Veteran Salute: Topeka veteran’s Pearl Harbor moment leads him to Purple Heart

At just 16 years old, Brent Whitten watched the towers fall during his high school English class. At that point, he knew he needed to serve. 

So just two years later, he joined the Fourth Army Infantry as soon as he could. But not long after he began serving, his time was cut short after his most impactful day, September 9th, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. Whitten was on patrol in Baghdad when disaster struck.

“Our mission that day was very important. We’re looking for potholes. And next thing I know, I woke up on a body, was on fire, like, oh, this isn’t good,” Whitten said. “I think we’ve been hit. And I couldn’t feel my legs. My skin was, like, melting off, and my head was super fuzzy. And I thought, well, I’m probably going to die here.”

After a couple of transfers across the pond,  Whitten made his way back over to the U.S. to an Army medical center in San Antonio. There he was in treatments for several months to recover and heal from burns all over his body, avoiding skin grafts. 

Eventually, Whitten was separated from the army as he could not perform his job anymore and received his Purple Heart. 

Whitten remembers His trip to the Big Apple with the Wounded Warrior Project to see the new World Trade Center being built. Feeling the impact of what this new monument will bring and meet the heroes, the New York police and firemen who were there at that time. 

“They thanked us for our service just as we thank them, because on 9/11, New York was their front lines,” Whitten said. “They handed the baton to us. So, other countries on the front lines, it wasn’t our cities anymore, thankfully. So I think about 9/11, I think about those firefighters and police officers I met in New York City who reminded me of the fact that they fought the first battle. I fought the next. And now other people want to fight the other ones, unfortunately. But this is a continuation of service to the country.”

After the military, Whitten went on to receive his journalism degree from the University of Kansas and his masters from Baker University. He now works for the state of Kansas in operations and lives in Topeka with his family. 

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