Jan. 30, 2008
Wounded Iraq Vet A Can-Do Spirit Giant
Loses Both Legs In Battle, But Helps Inspire "Big Blue" All The Way To Super Bowl
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Lt. Col. Greg Gadson (CBS/EARLY SHOW)
That's when Sullivan asked Gadson if he wanted to address the 0-2 Giants.
In that speech, Gadson says, he reminded the Giants that, "It's the soldiers that are out there with you, your brothers, that's who you're really fighting for -- you're fighting for that guy on your left and you're fighting for that guy on your right."
"How he expressed it," Sullivan says, "there's really no way to do it justice, because it was so moving. It was from the heart, and it was very, very powerful."
Down 17-to-3 at the half, the Giants stormed back in the fourth quarter for their first win.
One of the Giants who formed a special bond that night was star wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
"When somebody of his magnitude and caliber, what he's been through, for him to look up to us, that just says a lot about him and means more to us."
And Coughlin drew loud cheers from the team when he announced to the team in the locker room that Gadson was getting that game ball.
Standing proudly on prosthetic legs, Gadson met the Giants eye-to-eye at their first playoff game, in Tampa.
His role as honorary captain is now part of football legend, Glor says, but Gadson is continuing his mission on another playing field, encouraging and inspiring fellow wounded vets.
"If you keep focus on your goal, then it'll come. I promise you that," he told one.
"We had a saying in our locker room (in West Point) on a board that we used to touch every time that we left our locker room," Gadson recalled to Glor. Now it hangs above the door to his kitchen. It says, "I lay me down for to bleed awhile, and I will rise to fight with you again."
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