Prayers Going Up...
for Kentucky National Guardsman
Jeremy Lowe and his family.
Jeremy is a 2002 graduate of
Bullitt East High School in Mt. Washington Kentucky (my alma mater),
and one of the injured in a recent bombing in Iraq.
I read this in our hometown newspaper,
and wanted to pass along his information. If anyone
would like to email Jeremy, you may do so at
The following is the news article from our newspaper.
Steve Faulkenburg and James Powell were from my hometown. This is the link: http://www.pioneernews.net/articles/2005/07/28/news/news01.txt
WASHINGTON D.C. - An Army National Guardsman from Mount Washington is recovering from
serious injuries received from a roadside bomb blast that struck his Hummer in Iraq earlier this month.
Jeremy Lowe, 21, was manning a .50 caliber machine gun aboard the escort vehicle July 3,
when an early morning blast surprised his convoy, killed his driver and injured both Lowe
and another man inside the vehicle.
According to Lowe, his crew was wrapping up a night-escort mission
about two hours south of Baghdad when an improvised explosive device
blew as his truck merged onto a major highway.
"I remember someone saying 'Oh God,' and then the bomb went off," Lowe said.
The blast threw Lowe's heavy machine gun and its mount onto his body,
shredding the skin on his arm.
Shrapnel from the bomb also entered Lowe's
abdomen and legs.
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Lowe said he was fighting to remove the machine
gun mount when he looked down to find his driver, 22-year-old Ryan Montgomery, dead.
"The next thing I remember was fire," Lowe said.
Lowe managed to free himself from the gun turret and a buddy from
another truck helped him to the ground where field medics triaged Lowe
and his sergeant who'd also been hit.
Lowe credited God, the excellent work of Army physicians and a bit of his
own stubbornness for surviving the hit.
"If I'd have not been standing in my turret, I wouldn't have made it," Lowe said.
Standing up in the turret was something that Lowe's superiors had been
getting on him and other soldiers about, but some felt more comfortable being able
to get a better look from the standing position.
Lowe said that if he'd have been seated that morning, the blast would have
taken his head off, rather than hit his abdomen and legs.
"It was a blessing and a godsend," Lowe said of surviving the attack.
From the field hospital, where Lowe was first treated,
to Walter Reed Hospital, where he arrived three days later, Lowe said was a blank -
not remembering anymore than short flashes of what happened aboard a
medical aircraft and a German hospital where he stayed for about one day.
Lowe is currently recuperating from abdominal and hand surgeries at Washington D.C.'s
Walter Reed Hospital and hopes to soon reach outpatient status, when he'll be able
to move into a transitional D.C. facility called the Mologne House.
He may never have full use of one hand after nearly losing his pinky finger and
it could take a lot of rehabilitation before he's walking around like normal again,
but Lowe said he has no regrets.
No Regrets - Joining the Army National Guard in 2003, a year after
graduating Bullitt East High School, Lowe was aware of the situation escalating in Iraq.
He joined the military to be trained as a mechanic, so that he'd have a career,
but said he wasn't nervous when he was shipped off to the desert earlier this year.
"That's the strange point," Lowe said. "Not once was I ever nervous."
His Christian faith and trust in his fellow soldiers is what helped him have
so much confidence that all would go well while serving his country, Lowe said.
He added that he wouldn't have changed one aspect of his
service or decision to go into the military.
"I might not be as anxious to go though," Lowe joked.
What Lowe's anxious for now is getting home, getting back to
normal, and getting back to shape so that he can carry on with
his wedding plans and life with fiancée Amanda Seitz.
Seitz and Lowe's mom, Lynn, are currently spending the days with
the Mount Washington hero as he recuperates in Washington D.C.
Lynn said her son's survival was an example of divine intervention.
"It really is a miracle," Lynn said.
Lynn added that three teams of doctors were taking excellent care of her son
and that he and his guests had made some fine friends of other soldiers
and their families while staying at Walter Reed Hospital.
And both said they wished their were other items being reported outside
tragic attacks like the one Lowe suffered from.
"There are women on the front lines that no one hears about," Lynn said.
"There are even women amputees."
Lowe said he wished more positive news would develop, since he's
seen two sides of the story.
"The Iraqi people want their freedom," Lowe said.
"You could just tell that they were happy (when we came in)."
Lowe said that Iraqi civilians, especially children,
were constantly greeting, smiling and waiving at U.S. soldiers spotted traveling down the road.
"It's an amazing feeling," Lowe said.
Lowe said he hoped to be home in Mount Washington by the end of August
and asked that everyone here pray for the troops.
Unfortunately, Lowe is not the first soldier with Bullitt County ties to
have been affected by the war in Iraq.
Lebanon Junction native Steven Faulkenburg, 45, was killed 11-9-04 due to hostile
enemy fire and James E. Powell, 26, who'd married into the Lebanon Junction community,
was killed 10-12-03 by a mine explosion. Both men were Army enlisted.
Salute! from the Lebanon Junction Fire Department and Ladies Auxillary
