SAN ANTONIO — A Port Angeles soldier recovering from his wounds in Texas has married his hometown sweetheart and part-time nurse three months after he was injured in Afghanistan.
Army Pfc. Jeremy Wright and Ashley Ferguson, both of Port Angeles, married Nov. 27 before a small group of family members and friends in a military ceremony at Fort Sam Houston.
Wright, who left Port Angeles High School in 2007 and later received a GED diploma, is an outpatient at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston recovering from injuries he received when the armored vehicle on which he was riding was overturned by a roadside bomb.
He was the roof gunner on an RG-31 Nyala armored truck in Afghanistan on Aug. 26 when the improvised explosive device, or IED, detonated under the vehicle.
The couple already had plans to marry next year when Wright would have returned from his deployment to Afghanistan had he not been injured.
They moved up the ceremony because Army rules were making it difficult for Ferguson to stay in San Antonio to help Wright with day-to-day tasks, Wright said.
“It’s fantastic,” Wright said of being married to his hometown sweetheart.
Ferguson, who graduated from Port Angeles High in 2007, has been living in San Antonio to help care for Wright after his discharge from the hospital unit.
He is expected to remain as an outpatient at the medical center for at least a year.
Wright was able to stand — without assistance of a walker or cane — with Ferguson for the ceremony only three months after 11 bones in his arms and legs were broken.
“We waited until I could walk,” Wright said.
The wedding was held at the Wounded Warrior and Family Service Center, and the ceremony and small reception were organized by service center staff.
“They take good care of us,” he said.
An Army chaplain performed the ceremony.
Wright is the son of Morris Wright and Lisa Bokamper, both of Port Angeles.
Ferguson is the daughter of Mike and Janice Ferguson of Sequim.
They plan to hold a church ceremony on the North Olympic Peninsula and a reception for family and friends in June, when he is released from his daily treatment regimen to visit home on leave, he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
