Idaho soldier wounded four different ways

NAMPA, Idaho – Once, it was shrapnel from a nearby explosion. In a separate incident, Sgt. Larry Woodard suffered smoke inhalation while saving people from a burning building. Yet another time he was injured by a collapsing wall, and then he was shot.

Now, after all four injuries and months of combat, Sgt. Larry Woodard is finally home.

The 23-year-old Boise State University student arrived home Thursday, said his grandmother, Bette Woodard.

“Just to have him home safe and sound, well – he missed death about four times so we’re glad to have him home,” Bette Woodard said.

Larry Woodard joined the in Army 2002, and with the 1st Armored Division, was one of the first troops to enter Iraq at the start of the war.

“The first three months and the last three months were real bad,” he said.

As a scout, Woodard would go ahead of the tanks and give enemy coordinates to the Air Force and helicopters that would send in artillery.

“We’d try to see stuff without being seen,” he said.

Later, he patrolled four times a day for three hours each patrol. The last three months, he was a member of the quick reaction force that would wait for calls.

The deployment left Woodard with a left arm that had been injured three times – when he was struck by shrapnel from a nearby explosion, when he was hit with debris from a falling wall, and most recently, when he was shot by enemy fire while trying to help another platoon in Fallujah.

The bullets hit his chest and arm, but protective gear saved his life.

“The vest stopped (the bullet),” Woodard said. “But I had a hard time deep breathing for about a month.”

He had surgery last week in Germany. Now, for the first time since the injury, he can almost make a fist, Woodard said.

Doctors believe that with therapy, Woodard will recover 100 percent, his grandmother said.

In another incident, Woodard and a handful of other soldiers rescued people after a building caught on fire. He eventually collapsed from inhaling too much smoke.

The injuries have earned Woodard three Purple Hearts and he has been nominated for a fourth, he said, and may also receive two bronze stars for his work in Iraq.