Purple Hearts documentary and picture thread

[DrDebug]

There's a documentary on three soldiers who returned from Iraq after being wounded. This documentary was not allowed to be shown in United States. It is in English with subtitles and it consists of the story of three Purple Hearts.

http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/afleveringen/19115612/

I decided to make a picture thread out of the story with some clippings. It is a story which needs to be told.

Please do not argue about what they are saying. Their story is their story and it is not about agreeing or disagreeing. It's their account and their opinion may differ from ours.



Salvador Hoss jr.

Salvador Hoss jr. is blind with a leg missing.



Scared ain't the word.
I mean, you can talk about fear.
You can talk about ... really thinking you are going to die.
But you totally forgot about it and something kicks in which is ten times worse than those emotions.
It's unexplainable.
It's like you forget everything you ever knew and you can just concentrate on one thing.
Either you are going to take care of them or they are going to take care of you.



It's like somebody rained M42s all over the country.



Everything.
I remember everything.
And then the next three months are a blank until I woke up.
Sometimes I see it, because that's the last image which went through my brain.



> Any regrets?
Hell, no!

I wish we leveled their whole country.
We should have made it the world's largest wide-open desert.

> And by doing that what are you doing
With the people who are accidently living there? That's their problem.
> Are you serious?
Yeah!
But I'm an American soldier so that's how I was taught to feel.

Corporal Johnson

Corporal Johnson got severely wounded, however he appears and sounds normal.



I want to get myself right back in pretty soon preferably. Would they let me back in?

Girlfriend> He wants to go back.
> Do you really want to go back?
I don't necessarily want to go back to Iraq. I want to go back to wherever Uncle Sam sends me.
So if they want to send me back to Iraq, Baghdad. That's wherever I go.



You see it was like. It was pretty much going through a junkyard
You have burning cars. Cars with bodies in it



> What was the reason for going there?
That's funny. I suppose that's the reason why I belong in the army. If somebody says do something then I am up doing it. I don't think.
My personal opinion about it. I don't think we belong to go there.
> Why not?
I rather not say. We don't belong to go over there. This war wasn't supposed to happen. A lot of soldiers died. And not just soldiers, but also Iraqis.



I woke up. I was in Walter Reed when I woke up. I was out for about a week and a half.

When I woke up they said: "You are in Washington"
I am in Washington? What am I doing in Washington. I still couldn't believe I was in Washington

Moshe couldn't make it, because he had to go to a funeral.
I said "a funeral?"
Yeah we had to go to Browns funeral
Brown died in a mortar round
And then it hit me. Sgt. Gaynor just said that they had to go to a funeral for Brown.
I hadn't dawned on me that they were talking about the guy I was playing pool with.



Mother> I am angry because they turned him into this man, this army man, but when he got hurt, he just got dropped

Mother> But somebody needs to tell them that they are not maggots but heros! Not just drop them and leave them. They are truly a hero, because they are doing what they were asked to do



I wouldn't never come back to live back at home and back stuck in mum's house
I lost everything I loved doing. I dedicated my life to the army.
I supposed that's where I went wrong. I loved the army more than myself. And then I lost it.

John Quincy Adams

Sgt. John had severe problems talking after getting shrapnel in the head. His wife did most of the talking. He is blessed to have an amazing wife.



W> Big difference to how he sounds now



W> It went straight in


> All the veterans mainly regret not being there anymore
W> Yes
Yeah
When you put on the uniform the people look up to you.



W> Our letters. Our voice letters
> From a different John
W> From a different John that I knew. Because the John I have now is not my John



>If they call you tomorrow and ask you to go back to Iraq?
If my boys call then I'll go with them
W> But why?
I would say to kill those Iraqis
W> But for what reason?
For hitting me and all the Americans over there. Plus I have no regrets
W> Anger that's how I see it
W> A battle that is never going to end
W> And in the end we will have to go. Sooner or later
W> But we don't understand them and they don't understand us. And we never will

Edit: Spelling

[BlueManDude]

1. Maybe some GOPers can mock them with Band-Aids?

[unhappycamper]

2. We honor them by listening to their stories.

For the freepers: War is bad for your health.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/wounded/gallery.htm

[DrDebug]

3. Indeed. Everything said normally is theoretical bullshit

It is the testimony of those returning from Iraq which is the truth and what is really going on.

You can't talk about a war without listening and reading the stories of those who have witnessed it, but since those stories are horrible we prefer not to listen, see or read it.

Thanks for the link.

[unhappycamper]

4. Here's two more links. I should have included them in the first post.

It took a Freedom Of Information Act to pry these pictures out of our government:

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/dover/gallery.htm

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB152/index.htm