The Ottumwa Courier

833rd Engineer Company

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  • Spc. Josh Norton, of Pulaski, responds to a tap on the head from his daughter America, held by Norton's wife Jody. The Iowa National Guardsman was in Bloomfield Thursday to receive an award from the American Legion. - Courier Photo by: Mark Newman

    833rd soldier receives award
January 24, 2008

833rd soldier receives award

Norton recovering from injuries received during Iraq deployment

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

BLOOMFIELD — There’s a part of Josh Norton that wishes he was in Iraq right now.

“My unit is back over there for a second time, and I’m not there,” said Spc. Norton, a combat engineer with the Iowa National Guard’s 833rd in Ottumwa. “It’s hard.”

Though he was seriously wounded in the unit’s first mission, Norton believes he could help the company during its current Operation Iraqi Freedom fight.

“I have experience. But [the doctors] say I’m undeployable at this time.”

Bombs, mortars and grenades were part of daily life during Norton’s time in Iraq. Doctors believe repeated blasts from nearby explosions led to his traumatic brain injuries.

As for what exactly happened in Iraq, the Pulaski resident has been hesitant to share. He said he doesn’t like when people casually ask him about the experience as if it were some sort of action movie. Details of his time in combat are personal — and deeply private.

“My experiences are my own,” he said.

But he did say many of the memories aren’t pleasant.

“What I saw over there, I wouldn’t wish on no one.”

He said now that he’s had some time to recuperate, he is able to share more about his deployment.

“As soon as we got there, we got hit,” he said. “That’s when I realized for the first time, ‘These guys are serious — they want every one of us dead.’”

And people did die. During his time in Iraq, he watched the life slip out of two different soldiers.

“It wasn’t like in the movies, where people look scared when they die,” Norton recalled. “Right before the end, they looked at peace.”

But for him, he said, it seems there will never be peace —at least not in the Middle East.

“There’s a quote I heard that I believe. ‘The only ones that see the end of war are the ones who die,’” he said. “There isn’t any day I don’t think about what’s going on over there.”

He’s been working on his recovery, though he is not sure how much progress he’s had. He’s been seeing VA doctors for his brain trauma, and when he doesn’t feel like going, he said, his wife Jody makes him go.

He said as things improve, he is looking forward to eventually accomplishing some personal goals while “knowing for once in my life, I fought for something I believe in.”

He has been out job hunting, he said, but so far he hasn’t had much luck. When he joined the military, he said people asked him why. Other soldiers had answers like camaraderie, or earning money for college.

“I always said, ‘Who better to protect my family than me?’”

That family now includes the couple’s 6-month-old baby girl, whom they named America.

Norton seems happiest when his daughter looks at him, and his face lights up when she “talks.”

“Last night she was saying, ‘Da da, da da da, da da.’ I’m not sure if she knows she’s saying a word,” Norton said. “She’s got her own language.”

But when he hears people — even the mothers of soldiers — calling for a pullout in Iraq, he worries the efforts of those who served there will have been in vain.

“What about the thousands of lives that were lost?” he asked.

What really made him angry, though, is when he heard about protesters showing up at the funerals of fallen soldiers.

“I get upset when I see this supposed church group that says soldiers ... are being punished for our sins ... that it’s God’s will.”

However, he said the people he and his wife have come in contact with have been very kind. For example, local businesses and volunteers in Davis County helped the Iowa National Guard’s Family Readiness Group rebuild the Nortons’ bathroom. They would have helped sooner, Norton said, if only his pride hadn’t kept him from asking for assistance.

Relatives have also stepped up to offer whatever assistance they could.

And on Thursday, the Reed-Whisler Post No. 78 of the American Legion presented Norton with a check for $500 as part of a grant from the non-profit “Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes.” Nationally, the Legion has been asked to present 1,000 such checks to disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

Bloomfield Post Commander C.K. Pettit said they were only handing out one, and he thanked Norton for his service as he presented him with the grant.

“We commend you for your service to our country, and wish for your continued recovery from your injuries,” Pettit said in a brief ceremony.

The 833rd Combat Engineers are lucky to have the backing of their community, too, Norton said.

“I don’t think people realize how supportive [southeast Iowa] has been for the unit,” he said. “I saw units over there, their community just didn’t care. No letters, no cards, no care packages. [Southeast Iowa] really has made a difference to soldiers.”

Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.

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