Friday, December 19, 2008

Face of Defense: Double Amputee Marine Wants to Stay in to Help Others

Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Matthew Ryan Bradford lost his legs and vision in Iraq. And that, he says, makes him the perfect person to stay in uniform and help other injured Marines. Bradford said he knows he won’t be able to do every job in the Marine Corps, but he hopes to stay in uniform because he believes he has something to offer.

“I want to be a Marine. I don’t want to get out yet,” he said. “I’m trying to stay in so I can go back to Bethesda and work at the hospital in the liaison office so I can talk to the wounded.”
The reactions he occasionally gets when he’s out in public bother him, though, he acknowledged. Some thank him, some buy meals for him, and some even apologize for what happened in the course of serving his country.

“I’m like, ‘Don’t be. It could’ve happened to anyone,” Bradford said. “[I have] no regrets. I’d go back if I could, but I can’t see.”

He lost his left eye when a piece of shrapnel went through it and lodged in his brain, and retina damage cost him sight in his right eye.

[you read that right, the blindness was in addition to his amputations. What unit of measurement do we use to describe such character?]

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