Hi, I'm Dave I say founder of StoryCorps.
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Hey folks, I'm Michael Garafalo and right now we're hard at work on the next season of
the StoryCorps podcast.
And today we're going to share a story from our military voices initiative.
20 years ago, Marine Staff Sergeant Nick Bennett was deployed to Iraq.
To a region known as the Triangle of Death, that area saw some of the highest number of
casualties of the entire war.
Bennett's assignment kept him on base, running the internet cafe.
But that's not where he wanted to be.
So we requested to join a security team, led by Sergeant Major Dan Miller.
Why did you want to join my combat team?
Both of my grandfather's are World War II vets and I've always wanted to follow in their
footsteps.
And you had come forward and you were like, hey, I want to get out and help the mission.
A lot of Marines, that's how we're trained.
We're going to go fight.
Yeah.
You want to face that fire.
One day we got a call to come to the command post.
I heard a whistle come in over my left shoulder and I knew what it was and I knew I wasn't
coming home.
The rocket took off the back part of my right leg for my wrist bones, took off the back
part of my hand, chipped a bone, my back.
The shell casing impaled me in the right shoulder and I took trapnel in my left side and arm.
And I remember Doc told me to keep you awake.
And so I was tapping on the face and then the taps turned to slaps and you'd look at me
and your eyes would get bright for a second and then they'd go dull again and I thought
to myself, you got Nick hurt.
Nick should have never ever been in that position.
I would have dreams where the rocket was coming in and it gave me enough time to get
in front of you and take it all.
All of it.
I remember I found your gas mask carrier and you had a picture of your family in there.
I thought I'd just orphan these kids and widowed this woman.
In the hospital, my grandfather who was a prisoner of war in Germany called me a swore
hero and I just sat there and cried because this was the man that I idolized growing up.
It wasn't until years later after I racked that I found out about you saving my life.
I would call and just say, hey, I love you.
Please call me.
I need to talk to you.
With the voice messages, I'm sure I listened to them, but then out of fear ignored them.
Just so you know, I never held it against you.
The first time meeting you after so many years, the initial emotion was nothing but joy.
It was so cool to finally see you in person to be able to thank you.
You gave me a life that day.
I've always wanted a brother and I couldn't think of a cooler bigger brother than you.
And any chance I get to be with you, I'll be there.
That was Marine Sergeant Major Dan Miller and Staff Sergeant Nick Bennett Lafayette in Vienna.
Today Dan and Nick are both part of Wounded Warrior Project, which brought them together
to meet for the first time after they served together in Iraq.
We love it when you guys call our voicemail and tell us your stories.
And this week we'd like to hear from you.
Has someone ever saved you?
Tell us in a voicemail at 702-706-talk, or email us at podcast at storycore.org.
This story was produced by Halle Hewitt and edited by Von D.S. Amy Draftsdaska is our
executive producer.
Our senior producer is Judd S.D. Kennell.
Our producer is Max Young Rice and our technical director is Jarrett Floyd.
We'll be back with a new season of stories very soon.
Until then, thanks for listening.
Support for this podcast comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation
funded by the American people.
