Injured Marine will return to Grand Rapids

A West Michigan Marine severely injured in Iraq is finally coming home. Corporal Joshua Hoffman has been recovering from a gun-shot wound that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

[Park Twp Viewer]

Welcome Home!!!

[prisondog]

WOW pretty sad all we can say is welcome home. p.s. THANKS JOSHUA for risking your life to make ours better. my prayers go out to you and your family.

[5ducklings]

Welcome Home Josh! We all look forward to your arrival!!

[Dennis]

Thank you Josh!

[EmmaRae]

Welcome home Josh and thank you for fighting for our freedom. We have been all been praying for you and are so glad you are finally coming home.

[Julie]

Thank you Josh for protecting us! You are a true hero!

[SickTwistedFreak]

I appreciate all that Marines do, so thx Josh. It's also nice to see that your long time gf continues to stay by your side, that is very awesome to see, especially when so many girls view guys as easily disposable over the most trivial things. Good luck to you both.

[Andrew]

thank you josh for serving for me and the rest of us and god bless your family and friends.

[Lucy in Rockford]

God bless this young man and that beautiful girl. I hope they win the Mega Millions, so they can have the best of everything for the rest of their lives!

[Thanks]

Thank you for the sacrifice you made for this country! I pray that medical research will continue to advance and that you will benefit from it. Best of luck...and again, THANK YOU!

[tampabay]

Thanks Josh,wish you the best and hope you can walk again someday,our prayers are with you.

[Gentle Taz]

Welcome home Josh. We wish you the best in your endeavours.

[She Devil]

Thank you Josh (and ALL of our armed forces)for defending our Country and freedom. You are truly a hero. Just thinking of you and what you and your family have been through to serve your Country just sends tears rolling down my cheeks. Thank you for doing what you can to make this Country safer for our children. I am forever grateful.

[Gentle Taz]

"He who cherishes a beautiful vision, a lofty ideal in his heart, will one day realize it. Dream lofty dreams and as you dream so shall you become." - James Allen

We hope that this quote will come true for you and that medicine makes some fantastic advances.

[Momma of 2]

Marat wrote:

Thank you ever so much, Josh.
If you hadn't been fighting for our freedom those nasty Iraqis would have come over here and made us all strip naked and form pyramids while threatened by big dogs.
They would have stopped all our freedoms and tortured us with water-boarding and putting ladies panties on our heads.
Now don't you worry about folks having to change your soiled diapher for the rest of your useless life. It might be hard to think of yourself as a hero at that time but while your life might be lousy, as prisondog says, you " you made ours better." What more could we ask?

What a stupid thing to say! Would you risk everything for your country?

[neecer]

Momma of 2 wrote:

<quoted text>
What a stupid thing to say! Would you risk everything for your country?

No he wouldn't Momma. He's too much of a coward. He would rather sit behind his computer and throw up vile hatred comments about those who would. Yet if they were attacked, he would be the first to start screaming about the government not protecting him.

But then again, he probably thinks that no one would be attacked if the USA wouldn't have gone to Iraq. Obviously being across the pond (at least his ISP says he is) he doesn't remember 911 and the fact is, that was an act of war, just like Pearl Harbor was.

[Chris Hock]

Murat,

My first instinct to your spiteful, hateful, low class and downright morally repugnant bloviation is to launch into full verbal attack in defense to this proud hero of a Marine. However, upon further contemplation, I am moved to just let his actions speak for him. He is a hero, you are a zero and it is only fitting that your lack of realization of this will continue to lead you blindly down this road of being a first class ass.

Semper Fi.

Marat wrote:

Thank you ever so much, Josh.
If you hadn't been fighting for our freedom those nasty Iraqis would have come over here and made us all strip naked and form pyramids while threatened by big dogs.
They would have stopped all our freedoms and tortured us with water-boarding and putting ladies panties on our heads.
Now don't you worry about folks having to change your soiled diapher for the rest of your useless life. It might be hard to think of yourself as a hero at that time but while your life might be lousy, as prisondog says, you " you made ours better." What more could we ask?

[on the fly]

Marat wrote:

Hi Chris,
Well nobody's perfect.
That ex-murdering grunt is not a hero in mine, or most decent folks' minds. I'm not certain that, in his present state, he even qualifies as to being a man. The road I'm walking down does not involve invading countries for their oil and killing innocent families and, guess what, I prefer it that way.
Maybe, if you think like the cretin, Neecer, that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, your rudeness would be understandable.

Rude! You write like you invented rude. I find as well as many others on this site your comments offensive. This country has real people, people who fight for the rights of all of us. Even your right to spew venom. I pray that you have no children of your own or will never create any to perpetuate your vile attitudes.

The man you are talking about did a heck of a lot more than you do for this country. Yes, he gave up a "normal" life, but it is not the end. He has, as do many people hopes and dreams. Those hopes and dreams that we are allowed to voice because of the gift these service men give to us everyday.

You... are the one who is handicapped. You are the one locked in a broken brain. You are the one who will go nowhere and do nothing in this life. This young man has done more in his young life than you will ever accomplish in a million lifetimes!

Josh... I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you have given me. I am able to sit here and write the truth and fight the vile morons who persist is spreading hate and venom!

[neecer]

Marat wrote:

Hi Chris,
Well nobody's perfect.
That ex-murdering grunt is not a hero in mine, or most decent folks' minds. I'm not certain that, in his present state, he even qualifies as to being a man. The road I'm walking down does not involve invading countries for their oil and killing innocent families and, guess what, I prefer it that way.
Maybe, if you think like the cretin, Neecer, that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, your rudeness would be understandable.

I never said I thought Iraq had something to do with 9/11, but it has been proven that Bin Laden and Afghanistan did, and funny there are now links to Iraq found too.

But what would you know? You only listen to the BBC. Go drown yourself in the English Channel and leave us Yanks to our own worries will ya?

And our rudeness? Do you see us commenting on stories in the UK, about something we have NOTHING to do with? No, you don't. Please do us a favor, stick to your side of the pond. We'll stick to ours.

[Momma of 2]

Marat wrote:

Hi Chris,
Well nobody's perfect.
That ex-murdering grunt is not a hero in mine, or most decent folks' minds. I'm not certain that, in his present state, he even qualifies as to being a man. The road I'm walking down does not involve invading countries for their oil and killing innocent families and, guess what, I prefer it that way.
Maybe, if you think like the cretin, Neecer, that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, your rudeness would be understandable.

unbelievable that you think this way. You live in the very free land that these heros provide FOR you. How dare you call this Marine anything but a great man. People like this man will protect even you! will risk his own life so you can live the way you want. Until you defend this country the way they do then I suggest you keep your mouth shut and give America some respect.