Marine Thanks God For Life; Speechless For Purple Heart
(October 24, 2010) |
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| | CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (MCN - 10/19/2010) — “For some reason
that week, things took a lot longer than they normally
would,” recalled Lance Cpl. Roddra Malone. “I felt something
was wrong in my spirit.” |
July 21, 2010, Malone and his fellow motor transport Marines with Combat
Logistics Battalion 6, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), were
conducting a combat logistics patrol in the vicinity of Now Zad,
Afghanistan, while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Malone was assigned as a driver during the mission and was responsible
for refueling vehicles.
“We refueled three trucks and there was a gap about 50-meters between me
and the next truck,” he remembered. “[My sergeant] told me to get back
in the truck |
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Lance Cpl. Roddra Malone, a motor transportation operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 6, 1st Marine Logistics Group (Forward), receives the Purple Heart medal from Brig. Gen. Michael Dana, the commanding general, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., Oct. 18, 2010. Malone stood proudly to receive his medal three months after the doctors told him he may never walk again. |
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and pull up ... he told me to stay in the tracks. Those were his last
words to me.” |
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Malone took his parking brake off.
“My truck rolled not even an inch and that's when ... ‘boom!'”
he said. “I went out and I remember when I woke up, I
couldn't feel my legs so I thought my legs were gone and I
started screaming ... I was screaming my sergeant's name. I
raised my head to look up and when I saw him he was
crawling. He looked like he didn't have any skin on his
hands. Then I passed back out.”
When Malone awoke again he was in a hospital at Camp
Bastion, Afghanistan. The doctors told him he'd never walk
again; his spine was fractured.
“I started to cry a little bit and I asked the Lord to help
me because I knew he could do it,” he said. “A couple hours
later, for some reason I felt like I could walk.”
Malone asked the doctors to take off his neck and back
brace.
“I stuck my foot out and I stood up holding onto the bed and
as I released the bed I had a whole bunch of pain that shot
through my body so I fell back down on the bed.”
After thirty minutes he tried again.
“So I stuck my left leg out first, then my right leg and I
stood up. I had pain, excruciating pain, but I said ‘I can
do this.' Then I took my first step and I said ‘yeah I can
do this.' I took my second step. I took my third. Everybody
started clapping and I felt good. I just thank God today
that I'm here.”
Only three months later on Oct. 18, Lance Cpl. Malone stood
before his family and fellow Marines to receive the Purple
Heart medal during a ceremony here.
“I'm speechless,” he said. “At first I didn't know I was
going to get it ... It's something that I don't want but at
the same time I want it [to be able to show] and to tell
stories about what I've been through and what I've done. I
want to help other Marines that haven't been there yet but
are going to go. So I feel pretty good.” |
Article and photo by Cpl. M. Foster
2nd Marine Logistics Group Public Affairs
Copyright 2010 | |
Reprinted from
Marine Corps News
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