Specialist Luis Calderon, 22, from the 4th Infantry Division, was wounded in May 2003 in Tikrit. He was in the process of tearing down a cement wall bearing a painted image of Saddam Hussein when a second wall above him collapsed. His neck was broken and he has been paralyzed from the neck down since then.
His entire family moved from Puerto Rico to Florida in order to care for him. He has not been awarded a Purple Heart -- given to soldiers who are killed or wounded while fighting -- because he was not injured in battle.
"From my neckline down, I cannot feel anything," he says. "I didn't get a Purple Heart. I feel like I deserve one. It would make me more confident that I really did something."
I am astonished that this Hero, Mr Calderon was there in Iraq and was there on a military work detail. He gets permanently wounded and because he did not get it in a firefight he is denied a purple heart. He should not only receive a purple heart but a medal for putting his life on the line even if it was on a work detail. Iraq is no country club.
