CLEVELAND, Minn. - On Memorial Day, Cleveland, Minnesota will honor its war dead, while giving thanks for the native son who came as close to that status as a man can.
Five years after returning to the U.S. with mangled arms and no legs, Jack Zimmerman is sprinting up the driveway in his high-tech wheelchair. His 18-month-old son Benny is perched on what remains of his father’s left leg, while Jack races his 3-year-old son William, who is riding a battery operated toy tractor.
“I'm just glad my battery lasts longer than his,” smiles Jack. Nothing could speak louder about the progress the army veteran has made since nearly losing his life to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
Jack's smile remains as striking as it was weeks into his 18-month-stay at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. “I was just doing my job and something bad happened,” he told KARE in 2011.
Jack was 21 at the time, his Cleveland High School sweetheart Megan, 19. Megan quit her job and delayed college to be with Jack through his recovery.
Today they are married, parents to William and Benny and the owners of a new house in the country.
From a candlelight vigil hours after Jack was wounded, to a welcome home parade, to fundraisers to help pay for the house, Cleveland and its surrounding communities have been there for Jack and Megan.
“We know we wouldn't be where we are today without our community fully backing us,” Megan says.
Five year after losing his legs, Jack not only drives again, but has put 100,000 miles on his pickup.
“There's nothing better than just being able to go,” he says. And go he does, hunting, fishing and visiting friends.
Almost daily Jack trains with his hunting dog Moose. The two are inseparable.
“When you get in the military you have a battle buddy and you don't go anywhere without him, ever,” says Jack. “And I think that's a lot what a dog can do for a guy.”
Jack is also coach to 40 students on the Cleveland High School trap shooting team.
“I love it more than anything,” he says. “Just teaching the kids how to bring the best out of themselves.”
Yet Jack must live with a hard truth: his life went on while some of his friends did not.
He wears a bracelet to honor Cpl. Brett Land, his best friend, who was killed in Afghanistan a few months before Jack was injured.
“It's tough,” Jack says. “Sometimes we still don’t always want to believe that it’s true. So, that’s where I struggle with it a little bit.”
Beneath the U.S. and Army flags Jack hung from the tallest pole he could find, he placed a large stone that will eventually hold a plaque engraved with Brett Land’s name and another from Jack's company.
“You've got to remember them because it would have been so easy for me to be them,” he says.
It’s the same reason Jack Zimmerman looks at each extra day as a gift, whether he’s kissing his sons or going out on a lake to fish.
“There's a reason I'm here today, and I feel so lucky to be here today,” he says.
Sometimes it takes great loss to know when you’ve achieved great fortune.