NEW PORTLAND – Three bullets burrowed into the helmet of Army Cpl. Joshua Handrahan during an ambush in Iraq.

Another bullet lodged in his head.

The Mount Abram High School graduate lived to tell his family and friends about it during a hero’s welcome last weekend in New Portland.

On April 14, Handrahan was on a “battalion-sized” mission in Falujah to raid three houses where insurgents were known to be located. His unit, traveling in a 5-ton truck, was ambushed by roadside machine gunfire.

“We thought we had taken out the objective,” he said, “but we were lit up by machine gunfire from a nearby bunker,” he said, recalling the incident.

He felt something hit him in the head and knew he’d been shot when he felt the blood. He said he continued to fight until the battle was over.

He credits his Kevlar helmet with saving his life.

He and other wounded soldiers were taken to Baghdad where he underwent surgery to remove a bullet that had grazed his skull but was only skin deep. He also was hit in his right thumb.

Back in New Portland

Handrahan’s parents, Terry and Maynard Handrahan, received a telephone call at 8:15 p.m. on the day their son was shot. The extent of his injuries was unknown then. Later that evening, they heard he had been shot in the head.

“I had so much adrenaline going,” his mother said. “If I smoked, I would have.”

Neither of his parents slept that night.

At about 2 a.m., they heard their son’s voice. He said, “I’m good to go; a little messed up, but good to go.”

“I knew he was talking and breathing,” said his mother of that call, but neither she nor her husband were truly satisfied until they were reunited with him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

It took awhile to get him home. He was in Baghdad for a week, then sent to the Army’s Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, where he stayed for four days. He was in Walter Reed until May 12, then went to Fort Riley. He returned home Saturday.

It was our job’

The hardy, soft-spoken soldier downplays his war experiences. He said he was in no pain after the April incident and that he and his fellow soldiers “made fun of each other” while awaiting medical attention.

Reflecting on his decision to join the armed forces, Handrahan says he was not surprised by the gunfire he experienced, but he didn’t expect to be injured.

“It was our job (to go to war),” he said, “I knew I was going to get shot at. It was just a bad night, that’s all.”

“Those guardian angels up there should be paid overtime,” his mother said.

Near-death experiences were not unprecedented for the resilient 21-year-old.

Only four days after leaving for Kuwait in 2001, he found himself heading for surgery with a ruptured appendix.

In February, a 155-mm explosive device was remotely detonated under the Humvee he and four others were traveling in in Ramadi, Iraq. No one was seriously injured, though Handrahan has shrapnel scars on his right arm from the encounter. The bomb had been buried under a pile of trash in the road.

Handrahan will spend a few days at home before going to Fort Riley, Kan., where he will receive treatment for his thumb. Soon to be promoted to sergeant, he plans to return to service once he is cleared to do so.

Handrahan says he learned a couple of things from his war experiences.

“I don’t take anything for granted anymore,” he said. “And, I learned to duck.”

jhausen@sunjournal.com

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