Denzel Washington and BAMC

Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, (BAMC) Dec 2004.

This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims.

There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a hotel where soldiers’ families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is in the hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Mr. Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.

Update to story: Rumor

The eRumor describes a visit by actor Denzel Washington to “Brooke” Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

He saw the buildings known as “Fisher House,” where families of hospitalized soldiers can say for little or no charge while visiting.  He is described as having asked how much it costs to build one, pulled out his checkbook, and wrote a check for the full amount.

The Reality is

Denzel Washington did make a visit to the Brook Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas, in December, 2004. Among other things, he participated in a ceremony awarding Purple Hearts to three soldiers and visited several others.

He also toured the Fisher House facilities there, was impressed with what they were doing, and did indicate a desire to support it.

An eRumor got started that he dramatically pulled out his checkbook on the spot and wrote a check for the cost of building an entire house, which was not true. Fisher House says the confusion may have come when an announcement was made later in that a new $1-million facility was going to be built.

It was at the same time as a mention that Denzel Washington had pledged a donation to Fisher House.  Four months later, however, he came through “in a big way”, according to the folks at Fisher House.  They won’t disclose the amount of his gift, but Fisher House spokesman James Weiskopf says it’s one of the largest in the organization’s history and that Denzel Washington has agreed to serve on the Fisher House board of trustees.

The question is – why do: Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton,  TomCruise and other Hollywood fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics, and Denzel Washington’s Patriotism doesn’t even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the local newspaper in San Antonio!?