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Tampa man gets 'award for sacrifice'

Adam Boggs received a Purple Heart Tuesday, along with Marines from Tampa, Largo, Orlando and Lakeland.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published October 25, 2005

TAMPA - Adam Boggs, 20, remembers sitting in a photography class at Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. With the rest of the class - and the rest of the world - his eyes were glued to television news footage of the attacks on America.

When he found out terrorists were involved, he went into the U.S. Marine Corps recruiting office the following day.

"I wanted to do something about it," he said.

Boggs, now a lance corporal with the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, returned home Oct. 17 from seven months of duty in Iraq along with 35 other Marine reservists from the Tampa area. But his return included something most of his colleagues' didn't: A Purple Heart, for injuries sustained in combat.

He was one of six Marines who received the medal Tuesday in a Tampa ceremony that mirrors many others that have taken place since the start of the Iraq War in 2003. It happened on the day the U.S. military marked its 2,000 death in the war. About 15,220 troops have been injured.

"It's weird," Boggs said, exhaling cigarette smoke outside the Marine Corps Training Center in Tampa, his medal on his chest. "Growing up and hearing about Purple Hearts, you never imagine yourself getting one. Or going to war."

Now, it's a vivid memory.

On July 5, a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer with tinted windows cruised into Boggs' base in the city of Hit in Iraq's Al Anbar Province. The Marines didn't open fire because they thought a colonel was behind the wheel. Instead, it was a suicide bomber.

The car exploded 50 meters away from Boggs, who was wounded by shrapnel in his shoulder.

"It gave me a reality check," Boggs said.

It took him a few days to recover, but the memories of his time in Iraq will stay with him forever. He has the tattoos to prove it.

Block letters spell USMC on his forearm and a cross that says "savior" peeks out from under his rolled-up camouflaged right sleeve. Boggs, the son of a Baptist preacher, drew it in the desert and got it put on as soon as he returned.

But not before he had a hearty steak meal with the five friends he bonded with in Iraq. They formed a brotherhood they call "Triple B Double S" because of their last initials - Boggs, Biegel, Bickerstaff, Smyth and Sanchez.

Boggs remembers when they surprised him by putting a candle in his military-style Meal Ready to Eat for his birthday.

"We got real close, like brothers, because of stuff we've been through," he said. "They'll be my family for the rest fo my life."

His "brother," Lance Cpl. Stephen Biegel, 20, stood alongside Boggs on Tuesday to get his own Purple Heart. The Marine brat from New York City followed in both of his parents' footsteps when he enlisted.

Biegel was wounded the same day as Boggs when his vehicle was bombed. He got burns on his ears and hands, but they cleared up in a few days.

Biegel plans to continue in his dad's footsteps after his contract with the Marines ends in January and join the New York City Police Department.

The Marines taught him discipline, and Biegel said that will help him as a cop.

His feelings were mixed about receiving the medal.

"It's good and bad at the same time," Biegel said. "You don't want to get wounded, but at the same time, when you do, you're happy to be recognized."

Biegel and Boggs stood at attention alongside Marines from Tampa, Largo, Orlando and Lakeland to receive the award. The rest of their battalion stood behind them as Lt. Col. Taz Olson presented the medals.

He said they should be honored to wear them.

"It's not an award for recognition," Olson said. "It's an award for sacrifice."

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813-226-3354 or at azayas@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 25, 2005, 18:52:02]