Dateline: October 7, 2004

Ambush injures Hedley man in Iraq

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A Hedley High School graduate was seriously injured in Iraq last Wednesday when the convoy he was traveling in was ambushed near Kirkuk.

Army PFC Aaron Bugg’s condition had stabilized by Friday, but he was still suffering from multiple wounds and could lose part of his left leg, his mother, Connie Dalton, told the Enterprise. He was scheduled to be transported from Germany to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Virginia on Saturday.

The front of the vehicle Bugg was traveling in took the brunt of the blast, Dalton said, but her son sustained shrapnel injuries to all four extremities with his left side receiving the most damage.

Dalton said there were many people hurt in the ambush, but an army medic on the convoy was uninjured and got to Bugg quickly. He was treated in Balad, Iraq, and evacuated to Germany.

“When they called me, he was in a coma; and they weren’t sure he’d make it,” she said. “They replaced an artery in his left arm and saved it. He has no muscle in his left leg and just had a hole between his left knee and foot. They’ve transplanted bone from his thigh, but he still might lose his foot.”

Dalton said Bugg later awoke from his coma. Doctors removed his ventilator Friday, and Bugg gave them the thumbs up sign.

“I’m just thanking God that he’s alive, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed on that leg,” she said. “I thought we were going to lose him. Now I’m just happy he’s alive, and I can’t wait to see him.”

Dalton was leaving Saturday to be with her son at Walter Reed.

Last Christmas, Bugg proposed to Lisa Marie McCrosky of Missouri, a girl he’s been friends with since the eighth grade. They are to be wed in January.

Bugg joined the Army in 2002 when he graduated from HHS at age 17. He wanted to get into law enforcement and enlisted to get money for college. The army recruiter at the time asked Dalton how she felt about his signing up.

“I said he’s his own man and has to make his own decisions,” Dalton recalled. “I support him in whatever he does.”

Dalton’s son is a member of Bravo Company, First 27th Infantry, 2nd Battalion, and was home on leave during Hedley’s homecoming last month.

“I just put him on the plane to go back September 16,” she said.

Bugg’s mother says she understands why America went to war in Iraq, but she thinks the US doesn’t have any business being there now.

“It’s just senseless – all these kids dying,” she said. “But as far as [my son’s] service, I have a lot of respect for him and everyone over there. I’m just like every other mother.”

Dalton said she’s received phone calls and prayers from Hedley, Clarendon, and Memphis since receiving the news of her son’s injuries.

“He’s touched a lot of lives in his 20 years. He’s a kid everybody likes,” she said. “I just want everybody to know that God answered their prayers. There’s still a lot of praying going on, and He’s answering them.”