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The explosion in the mess tent in Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday left Spc. Richard Hursh with a broken shoulder and injuries to both legs.
Shrapnel had torn off his right thumb.
But the 20-year-old told his parents he felt fortunate.
"He said he was lucky," his father, William Hursh of Stafford County said yesterday. "He knew two of his friends were killed."
Richard Hursh, Spc. Nicholas "Nick" Mason and Spc. David Ruhren--all National Guardsmen from the Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion--were gathering sandwiches in preparation for a night mission when a suicide bomber attacked the mess tent Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Marez, according to reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Mason of King George County and Ruhren of Stafford County were among 22 people killed in that explosion.
William Hursh said he and his wife, Leonida, waited anxiously for word about their son. About 8 p.m. Tuesday night, they learned he had been "seriously injured."
Later in the week they were able to speak to Richard, who was expected to be transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington last night.
William Hursh said they intended to be at the hospital this morning as soon as employees would let them in the door.
Their son, an Eagle Scout, took an interest in ROTC while a student at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County, William Hursh said. Some of the older boys on his lacrosse team were joining, and Richard wanted to join too.
He was sworn into the Army only a week after 9/11.
"I said, 'Before, I told you there was a good chance you'd get called up. Now, it's almost a certainty,'" said William Hursh, who was stationed at Fort Belvoir at the time. "He knew what it entailed."
Richard Hursh had just finished his first semester at Old Dominion University when his unit was told it would be heading for Iraq. The soldiers have been in Mosul since March.
Richard was home in August for about two weeks. He told his parents then that he wanted to fly helicopters for the Army, his father said.
A combat engineer, Richard Hursh has gone on his share of missions in Iraq, his father said. He intends to return to Old Dominion, where he made the dean's list, and get a degree in engineering.
But Richard Hursh told his father that he had bonded with his fellow National Guardsmen.
"He said: 'Some people don't want to go on missions, but you go because your guys are going and you want to be with them. You want to back them up,'" William Hursh said.
To reach EDIE GROSS: 540/374-5428 egross@freelancestar.com
