Specialist Jerral Hancock
Being a single father of two small children, Julius, seven, and Anastasia, four, is difficult for any father. Now add the fact the father is paralyzed with only minimal use of his right hand, living in their own home, modified for his handicap. Support is furnished five days a week by his mother and step-father, Stacie and Dirrick Benjamin, and the other two days by his father, Steve Hancock. The Benjamins live across the street and are in constant contact by an intercom system.
This is the current life of one of the Antelope Valley Veterans’ Day Parade Grand Marshalls, Jerral Hancock.
Jerral Hancock was born on May 29, 1986, in Los Angeles, California, and attended high school in Culver City. Joining the Army in late 2004, Jerral left a fast-food job to move into a career that could support his family.
Assigned to be a driver in the M-1A2 Abrams tank, Spc. Hancock was driving down a street in Bagdad, Iraq, on his 21st birthday, Memorial Day, 2007.
Piloting a battle tank down a street where the American armored cavalry unit had made several patrols without incident, his time and luck ran out. The tank got caught in the explosion of an EFP – “explosively formed penetrator”. These weapons project molten copper that can penetrate tank armor. It took 30 minutes to get him out of the vehicle. His left arm was badly burned and after 2 amputations trying to save part of his arm it was amputated to the shoulder on the 3rd try. He was paralyzed and badly burned.
Spec. Hancock remembers waking up in the hospital in July. After a short stay in the hospital in Germany, he was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, arriving in early June. August 28th Hancock was transferred to the VA facility in Palo Alto, CA for spinal cord rehabilitation.
After returning to Lancaster, transportation for Hancock was needed. Realizing the $11,000 given by the Department of Veterans Affairs was not enough to buy a vehicle his mother posted requests on Websites and soon had $18,000 toward the down payment for a purchase of a van. Upgrades to his van were donated and he now has a vehicle, not only modified with a lift for his wheelchair, video players on the back of the headrests, and a navigation system, but is also beautiful.
In December, 2008, Hancock and his family made a trip in his new van to Texas to see his unit before they re-deployed.
