|
Wounded, soldier waiting to come home
Published November 8, 2009
Sherry Morales got the call all mothers with children in the military dread.
On Oct. 23, Morales was told her son had been injured when his battalion came across an 800-pound roadside bomb in Iraq.
Her 23-year-old son, Spc. Chris Daniel, was alive.
“The Army called me and were talking to me like I already knew what happened,” Morales said. “I said ‘What do you mean he’s OK and back with the unit?’”
Daniel was injured in the bomb explosion Oct. 19. He has a torn ligament on his left foot, a gash over his right eye and a cracked wrist. Daniel was lucky. His staff sergeant, 26-year-old Bradley Espinoza of Mission, Texas, died of wounds from the explosion.
The incident took place in Qwest, Iraq, when members of 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division tried to disarm the bomb.
The explosion
Talking on a muddled cell phone from a hospital in Iraq, Daniel, a 2004 graduate of Monroe Area High School who loves soccer and wrestling, recalls the incident.
“Initially, when it happened, the first thing that comes to mind is what they train us to do — check yourself, check your buddies and get out,” Daniel said.
Daniel mans a .50-caliber gun while he and his fellow soldiers travel in their M-Rat. An Igloo cooler on the truck exploded. Daniel said he thought it was blood.
“I got out and cut my buddy loose, set him down, ran around and hooked up with a sergeant of mine to get my squad leader out.”
Though he was wounded, adrenaline carried him.
“It was hard at the time,” Daniel said. “We had so much stuff going on that had to be done. I just wanted to make sure I could help out.”
Espinoza was found dead.
“I pray for his family,” Daniel said. “He is a really good guy. He put a lot on my shoulders. He left me to prove I could take that next step of leadership.”
Coming home
Around his wrist, Daniel wears a band in memory of his friend Joseph Helton, also a MAHS graduate who died in a roadside bomb explosion in September in Iraq.
Daniel, who said he will receive a Purple Heart for his service, was set to come home in December after his first tour in Iraq. He was supposed to spend his last night in Iraq Friday.
Morales, like most mothers whose son is fighting a war thousands of miles away, is a worrier. Daniel didn’t want her to know he was hurt because he knew she would be even more worried.
“I didn’t want (My family) to know until I got home,” Daniel said.
Daniel’s family communicates with him through text and cell phone calls, but Daniel isn’t allowed to say much. He doesn’t want to say much, either, so he doesn’t worry his family.
“I knew what I was getting into when I signed up for the Army,” Daniel said. “Anything can happen. It was a personal choice. The whole year was fine, nothing really happened.
“The thing that is so ironic about it here is we are a month from going home and this happens. Hopefully I can be home within the next two weeks. I’ll be in Texas at least.”
Fort Hood shooting
Daniel said last week he would be arriving at the world’s largest Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. On Thursday, 39-year-old Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and injured 30 in a shooting spree there.
Had it been a few days later, Daniel might have been there.
He wasn’t, his mother said.
“I e-mailed my son. I am quite sure he didn’t know what was going on,” Morales said Friday morning. “He’s still in Iraq — tonight is his last night in Iraq. I was worried he was on his way there. I don’t know if it will impact him coming back. It’s terrible. He would have been right in the area where it took place because that’s the place where they check him out medically when they are coming or going.”
Waiting for Chris
Sitting in her Monroe home, Morales shows off pictures of her son and two daughters.
The youngest of three, Daniel was a lot thinner than he is now. He has grown from the Army training. He has also grown emotionally, Morales said.
“He’s grown and I worry about him everyday,” she said. “I’m proud.”
Father Dan Toof of St. Anna’s Church in Monroe has known Daniel for eight years and said he has seen Daniel grow since joining the Army as well.
“Chris impressed me as being prudent,” Toof said. “He had weighed his choices, the risks and the benefits, and consciously choose to face danger in the service of his country. It did not surprise me to hear Chris went back to the bombed vehicle to cut the safety belts and free the unconscious soldier.
“Chris grew up here at St. Anna’s with many people playing a role in his formation — taking him under their wing, even into their home. As a member of our youth group, he served as a lector and Eucharistic minister. I am very proud of Chris. He is a man of faith, courage and integrity.”
Morales is already planning for the day Daniel gets home.
“I’m going to fix him whatever he wants,” she said. “I fix Spanish food pretty good. I just want us to spend quality family time together.”
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print
|
