EMSA Helps A Vet Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner At Home

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- Thanksgiving should be a homecoming but sometimes that's not easy for older family members.

Thursday some Oklahoma City EMSA medics made it easier for one Oklahoma City family.   

EMSA medics stopped by an Oklahoma City home, not to pickup someone; they were making a Thanksgiving Day delivery. 

Eighty-three-year-old Doyal Marsh was brought up from the Norman Veterans' Center to his daughter's home in Oklahoma City. 

Karen Duncan had worried her father wouldn't be able to join them. 

"As far as being here I did not expect him at all today to join us. So we were planning on just doing the best we could, visiting him down at the V.A. center," said Karen Duncan. 

Thanks to EMSA, Doyal Marsh was able to join the family.

"I just laid back and enjoyed the ride," said Doyal Marsh. 

Marsh is a Marine Corps veteran who fought on Iwo Jima and he was ready to enjoy the dinner too. 

"Turkey and dressing.  Dressing and turkey. That's my favorite. But we will have potatoes, some pumpkin pie probably or pecan pie," said Doyal Marsh. 

Time to be grateful that Doyal Marsh could be part of it all. 

"It's really nice to have the opportunity to have somebody bring him here so we can enjoy him here at home," Karen Duncan said.  

EMSA has been making Thanksgiving Day deliveries like this for the past eight years. Sometimes they transport a special needs child home. Sometimes it's a veteran like Doyal Marsh.

"He did our country a great service, and I just thought the best thing to do for Thanksgiving was to serve him some things and to bring him back for his family," said Chris Herron, EMSA medic. 

Family members from as far away as the Denver and San Antonio came to Oklahoma City to join Doyal Marsh for the Thanksgiving Day dinner.