Guardsman receives belated Purple Heart

Alexis Love recalls Jan. 4, 2005, starting like an ordinary day in Iraq for members of Charlie Company. He and his buddies in the Washington National Guard were in the barracks getting dressed. He was at his bed, by the window.

Suddenly “the window just blew” and there was a tremendous noise.

A car bomb had exploded outside the barracks, wiping out a nearby Iraqi checkpoint and sending shockwaves through the barracks.

“Glass blew all over me,” Love said. “My buddy Justin said it took a millisecond for me to get from my bed to his.”

As they began recovering from the shock, his buddies told Love he was bleeding on his back. And his arms. And his head. They took some pieces of glass out of him, then sent him to the medical tent where doctors took out even more.

He’s not sure how much more, but “it was enough,” he said. “They patched me up and asked if I was able to go back to my unit. I said ‘Yes.’ “

By the next day, Love and the other members of his unit from the Guard’s 161st were back searching for insurgents. They finished up their one-year tour of duty a couple of months later and returned home that spring.

Love didn’t realize he was eligible for a Purple Heart until after he was back home in Cheney. Staff at the Veterans Outreach Center in Spokane Valley helped with the paperwork and contacted Rep. Cathy McMorris’ office to help move the request through the system.

The Pentagon also determined he was entitled to the Army Commendation Medal for his service in Iraq.

On Thursday, Love’s family, which includes his 3-month-old son Xavier, joined some of his buddies from Charlie Company and other Purple Heart recipients as McMorris pinned the medals on the 22-year-old Army specialist who now works full-time for the Guard.

McMorris praised him and all military personnel overseas as “patriots that are helping shape our history.”