Feeling lucky just to be alive, injured soldier credits platoon
By Bart Jones
STAFF WRITER
Newsday, May 9, 2003
John Fernandez was a star. An all-county lacrosse player at Rocky Point High School, he won acceptance to West Point and became captain of the lacrosse team at the famed military school. Teammates nicknamed him "Spanish Thunder" for his powerful throws.
He graduated in 2001. And last November, the U.S. Army first lieutenant got the call: he was going to Kuwait. With war looming in Iraq, he moved up his wedding date and quickly married his fiancee, Kristi Singer of Nesconset, in a civil ceremony. He wanted her to be taken care of financially in case he was killed.
Five months later, Fernandez, 25, now spends his days in rehabilitation at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Doctors have amputated both his feet and he is stricken by "phantom pains" from the missing limbs.
But he is glad simply to be alive. Three men in the platoon he commanded were killed and six besides himself were injured when a huge explosion rocked their encampment April 3.
"I don't know how I made it and I consider myself very lucky," he said yesterday.
Fernandez's heroic tale has provoked an outpouring of admiration and sympathy from Long Islanders who want to help him and his wife recover and start a new life in Suffolk County.
They are organizing a fund-raiser on Saturday at Darin's Port on Main Street in Port Jefferson. Hundreds of people have bought $10 tickets to attend. Businesses are donating food and beverages along with gift certificates, Mets tickets and golf bags to be raffled off. The military is covering Fernandez's medical expenses. The event, which runs from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., will help defray other costs. They include hotel bills in Washington and the expense of relocating on Long Island.
"Lt. Fernandez is a hero and it is important for Long Islanders to take care of our heroes in need," said U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton).
Fernandez recalled that he and Charlie Battery 3-13 Field Artillery were 18 miles outside Baghdad in the final days of Saddam Hussein's regime when the explosion struck about 3 a.m. It is not clear what kind of bomb or missile hit them, although it is possible it was "friendly fire" from U.S. forces, Fernandez said. The Pentagon is still investigating.
The explosion knocked soldiers off their feet 100 yards away and blew Fernandez off his cot, where he was dozing in a sleeping bag. He felt a numbing pain in his lower body, and, screaming, groped to feel if his legs were still there. Then he unzipped his sleeping bag and was horrified to see parts of his feet blown off.
But it could have been worse. "If he had been sleeping in the other direction, he'd be dead," because his head would have been hit, said his mother, Mary Fernandez of Hampton Bays.
Fernandez crawled over to his gunner, Spc. Donald Oaks Jr., 20, of Harborcreek, Pa., who had been sleeping in a cot next to him. "Everything below his waist was pretty much gone," Fernandez said.
Lt. John Fernandez and his wife Kristi in the physical therapy facility at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. Thursday, May 8, 2003.
(Photo by Michael Geissinger)
May 8, 2003
He dragged Oaks away from a smoking, gasoline-laden Humvee full of grenades and .50-caliber shells to try to save him. Other soldiers arrived, and started to carry Oaks and then Fernandez away on stretchers.
Suddenly, the Humvee exploded, throwing Fernandez off the stretcher and the soldiers to the ground. Fernandez was soon brought to a triage point, and later evacuated to Kuwait, Spain and finally Washington. Oaks died in Iraq.
Fernandez's wife met him at Walter Reed the night he arrived. "The minute I saw his face, my heart started beating again for the first time in months," she said. "I just felt complete again."
Initially, Fernandez thought doctors would be able to save at least one of his feet. But last month surgeons amputated his left foot and his lower right leg from about 6 inches below the knee. Doctors plan to fit him with two prostheses.
Fernandez is stalwart about his injuries. He sometimes climbs stairs on his knees, and says he is lucky compared with his fallen comrades.
"I vowed that I would never feel sorry for myself," he said. "That would not do justice to the members of my platoon who ... are the true heroes of the war."
He plans to return to civilian life and use his degree in systems engineering. He dreams of being able to fish and hunt again in Suffolk County and go skiing in Vermont and upstate New York.
But for now, the big church wedding he and Kristi had planned for June 20 in Wading River is on hold. Fernandez wants to walk down the aisle.
Sat May 31, 1:04 PM ET
First Lt. John Fernandez, center, stands during the national anthem during the graduation exercises, Saturday, May 31, 2003, at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Fernandez is assisted by his wife Kristy, right, and Lt. Col. Tom Endres, left, as he stands for the first time since losing most of his left foot and his right leg below the knee during fighting near Baghdad.
First Lt. John Fernandez sits with his wife Kristy during graduation ceremonies at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York May 31, 2003. Fernandez lost most of his left foot and his right leg below the knee during fighting in the war in Iraq.
