The magazine of the photo-essay
Oct back 2016 issue
by Nina Berman
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Purple Hearts - Back from Iraq is a series of portraits and interviews made
between 2003- 2004 of American veterans who were severely wounded in
the Iraq War.
The images were made in their homes, on military bases and in veterans
hospitals across the USA.
Sgt. Jeremy Feldbusch, 24, an army Ranger, 3rd Battalion, 75th Regiment was
injured April 3, during an artillery attack near the Hadithah Dam. Feldbusch, who was
first in his class of 228 Rangers, is now brain damaged and blind. He sees nothing but
darkness. Photographed in his home in Blairsville, Pennsylvania, October 18, 2003.
Pfc. Randall Clunen, 19, 101st Airborne, stationed in Tal Afar, was on guard duty
December 8, 2003 when a suicide bomber broke through security and exploded
himself and his vehicle. Chunks of shrapnel ripped into Clunen’s face. Photographed
at home Salem, Ohio. February 14, 2004.
Spc. Robert Acosta, 20, an ammunitions specialist with the 1st Armored Divison, was
in a humvee near Baghdad International Airport July 13, when a grenade was thrown
into his vehicle. In the explosion he lost his right hand and the use of his left leg.
Photographed April 13, 2004 at his home in Santa Ana, California.
Pfc. Alan Jermaine Lewis, 23, a machine -gunner , 3rd Infantry Division was wounded
July 16, 2003 on Highway 8 in Baghdad when the Humvee he was driving hit a land
mine blowing off both legs, burning his face and breaking his left arm in 6 places. He
was delivering ice to other soldiers at the time. Photographed at home in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, November 23, 2003.
Sgt. John Quincy Adams , 37, A reservist with the Florida National Guard, 124th
Infantry, was on patrol in Ramadi August 29, 2003 when a remote controlled bomb
exploded under his humvee sending shrapnel into his head and body leaving him brain
damaged. Photographed at home and with his wife Summer, in Miramar, Florida,
December 18, 2003.
Spc. Jose Martinez, 20, 101st Airborne, was injured April 5, 2003 in Karbala when the
humvee he was driving hit an IED. Martinez was trapped in the explosion and suffered
massive burns to his face, head and body. He has spent the last year in surgery and
recovery at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Photographed April 3, 2004 at his
home in Dalton, Georgia, while on a brief hospital leave.
Spc. Luis Calderon, 22, from Puerto Rico, a tank operator, 4th Infantry Division, was
injured May 5, 2003 in Tikrit, when a concrete wall with Saddam’s face on it, which he
was ordered to destroy, came crashing down on his tank severing his spinal cord and
leaving him a quadriplegic. Photographed at the Miami Veterans' Hospital December
17, 2003.
Spc. Carl Sampson, 36, a reservist with the Mississippi National Guard 890th
Engineering Battalion, was injured by a road side bomb September 12, 2003, in
Fallujah. He lost his left eye, his face was shattered, 5 percent of his brain volume
was removed and he was unable to talk or move for months. He is starting to regain
limited motor and speech skills. Photographed at the Tampa Veterans Hospital May
17, 2004.
Cpl Tyson Johnson III, 22, a mechanic with Military Intelligence, was wounded in a
mortar attack on the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad on September 20, 2003. He
suffered massive internal injuries and is 100 percent disabled. Photographed at home
in Prichard, Alabama May 6, 2004.
Sgt Joseph Mosner, 35, 1st Infantry Divison, was setting up a guard post in Khalidya
on December 16, 2003 when a remote controlled bomb planted in a side of a building
exploded injuring him and two other soldiers. Photographed April 9, 2004 at his home
on base at Ft. Riley, Kansas.
Spc. Sam Ross, 21, combat engineer, 82nd Airborne Division, was injured May 18,
2003 in Baghdad when a bomb blew up during a munitions disposal operation. He is
blind and an amputee. Photographed in the woods near his trailer where he lives alone
in Dunbar Township, Pennsylvania October 19, 2003
Spc. Adam Zaremba, 20, 1st Armored Divison, was injured July 16, 2003 while
guarding a bank in Baghdad. A mine exploded blowing off his left leg and sending
shrapnel into his rear, right leg, arms and hands. The explosion killed an Iraqi child.
Photographed on his base at Ft. Riley, Kansas, April 9, 2004.
