CEDAR RAPIDS - This fourth of July, Matthew Rowell is celebrating his freedom, and his life.

"Fourteen of us were injured and then my team leader, and a really, really, really good friend - we were like brothers - were killed instantly by the blast," said U.S Army SPC Rowell.

Rowell said that day in January was the worst day in his life. But that's not the reason he's in a wheelchair waiting at an airport for his girlfriend. That reason came in May when his truck hit a roadside bomb.

"I look down and I'm like I can't feel my legs, and I went to look over cause the guy is all freaking out cause his arm is hurt. I kept doing this cause my helmet was blown off and there is a piece of shrapnel stuck about this long next to my head. Holy Crap. That could have hit me right here," said Rowell.

Back around Memorial Day, his parents got the news of the most recent injury, that he was being flown to Germany.

"I was on the bird, I was in Kandahar and I was laying back and I just stopped breathing, and they were resuscitating me," said Rowell.

This man in his young-twenties, injured twice in Afghanistan, already has two purple hearts.

The battle in Afghanistan is often called the forgotten war. But, Rowell said it's not the war that's forgotten.

"I don't think people forget, I just really wish like World War Two, people came home and they got parades, we come home and it kinda sucks, we don't get that, people don't acknowledge, it kinda sucks," said Rowell.

He doesn't want a lot of attention, he said he just wants to make sure all veterans are appreciated, and that people understand the sacrifices that are made to protect t his country.

He told his story today, not for sympathy, but to help remind everyone about what happens in war.

He will spend about a month at home and then head back to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for more treatment.

Email Justin Foss at Justin.Foss@kcrg.com