Another Marine’s Story
This picture and story came to me from several different sources and forms, so after some research, I decided it should be published as a good representation of spirit and as one more tribute to those awesome people doing the job for us. To check out the authenticity of this story see this source for more information. DebV
Read the story and you'll
understand the gesture!
The Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant in the picture is Michael Burghard, part of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team that is supporting 2nd Brigade 28th Infantry Division (Pennsylvania Army National Guard).
I heard the below story first hand last Saturday during a
video teleconference between his Brigade Commander and the 28th Infantry
Division Commander. I thought that others should hear it as well, as I
think it demonstrates the true spirit of most of our troops on the ground (from
my experience).
John
Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron
Mike" or just "Gunny". He is on his third tour in Iraq.
He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the
Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance
during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He
had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers.
He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You
can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision," he explains.
So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began
what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping
gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater.
The earth shifted
slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He
cut the wire and used his 7 inch knife to probe the ground. "I found a
piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when
I knew I was screwed."
Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."
His colleagues cut
off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his
legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from
the waist down," says Sgt Burghardt. "I was lying there
thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see
me like that. They ! started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp
pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought,
'Good, I'm in business.' "As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and
anger kicked in. "I decided to walk to the helicopter. I
wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a
stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a
one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I
lost that round but I'll be back next week'."
Copies of a
photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha
World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John
Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an
exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and
wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and
could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a
Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he
stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever
coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.