Posted By:
Howard Kaloogian
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CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, Iraq(July 12, 2004)—Mohammed Jadaam thought he’d never walk again after losing his leg following an improvised explosive device attack in Ramadi last year.

When Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of 1st Marine Division, heard of Mohammed’s situation, he wanted medical personnel from the division to help the 25-year-old man.

Navy Capt. John M. Williams, public health officer for the division’s civil affairs team, met with Mohammed in May and gave him a complete medical examination to see what kind of help he required.

“When I first met him, he was not very talkative and seemed depressed,” Williams said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of color in his face and he was about thirty pounds lighter.”

Mohammed was driving a friend home one night in April 2003 when anti-Iraqi fighters detonated a homemade bomb near his car. The bomb sent razor-sharp shrapnel flying, which tore through Mohammed’s car and severely injured him. After the bomb went off, the attackers fired machine guns at Mohammed and his friend.

“I remember the bomb going off and then when I woke up, I was in the hospital,” said Mohammed, whose father is Gen. Hobaisy Jadaam, the chief of Iraqi police in the Al Anbar Province.

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