Baseball brings back wounded veteran's memory.

Noe Santos, a combat-disabled veteran of the Iraq War, shows an infectious smile when he talks about baseball and his beloved New York Yankees. After losing his leg and nearly his life in Iraq, traumatic brain injury took away most of his memory--nearly everything, but the New York Yankees.

Baseball has always been a big part of Santos' life. As a child, he played on the rough fields of the Dominican Republic, where baseball is one of the most important things in life. When he was 11, his family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., and the New York Yankees became his team. So much so, that after being wounded in Iraq, it was his love for the Yankees that helped him on the road to recovery.

"I love baseball," said Santos. "I always played baseball. It's always been a part of my life."

"Whenever you get frustrated, it's pretty much an escape. It's something I use to calm myself down and relieve some stress," Santos said.

"Noe Santos demonstrates the therapeutic value of baseball, and sports in general, for disabled veterans," said Washington Headquarters Executive Director David W. Gorman. "It's one reason why our baseball program is so successful. The program is a recreational and therapeutic program for the hospitalized veterans who are our guests at DAV Day at the Ballpark games, and it is a great way to tell America about our programs of service to disabled veterans and their families."

U.S. Army Specialist Santos was a member of the 3rd Infantry Division near Taji, Iraq, when the Humvee he was in hit three improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mounted as a gunner in the top of the Humvee, Santos remembers the blast that caused his injuries. "I got thrown from the vehicle," he said. "I don't know how high I flew, but the vehicle flipped a couple of times in the air, and I was thrown from the turret."

"When I landed, I was pretty dazed and confused," he recalls.

Working quickly and unaware of the extent of his injuries, medics placed a tourniquet above the knee of his blood-soaked uniform trousers, and within minutes Santos was whisked aboard a Blackhawk helicopter and medically evacuated to an emergency treatment facility in the Green Zone of Baghdad.

"I lost my leg there," said Santos. "I bled for six hours and pretty much lost all my blood. They pumped 120 units of blood in me, and I swelled up pretty big."

Severely wounded and losing blood, Santos' heart stopped beating. But quick resuscitation by doctors saved his life. Then he was rushed to the U.S. Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Hospital in Germany, the largest U.S. military hospital on foreign soil where more than 30,000 casualties have been treated since the Iraq War began.

"I flat-lined there, too," said Santos. "But both times they were able to bring me back to life. Then they sent me to Walter Reed where I have been since Sept. 9, 2005." Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center discovered that Santos' loss of blood had deprived his brain of needed oxygen. "I had brain damage," said Santos. "I was in a coma. I don't know how long, and after I came back, pretty much everything was kind of erased."

"I knew who my mother was and who my family were, but I didn't know things like my phone number or my home address or where I was."

Every morning Walter Reed medical staff would work with Santos. "I couldn't remember where I was," said Santos. "Instead of saying Walter Reed, I would substitute Williamsburg Bridge, which is near my house. Every time they would ask me a question I would give them a different answer."

Deciding Santos needed special rehabilitation, medical staff prepared to send him to a special brain trauma unit in Richmond, Va. "The morning I was supposed to leave I woke up and was able to remember the whole Yankees lineup, from top to bottom," said Santos. "I told my therapist the lineup, and he quickly went to the doctors and told them I was pretty much back on my feet."

"It was interesting. I couldn't remember my phone number or anything, but I remembered the Yankees lineup. I'm a big fan of the Yankees--a big Yankees fan."

'I always wanted to be a baseball player," said Santos. "I always played baseball, softball, anything that had to do with the sport."

Santos said losing his leg is a "big deal because I can't do some of the things I was able to do. I can't get up and run the bases like I used to. That's taken a lot of adjustment, but I'm getting there, slowly."

Playing baseball with his fellow wounded veterans at a special event sponsored by the DAV in May was a big thrill for Santos. He even received an authentic New York Yankees jersey.

"This is the first time since the injury that I've been able to play baseball," said Santos. "I got my hands on a glove and a bat. I could stand up and bat. I really want to thank the DAV for giving me the opportunity to play. It's been a great time."

And he knew the Yankees lineup, top to bottom.

"Our baseball program has meant a lot to Noe Santos and many other wounded veterans from Iraq, Afghanistan and other fields of battle," said Gorman. "We made their rehabilitation a little easier and brought joy to the glum hospital life that our service members must endure to restore their lives. It's all part of building better lives for disabled veterans and their families. It's also part of the joy of our mission."

Thousands of DAV members and their guests have attended 35 special DAV Day at the Ballpark games this season. Major and Minor League ballparks have featured first pitches by Iraq War veterans and on-field introductions during pre-game ceremonies.

Several teams visit wounded veterans at Walter Reed and Bethesda National Naval Medical Center when they play in Washington. Other teams have greeted veterans at VA medical centers around the country as part of DAV's Celebrity Entertainment Program.

"There's no doubt our newest generation of disabled veterans loves baseball," said Gorman. "We want to bring baseball to them--to brighten the long road to recovery."