TAUNTON — U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Michael Downing, while deployed in Afghanistan in September 2008, lost both his legs from an explosive device.
His daughter Alexandra Keilty said the custom adaptable home they received in 2010 in Middleboro, complete with fully handicapped accessible features and appliances, “allowed us to be a normal family.”
The home gave Downing, who died in 2020, the physical and emotional freedom to do tasks on his own, which allowed the family to “have normal arguments, like who’s doing the dishes or who’s taking out the trash,” Keilty told a gathering to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Taunton non-profit Homes for Our Troops, which gave the family the home back in 2010.
The whole experience also inspired Keilty to volunteer and eventually work for a few years with Homes for our Troops.
The organization’s president and CEO, retired Brigadier General Tom Landwermeyer, “bragged on” the organization’s staff at the celebration on Tuesday, Feb. 6, to mark the 20th anniversary.