Wounded soldier gives his purple heart to his high school

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- It was just a few years ago that Kit Lowe was a student at Benedictine Military School in Savannah.

"Yeah, I used to sit in the back at assemblies like you guys back there," Lowe said as he pointed to some young men in the back row of the school's auditorium.

Lowe has come a long way and changed a great deal since those days of goofing off a little in the back row. A member of the Georgia National Guard, he was recently wounded in Afghanistan (during the same mission that killed Captain Matt Freeman from Richmond Hill) and has spent several months enduring painful rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Lowe suffered severe nerve damage in his leg and still can't feel anything from the knee down. Still, he stood before the young cadets Tuesday to give them a pep talk about the school and a project he has to help children in Afghanistan. First, the school. "I learned so much here which has instilled in me a sense of purpose and of serving," he told the young men. And second, his project to help provide school supplies for Afghan children. "Most of the stuff you throw away here, like pencils and un-used notebooks, they would want them and use them there," Lowe said.

In most schools, even a military one, you might see some youngsters drifting off, showing that blank stare that means the speaker has lost them. Not during this assembly. Lowe had the undivided attention of everyone in the room, students, teachers and several reporters who were present.

"It makes me want to study harder," one 14 year old freshman told me. "He was really inspiring."

At the end of the assembly, Lowe took all those present by surprise when he presented the school's principal, Deborah Antosca, with the purple heart he recently received. (Lowe is credited with trying to save the life of a medic during the battle that killed Captain Freeman. It's how he was shot in the leg.)

"This school means everything to me and I just wanted to give something back, which is why I gave my purple heart," he told me.

Lowe is on his way back to Washington, D.C. where he expects to have surgery on his leg. His goal is to make it back to active military duty. "I want to keep serving," he tells me.

As far as the school supply project, Lowe says it was actually a dream originated by Captain Freeman, a dream he is trying to help fulfill. "I hope folks in Savannah will help, I know they will, it's a good town," he says.

If you're interested in donating to the Afghanistan school supply project, visit: http://afghanistanmylasttour.com/school-supplies-for-afghan-children