Mom reunited with wounded Marine son

Mary Reynolds simply couldn't wait any longer.

On March 30, Reynolds received word at her home in Whitewater that her son, Lance Cpl. Charles Bigham, had been wounded by a fragmentation grenade in a gunfight while serving as a military policeman in Iraq. The following three weeks were a tumult of canceled flight plans, periodic long-distance phone updates on his condition and location, and prayer. The only thing she knew for certain was that she couldn't see, hold or kiss her son.

Finally on April 19, she decided she'd had enough. She picked up the phone and called in a fellow Marine, Bill Walker. A week later, with this Vietnam veteran's help and the generosity of other organizations, Reynolds and her husband were sitting across the table from their son at a Fuddruckers in Jacksonville, N.C., eating lunch and joking with Bigham's wife and their sons.

"I talked to him on the phone and he kept saying, 'I'm OK, Mom,'" said Reynolds on her cell phone after finishing lunch.

"I'm not OK either, it didn't knock a lick of sense into me," quipped Bigham, nudging a giggle from Reynolds amid laughter from others in the background.

"I just needed to see him," continued Reynolds.

Empathizing with that maternal desire, Walker and members of VFW Post 3838 and the Marine Corps League had arranged earlier this month for Reynolds to fly out to the naval hospital in Bethesda, Md. There, Bigham was recovering from having his left eye and tear duct rebuilt and much of the bone structure on the left side of his face replaced with titanium and titanium mesh. But due to the accelerated rate of Bigham's recovery, he was slated to be shipped back to his home base at Camp Le-jeune, N.C., less than a day after she was scheduled to arrive. She reluctantly reneged on that plan. Walker assured her that the offer still stood.

With that in mind, Reynolds made the call last Monday. By the following Friday, the VFW was ready with a $500 check for motel and food, the Marine Corps League had rented a car for one week at $280 and Enterprise Car Rental had donated an estimated $475 worth of mileage on the car. On Saturday, Reynolds, her husband and Bigham's two sons, Charles Jr. and Paul, were on the road to a reunion in North Carolina.

"She asked for our help, and we did what we could," said Jimmie Winder, senior vice commandant of the Marine Corps League. "We always try to help as far as our means will allow."

Now Bigham is due to receive a Purple Heart for his injury in battle. He said his colonel is working diligently to get things in order so that the ceremony might be held this week, while his parents and children are in town to attend.

"It means the world to me to have my kids and parents here," Bigham said.

Whether she gets to see her son decorated with the nation's oldest medal or not, Reynolds is appreciative to all those who helped her realize the comfort she is enjoying.

"It feels so good to be with him," Reynolds said. "I can hug him, kiss him and wrap my arms around him."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137