She Lost A Hand; Would Sacrifice More
Gravely Injured In Iraq, This Hero Still Has More To Give
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Play CBS Video Video War Hero Returns To Iraq Despite losing a hand in the Iraq war, the decision to return to battle was not difficult for Juanita Wilson. She said she never thought twice about her choice, reports Joie Chen.
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Video Iraq's Shadow War Only On The Web: Kimberly Dozier reports from Baghdad on a different battle being waged outside of the sectarian violence. There are two distinct groups settling scores in the shadows.
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Video Progress In Iraq? Amid low approval ratings, President Bush says that the United States is making progress in Iraq. However, Kimberly Dozier reports that new government documents might indicate otherwise.
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Sgt. Juanita Wilson re-enlisted, even after being gravely injured in Iraq (CBS/The Early Show)
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"I remained calm, I recalled trying to help my driver, and then I started to feel some tingling on my own body, and I looked down, and of course my hand was gone," she said. But less than two years later, she is proving her commitment to her country once again. That kind extraordinary patriotism makes her the subject of our American Hero series.
CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reported Wilson's story for The Early Show. She says Wilson has learned to function with her prosthetic left hand and is back at work at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
It's the same hospital where Wilson did her own recovery and rehabilitation. She has a Purple Heart for her bravery, and certainly no one would blame her for wanting to stay home with her husband and their 7-year-old daughter.
But Wilson was determined to return to the Army Reserves. "Many may say that I've sacrificed quite a bit. I don't really look at it that way. I don't think I've sacrificed enough," she told Chen. "I don't think that you can sacrifice enough for the freedoms of America."
Wilson's commitment to her country runs in the family. She hopes her daughter will join the military one day — and her husband already has. Fourteen months after his wife lost her hand in Iraq, Charles Wilson joined the Army. He told Chen he was inspired to do it by the young amputees he saw while his wife was in the hospital. "I do it for my country. I love my country," he said. "I'm a fit guy. I know I can get the job done. So I took the best job that I could take as being an infantryman. Being on the front line, getting the job done."
Charles Wilson is now a private in the third ID, the infantry division. His unit is known as "11 Bang Bang" and it's almost a certainty that they will see combat. As for Juanita Wilson, she doesn't know yet if her reserve unit will be called back to serve in Iraq, but she says if and when it is, she will be ready.
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