In 2013, 24-year-old Cpl. Joshua Hargis was one of 14 troops injured during a night combat operation in Afghanistan. He lost both of his legs to an IED.
A week after he was injured, Joshua was awarded with a Purple Heart medal in a simple ceremony held from his hospital bed. His wife, Taylor, took a picture of him draped in a red, white, and blue blanket. Everybody in the room — rangers, leaders, doctors, and nurses — assumed Joshua was unconscious, but that’s when the hero did something that shocked the world. Joshua managed to hold up his arm in a stunning salute.
Taylor posted the photo of the salute, which quickly went viral. “Despite his wounds, wrappings, tubes, and pain, Josh fought the doctor who was trying to restrain his right arm and rendered the most beautiful salute any person in that room had ever seen,” she wrote.
Joshua recovered at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX. In the touching video below — just five months after stunning the world with his famous salute — Joshua took part in a Warrior Walk as a show of family and soldier solidarity. He used a handcycle to finish ten miles alongside Taylor. This man is so incredible.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmjlZvkAr-4]
