Recognizing sacrifice and pain

October 01, 2004

Sgt. 1st Class Charles Franks of Waldo pointed to the deep purple medal hanging from his chest and joked that it was an expert enemy badge.

“It means the enemy hit its mark, they got us,” he said of the Purple Heart. “This is one you don’t want to get again. I know I don’t.”

He and Spc. Pete Hildreth of Magnolia received Purple Hearts today for wounds received under fire with 3rd Battalion’s Delta Company.

Hildreth was wounded in a June 21 mortar attack at Fort Apache.

Franks was wounded in a July 22 fire fight when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the pavement under his humvee, exploding the vehicle’s battery located under his seat.

He had shrapnel in one cheek — the one sitting on the battery, if you get my drift — surrounded by the Mother of all Bruises.

He and Hildreth recovered from their wounds and are back with Delta Company, patrolling an area north of Baghdad.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON Brig. Gen. Ron Chastain, commander of Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade, awards the Purple Heart to Sgt. 1st Class Charles Franks (left) and Spc. Pete Hildreth. More pictures

There are Arkansans still fighting at home — fighting to survive.

There are men who have come home missing limbs, eyes, part of a lung. There are men with scars that will never fade.

The soldiers are bonded by their wounds and scars even though not all of them receive a Purple Heart. Some are recovering from injuries and illness that were not incurred in combat.

The medal is given in honor of injury in battle. But it also symbolizes the ultimate and sometimes lingering sacrifice of war.

“It’s truly amazing to me what you do out there,” said Brig. Gen. Ron Chastain to the men. “It shows the courage that you all have displayed.”

Courage continues at home for many, with respiratory therapy for damaged lungs and exercises to strengthen damaged minds.

One soldier is learning how to cope with one eye.

Others are learning to walk with new legs.

And all of those Purple Hearts were earned by surviving the sting of a bullet or the pain of shrapnel.

Not everyone who earns a Purple Heart is able to wear it on their chest. These medals are kept by survivors as mementos of a life lost.

For Franks, Hildreth and others however, it’s a symbol of a life continuing.

Posted by Amy at October 1, 2004 09:39 PM