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Big Shooter Mike

<div class="IPBDescription">A need for help</div>This is what I received from Dappe Dan.<br />
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Please help.<br />
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There it goes:<br />
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Local soldier injured<br />
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By Stacey Creasy<br />
Monday, July 17, 2006 2:46 PM CDT<br />
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Editor<br />
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LITTLE YORK - The Review Atlas learned today that a soldier from Little York was injured while serving in Iraq.<br />
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Joshua Eckley, 24, was injured while on a mission Saturday. This was Eckley's second tour of duty in the war-torn nation. He was with the 18th Field Artillary Brigaide out of Pope Air Force Base.<br />
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Eckley was transported to Iraq in November. Eckley's mother , Tracy Buster, of Little York, said she talked to her son frequently. The last time she spoke with him was Saturday morning (our time).<br />
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"He told me he was going out on a mission and would not be calling me for a couple of days," Buster said. "Then I got a call about midnight Saturday."<br />
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The call turned out to be the type of news Buster did not want to hear. Buster said Eckley suffered a broken back, broken collar bone, broken ribs, punctured lung, facial lacerations and burns.<br />
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"He was paralyzed for a while, but when they got the pressure off his spine, he was able to move his feet," Buster stated.<br />
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According to Buster, Eckley was in the Humvee when it struck a roadside bomb or a roadside bomb was detonated. Buster said the blast threw the vehicle into the air. The Humvee flipped over and crashed to the ground, trapping Eckley inside.<br />
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Buster said her son owes his life to another soldier in his unit, a man named Nathan Gurley.<br />
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"This Nathan Gurley was a gunner in his unit," Buster said. "He apparently crawled into the burning vehicle and pulled Joshua out. He pulled three people out of the vehicle. Joshua was the last one he could get to. Joshua was hurt worse than the others."<br />
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Buster said Gurley kept calling out to Eckley to help keep him conscious until he could pull him out of the wreckage.<br />
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"My son would not be here today if it weren't for that man. He's a hero," Buster stated. "I am going to find him and thank him for saving Joshua's life."<br />
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Buster said Eckley maintained a positive attitude about serving in Iraq.<br />
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"It was his job, his duty," she added. "He did not have any problem with doing his duty. He was never worried about himself. He was always worried what it would do to me, how I would be if something happened to him."<br />
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Buster said Eckley is at a military hospital in Germany. In the next day or two he will be flown to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Once Eckley arrives at Walter Reed, they will operate on his back.<br />
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Buster has been in contact with the American Red Cross which will help her travel to Walter Reed Thursday so she can be with her son when he has surgery.<br />
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Buster scheduled a press conference for 10:30 a.m. today to provide an update on her son. The Review Atlas will have additional information on Eckley in Tuesday's edition.<br />
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Eckley is the second Warren County resident to be seriously injured or killed in Iraq. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Gary T. Rovinski, 44, was killed on June 5 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.<br />
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See what you pards can do to help this family.<br />
Dapper Dan's e-mail is: dporter@maplecity.com<br />
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Thank you.