During his deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 2007-08, Sgt. Randy P. French was on a route clearance mission removing concertina wire from a road using an MV-4 mine clearing robot.  He was operating out of the Stryker commander's hatch when a deeply buried improvised explosive device exploded.

The explosion caused French, a combat engineer with 38th Engineer Company, 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, to fall, striking his leg on the seat he had been standing on.

"I was (medically evacuated) to Balad and they said I just had a sprained ankle," explained French.

Kelly French, his wife, remembering when it happened, said she was relieved when her husband called to inform her of his injuries, and not a chaplain.

"He called and said ‘Don't freak out.'  The idea that something might happen is scary ... at least he was alive," said Kelly with a relieved smile.

What was originally thought to be a simple injury actually turned out to be far more serious.

French said he felt fine until months later he noticed his leg swelling up.

"Originally, (the injured leg) really didn't feel that bad," said French.  "When my leg started swelling up, I knew something was wrong."

He called the Wounded Warrior Hotline and scheduled a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan that would reveal strained ligaments and broken bone in his right leg that resulted in surgery, replacing the lost bone with cadaver bone.

Two years after the initial injury, French got an unexpected phone call from his company executive officer who told him he had his Purple Heart paperwork on his desk.

On Dec. 14, Col. Michael Getchell, the commander of 4th SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div., presented French with the Purple Heart during a ceremony in the 38th Eng. headquarters.

In front of his fellow combat engineers, French was presented the award making him, in the colonel's words, "a member of the Order of the Purple Heart."

Despite his injury, French considers himself lucky. While he was recovering from his injury, he learned that the day after he was attacked, he had lost several friends in a house-borne IED explosion.

"I think where we were sitting (in the vehicle), we were pretty lucky...I want to remember the other soldiers who were with me.  They are no longer with us," said French.

During the ceremony, soldiers filled the room to thank French for his sacrifice, a recognition that was several years in the making.

Command Sgt. Maj. James Mapes, the battalion command sergeant major, made his way through the crowded room of soldiers to greet French with an extended hand.

"Is it about time?" he said with a firm handshake.

"It's about time sergeant major," said French. "It's about time."

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