thedrifter
03-02-07, 01:16 PM
Marine who grew up in Charleston recovering from injuries suffered in Iraq
By KATE HENDERSON - H&R Staff Writer
When Darlene Matheson of Sullivan answered the phone one day late last year, the caller greeted her with a mixed message.
Her son, John Grissom, a staff sergeant in the Marines, was on the other end.
"The good news is I have all my limbs," Matheson recalls him saying. "The bad news is I just can't hear very well."
Grissom, 28, who grew up in Charleston, suffered a severely perforated ear drum in the right ear and a head injury in November.
The Humvee in which he was riding while on patrol in Iraq ran over approximately 60 pounds of improvised explosive devices linked to propane tanks.
"We had just left our patrol base, and all of a sudden I ran over something, and it went 'Boom!' " Grissom said. "After the explosion, my driver was completely knocked out and the Humvee I was in was completely unmovable; it had blown the back portion of the vehicle out."
Grissom said after he got out from under the damaged vehicle, he soon realized he couldn't hear anything. He continued to assess his situation, get help for his comrades and order his men to return fire on insurgents who were already bombarding them with small arms fire.
"The backup finally arrived, and once they did, I did a quick turnover," Grissom said.
Grissom ended up receiving treatment in the field and didn't realize the hearing loss and brain injuries were serious.
"I operated for another two weeks out there," Grissom said by telephone this week from Hawaii as he awaited surgery. "At the end of two weeks, I still couldn't hear and blood was still coming out of my ears."
At that point, he was sent to Baghdad, then to Hawaii for the surgery, which he had Wednesday.
Matheson said she was anxious and "kind of numb" being so far away and not knowing the extent of the damage.
"They're so far away you can't just run over and ask if they're all right," she said. "You can't hold their hand."
Matheson saw Grissom a month later when he was home on leave at Christmas.
For Grissom, who joined the Marines in 1998, the war in Iraq isn't his first deployment. Grissom said he was deployed shortly after 9/11 for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, again from September 2005 until April 2006, and most recently deployed shortly after Sept. 11, 2006.
Joining the Marines wasn't always his plan, but he said once he got there, he liked the direction his life was going and decided to stay until he wasn't having fun or couldn't do the job. Grissom attended Lake Land College and was a speech communications major at Eastern Illinois University.
After Grissom's surgery Wednesday to repair his right ear drum, Matheson said she spoke to him and he was on his way back to his apartment in Hawaii and doing fine. Grissom said there will be some recovery time after his surgery, and he won't know what his next move is until he is evaluated.
"My options will be given to me after I fully recover," he said.
Kate Henderson can be reached at khenderson@jg-tc.com or 238-6858
Ellie
By KATE HENDERSON - H&R Staff Writer
When Darlene Matheson of Sullivan answered the phone one day late last year, the caller greeted her with a mixed message.
Her son, John Grissom, a staff sergeant in the Marines, was on the other end.
"The good news is I have all my limbs," Matheson recalls him saying. "The bad news is I just can't hear very well."
Grissom, 28, who grew up in Charleston, suffered a severely perforated ear drum in the right ear and a head injury in November.
The Humvee in which he was riding while on patrol in Iraq ran over approximately 60 pounds of improvised explosive devices linked to propane tanks.
"We had just left our patrol base, and all of a sudden I ran over something, and it went 'Boom!' " Grissom said. "After the explosion, my driver was completely knocked out and the Humvee I was in was completely unmovable; it had blown the back portion of the vehicle out."
Grissom said after he got out from under the damaged vehicle, he soon realized he couldn't hear anything. He continued to assess his situation, get help for his comrades and order his men to return fire on insurgents who were already bombarding them with small arms fire.
"The backup finally arrived, and once they did, I did a quick turnover," Grissom said.
Grissom ended up receiving treatment in the field and didn't realize the hearing loss and brain injuries were serious.
"I operated for another two weeks out there," Grissom said by telephone this week from Hawaii as he awaited surgery. "At the end of two weeks, I still couldn't hear and blood was still coming out of my ears."
At that point, he was sent to Baghdad, then to Hawaii for the surgery, which he had Wednesday.
Matheson said she was anxious and "kind of numb" being so far away and not knowing the extent of the damage.
"They're so far away you can't just run over and ask if they're all right," she said. "You can't hold their hand."
Matheson saw Grissom a month later when he was home on leave at Christmas.
For Grissom, who joined the Marines in 1998, the war in Iraq isn't his first deployment. Grissom said he was deployed shortly after 9/11 for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, again from September 2005 until April 2006, and most recently deployed shortly after Sept. 11, 2006.
Joining the Marines wasn't always his plan, but he said once he got there, he liked the direction his life was going and decided to stay until he wasn't having fun or couldn't do the job. Grissom attended Lake Land College and was a speech communications major at Eastern Illinois University.
After Grissom's surgery Wednesday to repair his right ear drum, Matheson said she spoke to him and he was on his way back to his apartment in Hawaii and doing fine. Grissom said there will be some recovery time after his surgery, and he won't know what his next move is until he is evaluated.
"My options will be given to me after I fully recover," he said.
Kate Henderson can be reached at khenderson@jg-tc.com or 238-6858
Ellie