Wounded soldier tries life without his right leg (5/23/04)

May 23, 2004

Wounded soldier tries life without his right leg
By CARY LEIDER VOGRIN THE GAZETTE
http://www.gazette.com/war/0523xwar.html

David Pettigrew is matter-offact and unemotional. He calls himself “overwhelmingly optimistic.” This despite the fact he lost his right leg — all of it — during an attack last summer in Iraq.

“My very last roommate had no hands,” he said of his stay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. “He was a bilateral belowthe-elbow amputee. I’m missing a leg. I can get around on crutches the rest of my life. That guy has no hands. There’s always someone out there who can put what happened to you in perspective.”

In all, 4,524 military personnel have been wounded in action in Iraq, according to Defense Department statistics.

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