SSgt. Adam Alexander, 2013 Longport Wounded Warrior Week recipient.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
LONGPORT – The American Legion Post 469 of Longport had some good news to share about one of its Wounded Warrior Week recipients.
Staff Sgt. Adam Alexander of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the recipient of the Post’s 2013 Wounded Warrior Week honor, a weeklong, all-expenses-paid vacation at the Jersey Shore, was selected for another great honor – he’s going to the Super Bowl. Although the self-proclaimed “Cheesehead” won’t be seeing his home team play in the big game, he will be going with one of his favorite players.
When Alexander and his wife Kate was selected the second year the Legion provided the award, he stayed at the home of Bill and Kathy Mosca in Ventnor. The Moscas notified the Legion Post this week about a news broadcast they saw featuring Alexander and celebrating his latest honor – a trip to see Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, courtesy of USAA, a veterans insurance and banking organization, and Pittsburg Steelers linebacker TJ Watt, who grew up in Wisconsin.
“It was shocking and humbling. I couldn’t think of a better guy than T.J. Watt, being a fellow Wisconsinite and Midwestern guy, to go with. And honored that USAA and DAV considered and ultimately picked me,” Alexander told KDKA-TV on Tuesday.
Watt told Fox News 11 that he is honored to have teamed up with USAA to give “a national hero the recognition he deserves.”
“Army vet SSGT Adam Alexander is living proof that those from the heartland have huge hearts! Along with @USAA and @DAVHQ, I’m honored to send a Purple Heart recipient and fellow Wisconsinite to #cSuperBowlLVIII in Las Vegas,” Watt wrote on his X page.
Alexander was part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team stationed in Paktia Provence, Afghanistan in 2011 when he took sniper fire to his head during an attack by insurgents. He only had a 5% chance of surviving, but he beat the odds and came back strong. Two years later, he and his wife were selected to receive the Legion’s Wounded Warrior Week vacation package, which is funded totally by contributions from local businesses and residents in and around Longport.
Alexander was the second wounded veteran selected for the vacation package. Since then, 10 other wounded service members have enjoyed their weeklong vacation at the Jersey Shore, thanks to the fundraising efforts of members of Legion Post 469.
The father of a 1-year-old daughter, Alexander is a full time volunteer and a member of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 17 in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. He works tirelessly to encourage other wounded veterans to beat the odds, and he hosts a public access TV program called, “The Outpost.”
The gift to see the Super Bowl includes two tickets. Alexander said he will be sharing his once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with his father-in-law, a Vietnam War veteran.
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