Pfc. Quintin David Graves of Salt Lake City never thought he'd be the recipient of a Purple Heart medal — let alone two — while serving in Iraq.
Only six Marines in the 1st Marine Division, including Graves, have received the medal twice. Graves' first honor was received after his Humvee was hit by a bomb. The second came during recent fighting in the Sunni Triangle. In both incidents, Graves sustained shrapnel injuries.
"He never thought he'd be in danger," said his father, David Graves. "When I asked if he'd be ready to kill someone over there, he shrugged it off and never thought it would come to that."
Pfc. Graves said in an article in the Marine Corp News he believed the Purple Heart was a medal reserved for soldiers injured in Vietnam or World War II. Even after being in Iraq and hearing the stories from other soldiers and seeing news about the area, he was certain it couldn't be as bad as they made it sound.
His father said he is optimistic because his son has a good heart and was raised seeing the good in everyone.
"He was a regular kid with a good outlook . . . involved with Scouting a little bit and pulled for his grades in high school," David Graves said.
Pfc. Graves, assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, joined the Marine Corps last June upon graduation from high school and was called to to Iraq in March 2003. His family heard from him when he received his first Purple Heart medal March 13 and then again at receipt of the second medal last month.
It was reported that the medal, an honor reserved for members of the military who are wounded by an instrument of war by the enemy, was earned after someone tossed a grenade over a wall.
"I saw it land," he said in the article. "It was one of those pineapple-looking grenades. We just started running and I kept thinking, 'It should have blown by now.' " When the grenade did blow, Graves received schrapnel to his left calf, left thigh, buttock, left shoulder and his back.
"After it blew, I was still running, so I figured it couldn't be that bad," he said. "A hail of gunfire followed, and I kicked in a gate to a house and took cover."
Reportedly, another Marine patched Graves' wounds and, typical of Graves' attitude, he finished out the mission.
Graves' twin sister, Nicole Rowe of Sandy, said he has always been "gung-ho" about serving his country.
"He's pretty brave," Rowe said.
She said during high school, he would always go running and talk to recruiters and "as soon as he could, he belonged to the Marines." Members of the military are often given a choice to come home upon earning a third Purple Heart, and with two under his belt, Rowe has asked her brother if he would consider coming home early.
"He said he loves the Marines and the friends that he's become close to, and he would not want to come home because he wouldn't want to leave his friends," she said. "He couldn't leave the Marines, and he couldn't leave his friends there." Rowe said she enjoys talking to her brother about the war, even if he can't tell her much. The two have been quite close since their youth, and even though she misses him, she is proud of his service and example.
"I thought he would change when he went to boot camp, but he's still the same old Davy," she said.
With all the honor that comes to a Purple Heart recipient, Graves' father said his son is pretty mellow about it and stays upbeat about the war.
"What's better than to live life serving others," he said.
E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com