Person of the Week: Jim Mayer

April 16 -- Jim Mayer is well-known in Ward 57 of the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He visits every week to talk with some of the 70 men and women who have lost a limb since the war in Iraq began in March 2003.

Mayer is known to most as the "Milkshake Man" for the treats he brings.

"[The milkshakes are] like a taste of home," Mayer said. "It's just an icebreaker. And then I can start listening and hear what's on their mind and start to become a friend. Nothing really heavy at first."

It often takes three or four visits before Mayer gets a vet to open up, and the conversation turns more serious. It is usually at that time when Mayer reveals that he is a double amputee.

"What's really cool about that is that many of them go, 'Wow, I wouldn't have known if you didn't tell me,' " he said.

Mayer, 58, lost both his legs 35 years ago in the Vietnam War, after stepping on a land mine.

"It blew me straight up in the air and resulted in the loss of both my legs below the knee," he said.

Mayer was just 23 at the time. He had a business degree and has hoped to be an Army clerk, but he was assigned to be a rifleman instead.

"I was wounded immediately. I said to myself, 'I am going to live.' So it's kind of like, 'OK, this is bad. This is not good. But I'm gonna live.' I became determined immediately to get over it," he said.

Mayer began working full time for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and in 1991, during the first Gulf War, he began visiting amputee patients at Walter Reed and Bethesda Medical Center.

In addition to the visits, Mayer recently helped organize a free weekly Friday night dinner at a nearby restaurant open to all patients and their families.

Wounded Soldier Maintains Hope

Mayer believes it's important for injured veterans to maintain contact with the outside world. For young soldiers traumatized by their experience, it is easy to lose hope.

Army Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell was severely wounded after his vehicle hit an antitank mine in Afghanistan. His long list of injuries includes an amputated leg.