing these uniforms are indicative to everything that America stands for,” King said. “I feel so humbled and so honored to be here.”

He sat down for a traditional turkey lunch with the troops, and posed for more photos with the cooks.

The hospital is where some of the most severely wounded troops from Afghanistan and Iraq are taken and operated on or otherwise treated, before they are sent back to the United States.
King told the troops that the job they were doing was appreciated; visiting the wounded both in the wards and the intensive care unit.

Robert Laux, 26, a sergeant of the 101st Airborne Division from Vacaville, California, was recovering in Landstuhl from an injury on his left arm after he stepped on an explosive in Baghdad. Being away from the family on Thanksgiving Day was hard for him, Laux said.
“I miss my family, just staying at home … just talking and gathering around, that’s what I really miss,” he said.