Not every soldier returns from battle, nor does every soldier return unscathed. This is one of Staff Seargent Edgar “Eddie or Bud” G. Ireland’s first prosthetics he received while he was recovering from wounds suffered during a tank battle in the small farm town of Mellerhöfe, Germany on March 2, 1945. Prior to this engagement, Ireland had reached the shores of Omaha Beach on D-Day in his M4A3 Sherman tank, nicknamed “Betty;” survived the arduous Battle of Aachen and was personally awarded the Silver Star from the Division’s Commanding General, Major General Clarence R. Heubner. He also pushed through the miserable conditions of the Hürtgen Forest and Battle of the Bulge with only minor wounds and the loss of three “Betty’s.”

While most would consider losing their right leg, suffering severe burns and lacerations, and breaking their left leg in twelve pieces to be an unlucky event, Ireland believed luck was with him during his final, fiery dual as he narrowly escaped his tank and fell into a watery ditch, dousing the flames surrounding him. He would spend 28 months recovering in Army hospitals and re-learning how to walk at age 23. But like every engagement he encountered during the War, he persevered and did not let it get in the way of the ultimate goal – freedom.