Children waving U.S. flags and a motorcade of military veterans welcomed U.S. Army 1st Lt. Ryan Timoney as he rode to his parents’ home in the back of a specially provided BMW with his wife, Kelby.
Timoney, who was injured in 2012 in a suicide bombing in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan, has been back home before during his recovery. But his surprise reception on Friday was special.
“It was really cool because all the kids were out there screaming and waving,” said Timoney about riding past St. Joseph Catholic School in Mandarin, which he attended. Timoney grew up in Mandarin and St. Johns County.
Timoney’s first clue that the 10-day visit would not be typical was the Florida Highway Patrol escort from the Jacksonville International Airport.
His second clue was when his father, Greg, was driving Timoney, his wife Kelby and mom, Diane, to their Julington Creek home. He stopped at the Fields Cadillac dealership on the Westside.
Dozens of military veterans on motorcycles were there, as well as many more state troopers and officers with the Jacksonville and St. Johns County sheriff’s offices.
Kathy Signorile, who founded the St. Michael’s Soldiers volunteer nonprofit that organized the event, was there too with her husband, Jim; the general manager of the dealership who arranged the special ride for Timoney and his wife.
They were driven the rest of the way home in a 2012 BMW convertible, escorted by a large contingent of the veterans and law enforcement officers. A rolling roadblock cleared the way on Interstate 295 south.
As the motorcade passed St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Mandarin, the student body was standing in line at the edge of the campus to wave to him.
“Going by my school ... It was wonderful,” he said.
Signorile said everyone asked to help out with the event jumped on board.
“That’s all you have to do in this town. People step up. They love our military,” she said.
The veterans said they participate because “one generation of veterans will not abandon the new generation,” said Darryl Ingle, one of the vets on hand.
Timoney, 28, left for Afghanistan in April 2012. Less than a month later, he and five other soldiers were attacked by a suicide bomber. Two of them were killed, three injured.
Timoney had a fractured left leg, shrapnel wounds to his abdomen, arms, legs and back and a devastating head wound from a ball bearing that crossed through his brain and lodged behind his right ear.
In Kandahar, surgery saved his life by relieving pressure on his brain. He was later moved to a hospital in Germany and then to Walter Reed in Bethesda, Md.
Timoney was in a coma for weeks and was not able to talk for more than a month. As he came out of a coma, his progress started slowly. He began writing on paper but could not speak well.
Timoney has had multiple surgeries and hundreds of hours of physical therapy. One surgery replaced the portion of his missing skull with titanium, another amputated his left leg a few inches below the knee.
In August 2012, Timoney delivered a speech at his Purple Heart award ceremony at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa. Since then he has gotten engaged and married.
Timoney and his wife have been at Walter Reed since his amputation and will return there. He is still in therapy and says that he’s improving each month.
At least one more surgery is expected within the next year or so to remove the ball bearing behind his ear.
Still, he has a positive outlook.
“God kept me alive for a reason,” he said.
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