Glenwood Springs—She’s climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, she came within 200 meters of the summit of Mount Everest last month, she’s a world class snowboarder and she has one leg. Sergeant Kirstie Ennis, a medically retired Marine Corps veteran lost her left leg above the knee in a helicopter crash over the Helmand Province in Afghanistan seven years ago. Next month, in the land of make believe, Hollywood, California, Ennis will be presented with the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPY awards show. Pat Tillman was an outstanding safety for the Arizona Cardinals who enlisted in the Army in the prime of his career after the 9-11 attacks. He was killed by friendly fire in April of 2004. Ennis, a Florida native who now lives in Ironbridge, has called the Roaring Fork Valley her home for three years. She was the first veteran in the area to receive a home through the Building Homes for Heroes program in 2016. Despite over 40 surgeries to repair the extensive physical damage, the former aerial gunner has earned three gold medals in the Warrior Games in swimming and is attempting to climb the world’s tallest peaks. Ennis says “to receive the Pat Tillman Award and to be associated with a true American hero is a tremendous honor.” The ESPYs will be nationally televised on ABC, July 10th.
