Joshua Sparling (born 1981) is a

Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

from

Port Huron Port Huron is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of St. Clair County. The population was 30,184 at the 2010 census. The city is adjacent to Port Huron Township but is administered separately. Located along the St. Clair ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, who was wounded in the

War in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. Other armed conflicts involving Iraq * Wars during Mandatory Iraq ** Ikhwan raid on South Iraq 1921 * Smaller conflicts, revolutions, coups and periphery confli ...

. Since December 2005, Joshua has received significant publicity for being the victim of multiple incidents of aggression, attributed to his status as a veteran of the

Injury

Joshua Sparling was injured in Iraq by an IED on November 20, 2005, and returned to the U.S. on November 24, 2005, where he underwent multiple surgeries to treat his wounds, including severe injuries to his right leg

According to a letter written by Sparling's father

on the day he arrived at

Walter Reed Army Medical Center The Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC)known as Walter Reed General Hospital (WRGH) until 1951was the U.S. Army's flagship medical center from 1909 to 2011. Located on in the District of Columbia, it served more than 150,000 active and ret ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, Sparling received a letter from the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

that turned out to be anonymous

hate mail Hate mail (as electronic, posted, or otherwise) is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwise ...

expressing the wish that the soldier reading the card would di

Spitting incident

On 27 January 2007, at an antiwar protest at Washington DC, a protester wearing an Airborne jacket spit near him, according to the New York Times. Sparling spat back, according to the NY Times report

an allegation that Sparling denied during a Hannity and Colmes interview on the Fox News

Supportive publicity

Sparling's experiences have been featured by numerous media outlets and weblogs supportive of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

effort. Media coverage of the death wish triggered an outpouring of over 20,000 cards and gifts to wounded

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

s at Walter Reed. Sparling was championed by

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

commentator

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a commentar ...

, who gave him gifts of several movies and an

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

. He has also appeared and spoken at

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Secu ...

's "Freedom Alliance" concerts. Additionally, Sparling and his parents were invited to and attended the 2006 State of the Union Address as guests of

J. Dennis Hastert John Dennis Hastert (; born January 2, 1942) is an American former politician and convicted felon who represented from 1987 to 2007 and served as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 51st speaker of the United Sta ...

.State of the Union Invite
, Retrieved January 30, 2007.

References

External links

* Brenner, Anit

La Canada Valley Sun

No Spit Zone

Spitting Image * Kilmeade, Brian

Fox News * Malkin, Michell

Malkin Blog * Murphy, Shanno
Wounded soldier flooded with goodwill messages
Port Huron Times Herald * Murphy, Shanno
Some 20,000 well-wishers pen soldier who got hate mail
Lansing State Journal
The Sean Hannity Show
link to video from The Political Teen Blog

Airport insult incident

Protest Focuses on Iraq Troop Increase {{DEFAULTSORT:Sparling, Joshua 1981 births Living people United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army non-commissioned officers