02/03/2007

Traverse City Central grad wounded by bomb in Iraq

By Vanessa McCray

vmccray@record-eagle.com

Special to the Record-Eagle
Army Spc. Evan Cole, a graduate of Traverse City Central High School, suffered injuries in Iraq when his armored vehicle rolled over an improvised explosive device.

TRAVERSE CITY — Evan Cole wanted to be a combat soldier since he was 6 years old.

"He would play with little Army men figures and set up all the battles,” said his mother Shawn Burt.

The 2002 Traverse City Central High School graduate and U.S. Army specialist experienced that life and escaped several close calls during two tours of Iraq before being severely wounded in the war-torn country this week.

Cole, 22, was injured in Ramadi, family members said Friday. He fractured his pelvis, broke his right arm and leg in multiple places, suffered a laceration to his liver and superficial shrapnel wounds when his armored vehicle rolled over an improvised explosive device. Family members said it appears Cole has a good chance to make a full recovery. Two of his companions on the patrol were killed, and the driver also injured, Burt said.

"Evan immediately lost consciousness, so he did not really see or really know what happened until he heard reports,” she said.

The phone rang at 3:15 a.m. Wednesday at Burt's house. It was Cole, calling to tell his mother the news. She didn't get to the phone in time. He called his father Donald Cole in Elk Rapids, who already had heard from Evan's wife in Germany where he is based.

"When the phone first rang, I, of course, had this immediate sense of dread,” his father said.

Donald Cole was filled with relief when he learned his son was alive but remains "very concerned” about the injuries.

Cole was flown to Baghdad where he twice underwent surgery. He was later hospitalized at Landstuhl, a military hospital in Germany where he is now. The family is waiting to find out where he will recuperate, and they plan to join him there.

Donald Cole said his son was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries.

The two soldiers who died were "close friends” of Cole, Burt said.

"That is as difficult or more difficult to recover from than the actual physical wounds,” she said.

Cole has long been interested in the soldier's life. By sixth grade, he was an "expert” in Civil War battles, his mother said. He read up on the Revolutionary War and battle strategies and enlisted in the service at 17.

"We had to sign for him,” Burt said.

Supporting her son's dream took some convincing. Burt looked to God to provide protection and peace when her nerves were tested by Cole's dangerous circumstances.

"We just accepted it, the fact that he has always wanted to be a soldier,” said grandmother Creta Vartti.