Sgt Charles Berninghausen was severely injured in his first deployment, resulting in the loss of his leg. His wife, Megan and his son, Jacob say he's their hero and KKTV agrees; he's a Colorado Hero!

Megan wrote KKTV's Colorado Heroes program the following letter explaining why her husband is her hero:

My husband is and will always be my number one hero. He joined the Army in November of 2005 and completed his training in March of 2006 and moved here to Fort Carson. On October 10th, 2006, we said our good-byes and I watched the love of my life ride away. He was serving in Ramadi, Iraq and had been there for five to six months when I was woken at 7:30 am on a Friday morning from a call from the Department of Defense telling me my soldier had been wounded in combat. At the time, there was not much information for them to release to me other than that he had been on a foot patrol when his squad was hit by an IED and all of them had sustained numerous injuries. They believed he had two broken legs and shrapnel wounds. I didn’t hear from him for two days after the phone call and the Army was doing their best to keep his parents and I informed as the information was sent back to them. He was sent to Balad, Iraq then to Landstuhl, Germany and a week later to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I arrived the evening of March 3rd, 2007 at WRAMC and stayed by his bed side the entire time I was there. He had sustained soft tissue damage to his right leg and was missing his calf, lacerations to his lower torso, thighs and shrapnel wounds that spread from his right ear to his feet. On the left side, he had a broken Tibia where about two inches of the bone just below where the knee ends and a fractured ankle, and a perforated ear drum. He under went numerous surgeries and wash outs and for a month he was bed ridden until he could no longer stand being in bed. After much deliberation with the doctors they agreed to send him home with the understanding the he had a 50/50 chance of an infection firing up. That April, we were home on convalescent leave and his left leg had burst open on his skin graft and 8 months later was finally given the answer we had suspected. He had an infection that had been harvesting for eight months. In November of 2007, he was sent back to WRAMC and they amputated below the knee and removed the skin graft and did a skin flap that has only been performed on, at the time, four other soldiers. He continued his wash outs and physical therapy there at WRAMC for the following five or six months. We returned home to the WTU here at Fort Carson and were home for the birth of our son. In August of 2008, we again returned for a revision surgery of his left stub. They took about another inch off. He developed a blood infection that nearly took his life and was placed on antibiotics to help fight his infection off. When he was cleared of infection, he again did his physical therapy at WRAMC for eight months. We are now almost three years out from when he was injured and continue going through appointments and therapy. He is still serving on active duty and plans on staying in as long as the Army will let him. Our future holds more surgeries and through all of this he has been my rock and has kept me strong. He never slowed down to let his injuries over come him. All he has given, all he has done has inspired me. I will love him for all eternity with all my heart. He will forever be my hero.

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