Purple Hearts Gallery

[electricmonk]

at The Digital Journalist website. Photos of wounded soldiers and their thoughts on things. Some of it's pretty moving.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0412/purplehearts__thumbs.html

Spc. Robert Acosta

At Walter Reed, it tripped me out because there were a lot of guys there messed up. I guess you hear about guys getting hit and this and that but you don't realize until you actually see them. Because when somebody gets hurt, they're out of there within hours, and you hear rumors, you hear stories, some guy got hit, some guy that, but you don't really see the reality of it until you get there and see them in the hospital. It's a trip when you're one of those guys too. I'm 20 years old and these guys are like between 18 and 23. It's weird.
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I mean like all the reasons we went to war, it just seems like they're not legit enough for people to lose their lives for and for me to lose my hand and use of my leg and for my buddies to lose their limbs. Like I just had a big conversation with my buddy the other day and like we want to know. I feel like we deserve to know.
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Cpl Tyson Johnson III

Shrapnel down the back, shrapnel that came in and hit my head, punctured my lungs. I broke both of my arms. I lost a kidney. My intestines was messed up. They took an artery out of my left leg and put it into this right arm. They pretty much took my life. Pretty much.

I was supposed to be going to physical and occupational therapy then they canceled it because I missed 3 days in a row. I was throwing up, I couldn't hold anything in my stomach. Now I have to do OT myself. I'm trying to teach my son how to count on his hand. And you can see my fingers is messed up. Sometimes my hands will be so red, so fire red, I'm not able to drive. I've got to put on my gloves. I'm not able to touch anything.

I got a bonus in the National Guards for joining the Army. Now I've got to pay the bonus back and it's $2999. If I would have continued and finished my contract I wouldn't have to pay it back. The Guard wants it back. It's on my credit that I owe them that. I'm burning on the inside. I'm burning.