(Tribune Content Agency) — The 19-year-old Gloucester, Mass., Marine recovering after being shot with an M16 on a base in Georgia last month has returned home to Cape Ann to continue his recovery.
Lance Cpl. Dan Cary flew with his family Friday from Jacksonville, Fla., where he had been hospitalized since the March 24 accidental shooting that occurred while he and fellow Marines were preparing for a security drill at the Kings Bay (Ga.) Naval Submarine Base.
Cary was met by a USO representative at Logan International Airport in Boston on Friday night, and his family was able to drive home to Gloucester through arrangements coordinated by Gloucester Veterans Services Director Adam Curcuru, according to his mother, Josie Cary.
“It feels great to be home — I feel good just to be out of the hospital,” Cary said in a brief telephone interview Sunday. “It’s good to back home where I know everybody — and I know a lot of people have been supporting me. I felt very far away — it feels good to be back.”
Josie Cary said her son received a few visitors Saturday but that he continues to tire easily in the aftermath of the shooting and his extended recovery.
“I’m just glad he’s home. I know we all feel better,” she said, adding that her son, who is still connected to medical devices as he tries to walk, has “a long way to go.”
According to his family, Cary was accidentally shot in the back when one Marine was handing the M16 to another, and the weapon discharged. Cary suffered extensive internal injuries and damage to his spleen. He underwent three surgeries in the three days that followed at Shands Medical Center in Jacksonville.
U.S. Marine Corps spokesman Stewart Coles confirmed that Cary was shot “while preparing for a security drill.” But the Marines have not provided further details regarding the incident other than to say that it remains under investigation.
In Sunday’s phone interview, Cary said he holds no hard feelings against the fellow Marine who shot him, reiterating that the shooting was an accident.
“I’m not a guy who holds a grudge,” Cary said. “(The shooter) needs to be punished in some way, but he’s got a wife and a kid — I’d hate to see them suffer (over a long sentence or other penalty) because he basically made a stupid mistake.”
Cary is home on a 30-day convalescent leave and will be treated locally at Lahey Medical Center in Burlington, he and his mother said. Neither had any sense Sunday that the 30 days will be sufficient for him to get fully back on his feet.
Dan Cary said he’s been told that the leave will be extended “as long as it needs to be” as he continues his recovery.
Meanwhile, Cary’s family members and friends are continuing to coordinate a GoFundMe account aimed at raising money to cover his and his family’s travel expenses and some medical supply costs. And The Gloucester Fund has an account for anyone seeking to contribute through a tax-deductible donation.
The GoFundMe account can be accessed through http://bit.ly/1aMTaqY, while anyone seeking to contribute through The Gloucester Fund account may do so by sending a check to The Gloucester Fund, 45 Middle St., Gloucester, MA 01930. Contributors must include the name “Dan Cary” in the memo section to ensure that funds get directed to the proper account, said Gloucester Fund chief Barry Pett. All of the proceeds received will be forwarded directly to the Cary family, Pett has said.
Cary’s aunt, Tina Russell of Rockport, who is Josie Cary’s sister, said plans are also in the works to host a local fundraiser that would also give the wounded Marine the chance to thank some of the Cape Ann residents who have extended him their support since new first broke of the shooting.
“He’s one lucky kid in terms of having a lot of people reaching out to help and praying for him,” Josie Cary said. “We’re all very lucky.”
©2015 the Gloucester (Mass.) Daily Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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