March 20, 2010 Corporal Daniel Palmer was wounded while patrolling in Marjah, Afghanistan. An improvised explosive device took his right foot and a portion of his lower leg. Since he and his family’s return on July 27, 2012, the Santa Rosa County Veterans Memorial Foundation and the Pensacola based Gulf Coast Veterans in Need group have been diligently working to build a new home for this local hero and his family, according to Santa Rosa County Commission Chairman Don Salter. The groundbreaking for the new Palmer home is scheduled for January 16, at 10 a.m. located at 2344 Ten Mile Road in Chumuckla.
Palmer is a lifelong Milton resident. He is married to wife, Becky and they have two children, Cameron and Vanessa Faith. Daniel was a member of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment. According to Salter, Palmer went from Germany, to Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in D.C., to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for medical treatment and therapy before coming home. For two years he went through the military medical board process and was medically retired in August of 2012 with 90 percent disability.
This month’s Santa Rosa County Commissioner Committee and Commissioner Regular meetings saw the Palmer house project come before the Board for the waiving of permitting fees. Salter said during the January 5 meeting, “Back in 2004, we had our first wounded, disabled returning veteran. That was Dustin Tuller, and his family. At that time, the community rallied together and raised enough money to build that disabled veteran a home with absolutely no cost and at that time we had a discussion about being able to waive fees for all disabled veteran types homes. We said we would handle each one case by case. The community once again is rallying to build Daniel Palmer a home and hopefully we will be able to do it at no cost to that veteran, and at this time I am asking that we waiver any and all construction related fees so that money can go toward the home and not other expenses.” County Administrator Hunter Walker also said an existing state statute specifically allows a waiver for permitting fees for disabled veterans.
During the January 8 meeting, Salter moved to waive those fees for construction of Palmer’s house and it passed without objection. Salter thanked Blackie Black, owner of Bagdad Builders Incorporated, who Salter said spearheaded building the Tuller home and stepped forward again to do the same for Palmer.
Salter said, “The Santa Rosa County Veterans Memorial Foundation along with the Global War on Terror Committee in Pensacola, those two committees are helping create awareness and fundraising. Blackie is going to handle the building part of it. I would encourage everyone to get involved in this wonderful project. We send our young men and women to war; many of them don't come home. Many of them come back [with] loss of legs, arms, traumatic issues. This is the least we can do is help them secure a home for their family for the rest of their lives, so I would encourage everyone to get involved in this.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Groundbreaking scheduled for wounded veteran home