Veteran who lost his legs in war given a new, specially designed home in Eatonville

EATONVILLE, Wash. -- The people in Eatonville are coming together to honor a veteran with a new home.

The group Homes for Our Troops is building a customized home for a soldier who lost both of his legs in Afghanistan.

It’s the future home of Staff Sgt. Samuel Shockley and his family.

Since April, workers have been building a customized home for the 28-year-old veteran.

“I can’t say how beautiful this really is because it’s breathtaking, it’s like a dream come true,” said Shockley outside his future Eatonville home.

A dream home for an army veteran who served three tours overseas. It was in 2013 that he was injured and lost both of his legs while serving in Afghanistan.

“On March 17, 2013, I stepped on an improvised explosive device,” said Shockley.

Since then Shockley has been using a wheelchair to get around, but most places he’s lived in aren’t designed to allow a wheelchair to fit through.

“I swear I have streak marks on the side of each of the doors just from banging into it,” added Shockley.

That’s when Homes for Our Troops  came in and accepted Shockley’s application for a new specially designed home. A home that has a wider door frames and counters that sit at a lower level. The entire inside of the home is designed to make life for Shockley, much easier.

Local contractors came in to do to the do work with a lot of the material donated by local companies.

“It really pulled on my heart strings because these guys have given so much for our freedom for our country,” said Carey Miller, the general contractor for this project.

In four months they were able to build the home on 438th Street Court East.

“It’s probably been one of the coolest houses I’ve built and I’ve been in it for a really long time,” said Miller.

Shockley said from the very beginning he’s felt welcomed on the block.

“It just feels like it’s meant to be in my life right now, so I’m very blessed and excited about it,” added Shockley.

Homes for Our Troops has built 221 homes across the country for injured veterans. Another 70 more are currently being built, according to the organization.

Now, this new home in Eatonville already has many neighbors excited.

“Look what he did for all of us, for our country, I’m just proud, very proud,” said Jackie Soden, who lives nearby.

Neighbors like Soden have been following the progress of the construction since day one. She’s excited to welcome her new neighbor.

“I come from a proud military family, both me and my husband, and I’ve been excited since I saw it in the paper,” added Soden.

A proud community getting ready to welcome a hero into his new home.

On Saturday, more than 100 volunteers are expected to show up and help do the landscaping on the property. They will lay down sod and plants so that the home will be ready for Shockley and his wife, Emily, to move into next month.

Homes for Our Troops will officially hand over the key to Shockley during a special ceremony on September 17.