Injured soldier coming home to Davenport

Just before U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Edward Lyons deployed to Afghanistan in October, his oldest sister, Chelsea Zeller, wanted him to make a promise.

“Promise me you’ll never be the first one in,” she asked him.

He couldn’t promise that, she said.

The 20-year-old Davenport native lost his left hand and part of his left arm in an improvised explosive device blast Nov. 25 while serving in the Helmand Province.

He’s been recovering at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and is expected to fly home to the Quad-Cities on Wednesday. His family said he’s a candidate for surgery that would give him a new artificial hand.

Meanwhile, Lyons is determining whether he will remain on active duty once he has that prosthetic.

“It depends on if I can go back to the fight or not,” he said.

 

Eddie Joe

Jackie Lyons said her son, “Eddie Joe,” has always been stubborn.

Jackie and David Lyons have 11 children, and Eddie Joe is the fourth-oldest. The oldest is Gerard Lyons, who served three years in Iraq in the U.S. Army.

“He’s got it in his blood,” Jackie Lyons said of her son’s desire to serve his country.

Eddie Joe’s grandfathers were in the Army, and an uncle was a Marine during Vietnam.

But Eddie Joe needed a purpose, his sister, Jacqueline, said.

Halfway through his senior year at Davenport Central, he decided it was a “waste of time sitting in class when we’re fighting in a war,” his mom said.

So Eddie Joe dropped out, earned his GED and joined the Marines.

Family members had a send-off at the Quad-City International Airport. “Eddie had a premonition,” his father said. “He was more emotional than I had ever seen him.”

 

Thirty pounds of explosives

By November, Taliban militants littered the southern region of Afghanistan with IEDs. American troops started to move in, David Lyons recounted while telling the story of his son’s injury.

Eddie Joe was a sniper scout during one of the first U.S. offensives in the Helmand Province.

At 8 a.m. on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving, David Lyons got a call.

“I was at work and the phone rang long distance,” David Lyons said. “A man identified himself as a sergeant. I thought, ‘this ain’t going to be good.’ ”

Eddie Joe was severely injured in an IED blast, five weeks into his deployment.

More details about the incident emerged.

Eddie Joe’s platoon was returning from a mission and needed to cross a canal. A platoon leader asked Eddie Joe to find a location to cross. He attempted to jump across the canal, which may have been about 15 feet deep. As soon as he hit the other side, he saw a flash.

“They weren’t sure if it was a pressure plate or someone had pushed a button,” David Lyons said.

The blast threw him into the air. The platoon took small arms fire.

The platoon leader jumped across the canal and tied off Eddie Joe’s left arm with a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

“He saved his life,” Jackie Lyons said.

About 30 pounds of explosives — enough to blow up a Humvee, his father was told — sent shrapnel flying mostly into Eddie Joe’s left side, including his arm, leg and face.

 

Recovery

The family struggled through Thanksgiving.

Eddie Joe’s girlfriend, Miranda Kapell, was the first to speak to him.

A nurse called her early one morning. Then she put her on the phone with Eddie Joe.

“He asked how I was,” Kapell said. “All I could say was, ‘I’m good. How are you?’”

“I’ve seen better days,” he told her.

Eddie Joe was in Afghanistan three days undergoing extensive surgery before he was flown to Germany and, finally, to Washington.

He lost his left arm just below the elbow. He has a prosthetic hook.

Shrapnel severed his liver and pancreas, leaving him unable to eat solid food for 3 1/2 months. Nurses tried to insert feeding tubes down his throat four times before inserting a tube directly into his intestine.

He longs for his favorite, a cheeseburger and a strawberry shake, his mother said. But food still makes him sick. Radiation therapy is needed for his damaged thyroid.

He has lost hearing in his right ear. The peripheral vision in his left eye is bad and his right pupil is permanently dilated.

His mother said he also suffers nightmares and flashbacks.

Family members and his girlfriend have visited Eddie Joe several times.

He also has been visited by U.S. Sen. John McCain, CIA director Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his congressman, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, his family said.

He doesn’t blame anyone for his injuries, his mom said: “To him, he was just doing his job.”  

 

Coming home

His childhood home on Davenport’s Pershing Avenue has every indication of a proud military family. A flag hangs from a porch pillar; another flag appears on the door; and in the living room, there is a shrine to the family’s military members.

Eddie Joe has been given a 30-day leave from Walter Reed. He’ll be home in time for Mother’s Day and may stay long enough to celebrate three years in June with his girlfriend.

His parents are thankful for the support they’ve been given.

“The Quad-Cities are very patriotic,” Jackie Lyons said. “The support of the community gives us strength.”

The American Legion Riders organized an all-day benefit for the family scheduled for Saturday at the Davenport American Legion, 702 W. 35th St.

Legion Riders president Bill Tuman, a U.S. Army veteran, said several organizations and volunteers have asked to help. “This is the largest of this type of event we’ve ever tackled,” he said.

“It’s the veterans that are helping our boys now,” Jackie Lyons said.

Eddie Joe said he wants to move on.

“Like any other 20-year-old male ... I just want to go home and put this all behind me,” he said.

He’s got just one thing to do when he gets home: “See everyone.”