From fighting a war to fighting fires, soon

Local Marine named lifetime member at fire company's banquet
February 18, 2007
By Alison Walker-Baird
News-Post Staff



Photo by Doug Koontz
Rick O’Brien, left, president of United Steam Fire Engine Company No. 3, presents Lance Cpl. Christopher Bickel with a lifetime membership at the fire company’s annual banquet Saturday night. His mother, Robin Bickel, is at center.




FREDERICK -- An honor bestowed Saturday on a local Marine still recovering from a devastating war injury is helping make his life a little closer to normal. United Steam Fire Engine Company No. 3 in Frederick named volunteer firefighter Lance Cpl. Christopher Bickel a lifetime member during the company's annual banquet. Bickel suffered a tour-ending injury Oct. 3, one month after he was deployed to Iraq for the second time.

"He was very active in the fire company -- the least we can do is honor him for what he's done for our country," United vice president Jim Morgan said. "He almost lost his life."

Bickel, 25, graduated from Frederick High School in 1999. He volunteered with the company for more than four years until joining the Marine Corps in 2004.

He plans to return to United as soon as possible, though the time frame is uncertain -- after six months of hospitalization and intensive physical therapy, Bickel may still need additional surgery.

"He's wanting to get back on with the fire department, but he knows it's going to be a lifelong injury," said his mother, Robin Bickel.

He had just left his base in Ramadi when enemy forces shot a homemade rocket through a wall, piercing the truck he was riding in. The attack tore apart his right leg and broke his femur.

Doctors at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda removed a 3 1/2-inch damaged section of bone from Christopher Bickel's leg in November. They implanted a fixation screw, which he has gradually turned to fill in the missing tissue.

The bone section has nearly finished regenerating and Bickel has been walking with the help of crutches and attends physical therapy in Frederick three times each week.

His fixation screw apparatus could be removed in the next few weeks, Robin Bickel said. He may need surgery after his bones have finished maturing to reduce excessive bone mass during the regeneration.

Christopher Bickel's next phase of recovery is beginning to walk again on his right leg, which hasn't been able to bear any weight since the injury.

U.S. Marine Gen. Michael Hagee, the former U.S. Marine Corps commandant who retired in January, awarded Bickel the Purple Heart in November.

When Bickel arrived at his Frederick home for the first time in December, following two months of recovery, United firefighters, dozens of neighbors, American flags and fire trucks heralded his return.

Bickel deployed to Iraq in September with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C. The rest of his platoon is scheduled to return home in May.

During Saturday's banquet, held at the Frederick Moose Lodge, United also announced a new Frederick Community College scholarship in honor of the company's long-time secretary and historian, Lydia Butterworth of Frederick.

Butterworth died in October 2006 at age 46, after a battle with cancer. The $1,030 scholarship is the fire company's first scholarship, Morgan said.

Butterworth worked for many years as a senior fire protection engineer for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and was inducted into the Frederick County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association Hall of Fame. She served on the Maryland Fire Prevention Commission and the National Fire Protection Association Standards Council.

From fighting a war to fighting fires, soon