The Lee Family

U.S. Army Sgt. Adam Lee was born and raised in central Alabama. Since childhood, his dream was to serve as a police office and a soldier. In his junior year of high school, he began fulfilling that dream by enlisting in the Alabama National Guard as a Military Policeman.

Lee served in the National Guard from 1996 until 2002. Following his honorable discharge, he worked as a Juvenile Training Officer at a boy’s boot camp correctional facility for four years before enlisting in the U.S. Army.

In January 2007, Lee began his first deployment in Afghanistan. While there, he helped train Afghan police units in the region. Four months prior to his return home in 2008, he suffered a back injury in a fall from a vehicle.

In 2009, back in the United States, he accepted a position as a Military Working Dog Handler. Upon graduation from the Department of Defense Military Working Dog School in 2010, he and his German Shorthaired Pointer, Baco, were deployed to Afghanistan.

As they were departing Special Operations Command Central for their first team assignment, the CH-47 Chinook helicopter that was transporting them had a main engine malfunction and crashed. Thankfully, they both survived the crash - Baco escaped with only a few minor cuts and bruises but Lee severely reinjured his back. This ultimately forced him to accept a medical retirement in 2012.

While serving, Lee received a number of awards including the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Afghanistan Campaign media, among many others.

His back injury has left him unable to work and his wife, Sherry, helps him daily. They have two children.

Operation FINALLY HOME and Dilworth Development, in partnership with Southern Living, are pleased to be giving the Lee family a new, mortgage-free home in Auburn, Ala.