Purple Heart veteran in Utah one of 24 to get new, mortgage-free smart homes

Purple Heart veteran in Utah one of 24 to get new, mortgage-free smart homes

(Steve Griffin, KSL)


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HOOPER, Weber County — Retired United States Marine Sgt. Brian Johnston said he was catastrophically injured during what he calls “a bad day at work.”

His work at the time, however, involved deactivating explosives along the streets in Fallujah, Iraq.

“I was good at getting IEDs. I got all of them except one,” he recalls. “That one took off my arm and my leg. ... Don’t feel sorry for me, I just had a bad day at work.”

Johnston, a third-generation military man, met his new condition with the same positive outlook as he does everything in life, and he hasn’t really ever looked back.

“That isn’t going to change what happened,” he said.

On Wednesday, the 38-year-old Purple Heart veteran was given the keys to a brand new 2,350 square-foot smart home at 7035 W. 5900 South, in Hooper. The home was built to give Johnston the opportunity to function as normally as he can, from a wheelchair half of nearly every day to prosthetics.

His previous residencies haven’t been fully accessible, but this new one goes above and beyond — there are wide open spaces, hallways and doorways. It has two furnaces with three thermostats, a fire sprinkler system, touch- and motion-sensor kitchen and bathrooms, automatic toilets, lights and blinds, as well as a computer monitored security system “to safeguard their warrior,” said Brent Keller, general contractor and owner of Keller Homes, which worked with the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation to build the Hooper home.

He said it is a “privilege” to be part of the process. “These are true warriors. They are the bravest of us.”

Johnston’s is one of 24 homes the New York City-based foundation will provide, mortgage-free, to service members, first responders, and their families across the country this month.

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Wendy Leonard is a deputy news director at KSL.com. Prior to this, she was a reporter for the Deseret News since 2004, covering a variety of topics, including health and medicine, police and courts, government and other issues relating to family.

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