By Ruby C.
Josh Bleill, my uncle, was a marine and fought in the Iraq war. Sadly, as he was fighting, he lost his legs.
Josh’s inspiration to join the Marines was his dad and grandfather, who were both in the war. Also after 9/11, he wanted to fight to prevent that from happening again.
When Josh Bleill was fighting in the marines, his perspective on the Iraq war was, “It was hard to see people live when there were so many bombs and guns.” He had to go into other people’s houses without them wanting him to be in their house. They were sort of like policemen.
Josh lost his legs when he was in a Humvee and a bomb was planted in the road. So when they drove over the bomb, it blew up under him. Josh and three other people were in the car as the bomb blew up. Josh ended up in the hospital for twenty-two months after his accident.
Josh said, "In the hospital, it was a long time away from home. It felt good to be alive in the hospital with Timmy, who was another friend of mine who was also in the car. Timmy had only lost one of his legs in the explosion. Also, making new friends in the hospital." The other two people from the Humvee passed away.
He told me it was wonderful coming home and great to see his family. Also, he had to learn to adapt to having prosthetics. Today, he lives in Indiana, has two kids and a wife and a cat and a dog, and he does speeches for people all over the world. My family sees him almost every two months.
