{"id":188161,"date":"2026-07-02T21:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/188161\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:58:10","slug":"army-veteran-receives-purple-heart-more-than-20-years-after-iraq-ied-blast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/188161\/","title":{"rendered":"Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">TAMPA, Fla. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.mysuncoast.com\/\">WWSB<\/a>) &#8211; As Americans celebrate the Fourth of July and the freedoms defended by the nation\u2019s service members, one Army veteran is finally receiving the recognition he spent more than two decades fighting to earn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">More than 20 years after an improvised explosive device ripped through his convoy in Iraq, Army veteran James Callihan has received the Purple Heart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Callihan, who grew up in Manatee County, enlisted in the Army after high school and deployed to Iraq in 2003.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/P653WFE6TRBZVHKPC53ZPASACM.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast(WWSB)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Near the end of that deployment, on Dec. 30, 2003, his convoy was struck by an IED while traveling through Baghdad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cMy Humvee had no doors and a bikini top, so that was life in Iraq in 2003,\u201d Callihan said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He said a concrete barrier separating traffic lanes absorbed much of the blast, likely saving the lives of the soldiers inside his vehicle. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">After the explosion, Callihan immediately helped treat injured Iraqi civilians nearby before he was pulled from duty because of head injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">When he returned home, Callihan said he discovered the medical records documenting those injuries were missing, making it difficult to prove his eligibility for the Purple Heart.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cI was kind of caught in a Catch-22,\u201d Callihan said. \u201cYou need the medical records to award it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">What followed was a yearslong effort to reconstruct his case through military records, witness accounts, and the support of fellow veterans and friends who refused to let the issue go.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Q3MMSL32RBCUVK5SWGG4WY25QQ.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast(WWSB)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">More than 20 years after the blast, the Department of the Army approved Callihan\u2019s Purple Heart in December 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">In April, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis presented him with the medal during a ceremony before a Tampa Bay Lightning game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cGetting a Purple Heart, you put something on the line for that,\u201d DeSantis said during the presentation.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/H6COGLSU45CBJJB6U7Q3BZOZAU.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"778\" \/>Army veteran receives Purple Heart more than 20 years after Iraq IED blast(WWSB)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">For Callihan, the medal represents far more than official recognition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIf I ever end up in Iraq again, I\u2019m going to find that little strip of curb,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference between life and death for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">He said the award is a reminder not only of the day that changed his life, but also of the veterans, friends, and supporters who stood by him throughout a more than 20-year fight to ensure his service was properly recognized.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. (WWSB) &#8211; As Americans celebrate the Fourth of July and the freedoms defended by the nation\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[14],"tags":[56243,28827,22451,1278,2994,94,6974,179,11133,36357],"class_list":["post-188161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iraq","tag-bradenton","tag-celebration","tag-fight","tag-florida","tag-honor","tag-iraq","tag-lives","tag-military","tag-native","tag-veteran"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116852628264306056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}