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Severely injured soldier delivers 'salute seen around the world'

Moving ceremony ended with a surprise
Army Ranger Josh Hargis
Army Ranger Josh Hargis
By Rick Couri
Oct 16, 2013
Army Ranger Josh Hargis was wounded severely in a suicide bombing earlier this month in Afghanistan.

The following comes from the Facebook page of Taylor Hargis, Josh's wife.

Prior to Josh being moved to Germany for his eventual flight to America, we conducted a ceremony to award him with the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. A simple ceremony, you can picture a room full of Rangers, leaders, doctors, and nurses surrounding his bedside while the Ranger Regimental Commander pinned the Purple Heart to his blanket. During the presentation the Commander publishes the official orders verbally and leaned over Josh to thank him for his sacrifice. Josh, whom everybody in the room (over 50 people) assumed to be unconscious, began to move his right arm under the blanket in a diligent effort to salute the Commander as is customary during these ceremonies. Despite his wounds, wrappings, tubes, and pain, Josh fought the doctor who was trying to restrain his right arm and rendered the most beautiful salute any person in that room had ever seen.

Taylor Hargis called it “a letter to explain to me what kind of man I have the privilege of being married to.”

— Rick Couri is an on-air personality for radio station KRMG-Tulsa.

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