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Taking nothing for granted

Aug-23-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

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Army private, Purple Heart honoree, says war taught him about himself

John Hacker Globe Staff Writer

Carl Junction High School graduate Travis Delzell went into the Army because he wanted to travel and he wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life.

A year and a half later, Delzell, 21, is a private first class in the Army and a decorated combat veteran of the war in Iraq.

Delzell said he has a greater appreciation of what life has to offer after his experiences in Iraq, especially after an Aug. 4 brush with death during a firefight with insurgents near his unit's base in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Delzell was awarded a Purple Heart after he was hit in the face by a sliver of metal shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade that hit something near his combat vehicle. It happened during a 10-hour firefight with insurgents on a highway near Mosul.

The wound was minor, and he was able to continue the fight for several more hours, but his commanding officer and another soldier were not so lucky and suffered more serious injuries in the attack.

"It was not a big piece of metal that hit me. It was more like a long, skinny sliver," Delzell said. "I was actually pulling pieces of metal out of my Kevlar helmet, so it could have been much worse. The lieutenant who commanded my unit was injured pretty badly and had to be evacuated to Germany. A sergeant in our unit had a piece of shrapnel graze his spinal column just below his flak vest. He couldn't feel anything for a while, but I understand he's regained feeling and will recover."[...]


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