Pfc. Joshua Sparling
Posted on 12/23/2005 11:28:43 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Pfc. Joshua Sparling
Here's an update on the injured soldier who received that sick death-wish card at Walter Reed Army Hospital. The Port Huron Times Herald reports:
As Joshua Sparling lay in his hospital bed, just a couple of days after being wounded by a bomb in Iraq, he got a letter.
The letter, addressed to "any soldier," wasn't meant to lift the spirits of someone just injured in battle. Instead, the letter, written in what looked like a child's handwriting, told Pfc. Sparling, 24, a paratrooper with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, to have a "great time dieing (sic) in the war." It ended with a postscript that said in big letters "DIE."
"I was shocked that (someone) would send a letter like that to anyone, period," said Joshua's father, Mike Sparling of Greenwood Township. "Let alone send it to someone returning from war."
But, Mike Sparling said his son, who had been in Iraq since August, used it as motivation to get better.
Joshua Sparling, a graduate of Yale High School, joined the Army this year. He was on special assignment in Ramadi, Iraq, when he was injured Nov. 18. He was on foot patrol when he saw men running out of a hole, and he and others in the unit gave chase. When Sparling was about 6 feet away from the hole, it blew up, sending him about 30 feet in the air, his father said.
Since then, he has been undergoing surgery nearly every other day at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for a badly injured right leg.
On Wednesday, he had major surgery in which doctors tried to repair the leg with muscle, bone and tissue from his left leg, his father said. If the surgery doesn't work, Joshua may lose his leg...
Pfc. Sparling called into the Fox and Friends program earlier this week and shared great news with Brian Kilmeade, who broke this story two weeks ago. His leg will be saved. And, he says, he plans to go back to Iraq once he heals. Amazing.
My friend Kirby Wilbur, KVI-AM talk show host in Seattle launched the Joshua Sparling Project, encouraging listeners in the Pacific Northwest to send get well wishes and Christmas cards to the injured soldier. Nearly 9,000 came in!
It's never too late to send words of encouragement to troops hospitalized at Walter Reed. Send them to:
Red Cross
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Heaton Pavillion
3EO5
Washington, DC 20307
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Kit Jarrell interviewed Pfc. Sparling over at Euphoric Reality.
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Related:
*Merry Christmas, My Friend (adapted for soldiers here).
*Fred Barnes on the MSM's War without Heroes. An exception to the MSM rule is here at the Seattle Times, which highlights a few heroes from the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade. (But who needs old media when you've got Michael Yon?)
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Previous:
Counter the hate
A batch of goodness
Unhinged scumbag of the year (Bluto has more.)
And I'm sure the spineless turd didn't include a return address. But seriously, if I'd received it, I'm sure I would've laughed out loud. I just don't like hearing about others receiving it.
the "spineless turd" is all over the place... he was on H&C the other day...
and just so you don't misunderstand y quoting you - I do agree that he is a spineless turd in dire need of a stomping... he's a nasty, hateful, little shit of a non-man
The idiot you are talking about it covered in detail here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1542980/posts
That is why our military is the best. Someone sends a horrid message, and it is used as motivation to ge better. Our military rocks!
Hey Sarge and Bilbo ~ I had no idea this guy was from your neck of the woods!
(Oh -- and Bilbo -- there's the obligatory picture of Michelle here -- but I like MY version better! LOL!!)
Coop - for when you get back - hope you get to see him again!
I was lucky enough to speak with Pfc Joshua Sparling by phone the other day for about 20 minutes, and just now for a few minutes as well. All quotes are to the best of my memory and notes made while we spoke, as I wasn’t able to record either conversation.
Sparling said that he had received thousands of cards, and over 100 boxes of gifts, food, and other items. Not only was it “all my parents could do to keep up with opening the cards, but my sister is coming this weekend and bringing extra help.”
When asked what he was doing with it all, he replied, “I’ll tell you, 99 out of those 100 boxes went around the ward to the other soldiers in here. They’re my brothers, and I don’t care, they’re getting all this stuff too. Yeah, I may have almost lost a leg, but there are many guys way worse off than I am in here.”
Sparling was embarrassed by the knowledge that he was “famous,” and told me that “I really didn’t want to be famous. I didn’t join the Army to be famous, I joined to help people. When I first heard about all the attention, I was just like, ‘Man, I don’t want this.’ But I can help people like this, I can help the guys in here by giving them this stuff I’m getting.”
Just now when I spoke to him, he told me to please make sure to say, “Thank you for all the support, thanks for caring about me. Tell everyone to have a Merry Christmas.”
I did ask if I could call him back in about a week and check in with him and he said he’d love that, so we’ll be bringing you more exclusive conversations with him. The idea that he can be sitting in the hospital, in incredible pain, and yet be so gracious and humble, just makes me cry. His family is spending Christmas in a hospital room. Think about that when you’re opening your gifts.
God bless Joshua, and all the troops serving.
by Kit Jarrell
Thanks for posting this. I wanted to know the rest of this story.
For the avoidance of doubt. This spineless turd in question, who wrote those unkind words to Joshua Sparling, is also a coward and a cretin and a Bad Head lo-life mungrel Scroat. A great ball-less wonder, completely smooth and polished in the nether-regions, anatomically-incorrect. He ought to go boil his head, or at very least go hang himself for shame.
ping request
I just read all of these posts about this wonderful young man at the same time as listening to Alan Colmes (the s&*t) and some woman defending Johnny Walker Linhd (or whatever that POS's name is) who was arrested in Afganistan for being a traitor. And of course, Colmes was defending this guy and said he should be released early from prison. What a difference in two young American men. My nephew is in Kuwait right now before he moves into Iraq on the 27th for a year and I would hate the thought that his life would be endangered by another American who happens to hate this country.... God Bless PFC Sparling and God Bless my nephew....true American heroes....
I saw Colmes just a few minutes ago as well. What a dirtbag! Hope everything goes well for your nephew. He is a great American!
> od Bless PFC Sparling and God Bless my nephew....true American heroes....
"Lord God in Heaven, we seek this Christmas blessing on all American Troops, however and wherever deployed, who are fighting the good fight to keep us all safe. Be with each of them: steel their soldier's hearts, strengthen their right arm, make keen their eye and make sure their aim. And when they have finished their Mission, return them all home safe to a grateful Nation. Same thing for the Ozzies and all Allies. In Jesus Name, Amen."
Happy Christmas
"DieHard the Hunter"
thank you...he's my heart and he's my hero!
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list...
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