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Only months later, on August 6, 2009, infantryman Private First Class Williamson was launched from the Humvee in which he was riding when it struck an improvised explosive device in Bakwa, Afghanistan. Williamson, who was manning the turret, suffered multiple injuries, including spinal fractures and severe damage to his feet and lower legs. He was the only Marine in the vehicle to survive the blast and he underwent numerous surgeries trying to save his feet. Ultimately, however, Williamson made the excruciating decision to have his lower legs amputated — the first in 2010 and the second in 2011. Following the amputations, Williamson suffered through several very difficult years, falling into addiction with the hope of numbing himself. "Most of the guys I hang out with now have seen me at my worst, and they don't judge me for it," says Williamson, who has spent much of the last ten years getting his life on track. Medically retired from the Corps, Williamson is a full-time student studying criminal justice and criminology, set to graduate next year. And when he is not studying, he might very well be found playing golf, which he picked up for the first time in 2015, and which he credits with helping him turn things around. "I found it therapeutic," says Williamson. Now a 12 handicap, Williamson and his teammates recently won a four-man scramble charity event at Steele Canyon. Just as important, it was at a golf tournament that Williamson met his wife, Stephanie, a Gold Star family member who lost her brother in Afghanistan. ey married two years ago on November 10, the Marine Corps' birthday. Golf is also how Williamson found his way to San Diego's North County, and this month he, Stephanie, and his two stepdaughters, Camil,15, and Harley, 13, will be moving into a new custom-built home in Fallbrook that was donated to Williamson by Homes For Our Troops. "I'm very lucky that I have my knees," says Williamson, who in addition to golf, continues to ride dirt bikes and even scuba dives, having custom prosthetics for a variety of activities. "But inside my current house, I have to do a lot of crawling in terms of the stairs and bathroom, and I'm starting to have trouble with callouses on my knees." Williamson has never used a wheelchair, but that is about to change, at least inside his new home, which features more than 40 adaptations including widened doorways with electric doors, a roll-in shower, and kitchen amenities such as pull-down shelving and lowered countertops. Now in its 20th year, Homes For Our Troops is a national organization that builds and donates specially adapted homes to severely injured post-9/11 veterans. Like Williamson, most who receive homes suffered multiple limb amputations, paralysis, and/ or severe brain injuries. "e homes are intended to restore some of the freedom and independence our veterans sacrificed defending our country," says Homes For Our Troops President Tom Landwermeyer, a retired brigadier general who spent 33 years in the Army. "e goal is for them to be able to focus on their family and rebuilding their lives." Over the past 20 years, Homes For Our Troops has built 379 homes in 45 states, with another 77 projects underway and 100 veterans in the application process. In fact, Williamson's new house is one of roughly a half dozen the organization has already built in Fallbrook, with an additional home currently under construction. "It's good we're no longer seeing a lot of vets coming back with these types of injuries, but there are still another thousand vets out there who would qualify for a home," says Landwermeyer, noting that the organization does most of its advertising through word of mouth. Williamson's home, which sits on an acre and a half of land, was dedicated in a ceremony in March and the family has been spending time there on weekends, but they have been waiting for the girls to finish the school year before making the full-time move from their current home in Yorba Linda. In the meantime, Williamson continues to play golf, which remains central to his plans moving forward, as he is in the organizing phase of his own charity golf event as well as working to qualify for the U.S. Adaptive Open Golf Championship. hfotusa.org COURTESY PHOTO Focus military << ranchandcoast.com 52 JUNE 2024 RANCH & COAST MAGAZINE Williamson (center) receiving the keys to his home from Homes For Our Troops President/CEO Tom Landwermeyer (left)