© 2024 KOSU
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Healing a Deep Wound from Iraq

Spc. Bartlett and his father, Chuck Bartlett, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who was seriously injured during the Tet Offensive in May 1968.
Eric Westervelt, NPR
Spc. Bartlett and his father, Chuck Bartlett, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who was seriously injured during the Tet Offensive in May 1968.
Spc. Robert Bartlett in his room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. June 2005.
Eric Westervelt, NPR /
Spc. Robert Bartlett in his room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. June 2005.

More than 13,070 U.S. troops have been injured in Iraq, with just over half of those injured unable to return to duty. One recovering soldier is 32-year-old Robert Bartlett, an Army scout with the 3rd Infantry Division.

A roadside bomb in early May killed his friend and ripped off Bartlett's jaw, took out one eye and badly injured the soldier's face, nose and mouth. Bartlett's father, a Vietnam war veteran injured in the Tet offensive, is helping his son recover physically and mentally. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eric Westervelt is a San Francisco-based correspondent for NPR's National Desk. He has reported on major events for the network from wars and revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa to historic wildfires and terrorist attacks in the U.S.
KOSU is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.