NAIROBI, Kenya — The three American veterans from three different wars had only one good leg among them. But that didn’t stop them from summiting Africa’s highest mountain.
The three scrambled, clawed and plodded to the top of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, hiking up scree-filled paths on one human leg and five prostheses. They skidded. They fell. They removed their legs to adjust their shoes. And after six days of climbing, they stood at 19,340 feet.
“The message we’re trying to send back to the USA is no matter what disability you have, you can be active,” said Kirk Bauer of Ellicott City, Md., the executive director of Disabled Sports USA and a 62-year-old Vietnam veteran who lost a leg in 1969.
The youngest vet, 26-year-old Neil Duncan, lost both legs to a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2005. The Denver resident tried to summit Kilimanjaro last year, but poor planning and a fast ascent schedule doomed the trip. This time, a different guide planned a route specifically for the veterans. Saturday morning, they made it to the top.
“It was evidence that with the right planning and right preparation and right execution, anything can be done,” Duncan said.
The third veteran was Dan Nevins, 37, of Jacksonville, Fla., who lost his legs in Iraq.
