Sometime next year, Nick Firth expects to give his right leg for his country.
After the damage from an explosive device in Iraq heals enough for doctors to amputate below the knee, a prosthetic leg will replace the real one.
He considers himself lucky. He's among the more than 21,000 soldiers injured in Iraq, not among the more than 2,800 killed.
Yesterday, he came to Winston-Salem to thank his fellow National Guard soldiers who helped save his life. The 171 soldiers of B Battery, 5th Battalion, 113th Field Artillery had their "Welcome Home" ceremony at First Assembly of God.
As Firth walked in with the help of a cane, everyone stood, the occasional soldier raised his fist and shouted "hooah!" and the crowd focused the attention on Firth for his sacrifice.
His appearance was a poorly kept secret, as word got out before the ceremony that the only soldier from the unit injured in Iraq would be there.
His friends, such as Spc. Lance Clark, came looking for him in the VIP Room, where he would later rub elbows with Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, Brooke Burr, the wife of Sen. Richard Burr, and state and local politicians.
"We didn't really say much," Clark said. "Hugged for a while, tried not to cry."
Firth, who is from Charlotte, now lives in Washington. He is in therapy at Walter Reed Medical Center there because of chronic pain. His injury causes his nerves to fire rapidly, which makes pain a constant in his life. He tapped his finger quickly against a desk to explain what it feels like his nerves are doing.
On June 9, an improvised-explosive device blew up underneath Firth's armored vehicle.
Clark was driving.
"Oh (expletive), I hope that's not what I think it is," Clark remembered thinking as he spotted the bomb.
It blew up right underneath Firth's gunner position, shooting him up against the top of the vehicle, where his helmet ripped off with such force that it left the back of his scalp hanging off his head.
"I instantly knew there was something wrong, it hurt so bad," Firth said.
His ankles were broken. He thought his boots were filled with blood, but it was the swelling of his feet.
Firth pulled himself out of the vehicle and Clark and another soldier caught him, put his hand on his scalp, cut off his boots and started checking for more injuries.
A medic soon arrived and Firth was taken out by helicopter.
"I would not be where I am if not for them," Firth said.
While Firth's memories of the explosion are vivid, others have become hazy. He used to be unable to remember names of some of his fellow soldiers.
Firth said that at first, he felt ashamed about it.
"The guys I spent eight months with.... I can't remember their names!" he said. "Things are coming back - slowly, but I am getting my memories back."
He also has the chance to make new memories with a nephew, Landon, born just days before his unit went to Iraq.
As Firth waited to make his entrance for the ceremony, Landon made a plastic box his castle, climbing in and staying put.
"It's great that I got home to see something so pure, so innocent," Firth said. "It's amazing to see what it is we fight for."
His fellow soldiers presented him with a guidon, a small flag, along with a patch identifying his unit. Firth walked in alone, but left with his fellow soldiers.
"I needed them to not worry," he said of his visit. " I needed them to see I am getting better."
• Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.
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