THEN & NOW: They Met at West Point. His Combat Wounds Changed Everything

They didn’t speak for a full year, but once they did they soon became a couple. Things have a way of working themselves out. Life had changed some for Kim back in Missouri. Her parents had divorced, and the turmoil of the split had rattled her free of certain childhood rules and norms. She’d fallen in love with Greg.

Greg and Kim married a few days after graduation. When their children, Gabriel and Jaelen were born, Kim left the Army and became a schoolteacher, but Greg stayed in, deploying to every conflict in which the United States engaged. “There were the typical hardships, but there was just absolutely no way to imagine this — how our lives would change — what we would endure.”

“When I was wounded,” Gadson recalls, “Kim put everything aside. She quit teaching. She had to take care of me and two pre-teen kids. There was no room for her. There was no Kim!”

At the time, Greg says, he didn’t have the capacity to appreciate her sacrifice. He was so focused on his own healing. Kim’s faith supported his own. She read to him from the Old Testament — the book of Job — which is about a wealthy, happy man who loses everything, but remains committed to God. In the end, God rewards Job with even more gifts.

As Gadson recovered, he began to gain notoriety. The former West Point football player was invited to speak to the New York Giants, who then won the Super Bowl as he cheered from the sidelines. He played a major role in the movie Battleship. He appeared in NCIS-Los Angeles, and The Inspectors, a CBS after-school series. He traveled the country speaking to corporations, sports teams, and nonprofits.

“I’m in a movie. I’m on television. I’m at the White House. I never asked for any of it, but Kim — that’s the sort of thing she dreads!” Greg chuckles. While he’s on stage at one of his many public speaking engagements, Kim is often at home, planning her classes and avoiding the spotlight.

“Her humility is off the scale,” Greg says. She’d never mentioned that she has an excellence award for her teaching. Often when they are out in public, Greg is recognized by a fan. But they also occasionally run into a parent or former student who comments on the impact that Kim has had on their lives.

Her measured reactions and her steadiness have played an important role. “She’s always taught me how to turn a hardship into something productive. 

Kim had always dreamed of having twin boys. Later, Jaelen and his wife Alaina stepped in to fulfill her vision. James and Jeremiah Gadson were born in October 2020. There are now four more grandchildren.

“I couldn’t have made a better choice,” Gadson says of his romantic pursuit back at West Point. “I couldn’t be more blessed.”