(Editor’s note: This is an account by Rick Reeder of a story related to him on a recent visit with an injured soldier.)
When I first met Sgt. Chess Johnson, “Sgt. J” as his men called him, he was sitting on his hospital bed in Walter Reed Army Medical Center, looking like he was waiting for someone to wheel him out of there.
Never mind that he had lost his right eye to a sniper in Mosul, Iraq, while on patrol with the unit he led on Dec. 3, 2006. Never mind that he had received shrapnel to his back in the complex attack on his patrol and now was recovering from surgery for that as well. Never mind that the bullet from the sniper’s hit was still lodged in his head.
He wanted to leave the hospital — he wanted to go back to Iraq!
I had the opportunity to visit Walter Reed on Dec. 29. I had the privilege to deliver about 55 hygiene packages of personal items, New Testaments and DVDs of the testimony of evangelist and former Marine, Dr. Tim Lee, to wounded personnel as part of an ongoing ministry named “Wounded Warriors Relief.” I learned about “Sgt. J” from my daughter-in-law, who was in high school with the soldier’s wife.
Since a person cannot just walk in and visit with the wounded personnel in military hospitals, permission and an escort has to be provided by the chaplain’s office. Fortunately, in the many opportunities I have had over the past two years, the chaplains are familiar with the organization and what has been sent to them at various times by Wounded Warriors Relief. It was also somewhat ironic that Sgt. Johnson is from Lacy, Wash., one of the cities where our association led a group of volunteers in 2001 to do ministry. We surveyed about 1,800 homes in the Lacy area while we were there.
What impressed me so much about the soldier was his unquenchable spirit and determined sense of duty and patriotism. While Chaplain Swanson and I visited Chess and his wife, Amanda, he told us of the attack on his unit. An Inmprovised Explosive Device (IED) exploded near their vehicles and three rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) landed just yards away from his vehicle.
The men jumped into action and began returning fire against the AK-47s, mortars, and more RPGs. As Sgt. J stood up in the turret of his vehicle and began to fire at the enemy, he noticed some men firing from a roof top. He shot one, but the other was a sniper. As Chess had his weapon in the firing position, the sniper popped off a round right at his head.
The bullet hit the deflector on his weapon and tumbled into his right eye socket, destroying the eye with the slug lodging in the right side of his head just below the skin.
Chess fell backwards into the vehicle, bleeding profusely, and his men began to extract him from the vehicle, but he insisted on getting back up to continue the fight. As a leader, he did not want to leave his men. They urged him to leave his helmet and weapon and let them get him to safety. He gave up his helmet, but refused to let go of his weapon and the medic began to get him to safety.
As the medic was dragging him away from the area, Chess saw an enemy come out of hiding who raised his weapon to shoot him or the medic. Sgt. Johnson still had the presence of mind and fight in him to aim and fire, killing the enemy. Eventually, the wounded soldier was placed on a helicopter and flown to Baghdad, then on to Landstuhl, Germany. After being stabilized, he was moved to Walter Reed within a few days.
After relating this story to us, Sgt. J looked at the chaplain and said, “Do you think they will let me go back to Iraq with just one eye. I just reenlisted for six years and need to get back to be with my men. I taught them and trained them and they need me. Also, I have put in for Ranger training too. Is it possible for someone with just one eye to go to Ranger School? I can still shoot left-handed as well as I could right-handed.”
Sgt. Johnson told us that he was left-handed, but could never close his right eye. So he learned to shoot right-handed and taught his men to shoot with either as well.
He went further to teach them to fire their weapons without their sights so they could always outshoot the enemy who might rely on sights to get their best shots. He remarked that, now without the right eye, he did not have to worry about closing it.
He said he knew that it is his calling in life to be a soldier and still wants to serve his country.
We discussed how different his story and portrayal of the spirit of the American soldier was from the mainstream media. He said, “They ought to come and talk to us, then they will know the truth, although they may not report the truth when they hear it.”
I consider it an honor to know such men and to hear their stories and see the support of their wives and family. We must never forget them or their sacrifice. They are truly heroes of this generation and should inspire patriotism and a sense of national pride and duty in each one of us.
If you would like to help us with this ongoing effort to bring comfort and aid to these wounded warriors, please contact me and I will be glad to tell you how you can be involved. It may be as simple as writing a letter, sending a card, donating time to assemble packages, or providing the items for the packages, the Bibles or DVDs. Feel free to call me at 388-4967 or email me at bro_rickreeder@bellsouth.net.
(Rick Reeder is director of missions for the Caldwell/Lyon Baptist Association.)
