Joshua Sparling

 Joshua Sparling, (b. 1981-   ) is a Corporal in the  U.S. Army from Port Huron, Michigan, who was wounded in the War in Iraq. Since December 2005, Joshua has received significant publicity for being the victim of multiple incidents of aggression, attributed to his status as a veteran of the War in Iraq.

Injury
Joshua Sparling was injured in Iraq by an IED on November 20, 2005, and returned to the U.S. on November 24, 2005 where he underwent multiple surgeries to treat his wounds, including severe injuries to his right leg. According to a letter written by Joshua's Father, on the day he arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., Sparling received a letter from the Red Cross that turned out to be anonymous hate mail expressing the wish that the soldier reading the card would die.

Verbal abuse
In Spring 2006, his father described how Pfc Sparling was insulted at an airport while in a wheelchair.  The security guard said, “You are no different than any other passenger with no boarding pass - no go.”

My son started to cry uncontrollably and told the guard to go to hell. Sparling's father claimed that another lady then spoke up and said, “That’s what you get for fighting in a war we have no business in.” Madder and very emotional I asked, “Can’t you remember 9-11?” She responded that was just our excuse to be in Iraq when we should not be there and we deserved whatever we got. That is when my son really lost it. Three WWII vets were coming off flights into DC, gave my son a hug, and stood up to the lady and security guard. They stayed with my son until he flew out.

Spitting incident
On 27 January 2007, at an antiwar protest at Washington DC, a protestor wearing an Airborne jacket spit near him, according to the New York Times. Sparling spat back, according to the NY Times report, an allegation that Sparling denied during a Hannity and Colmes interview on the Fox News. 

Supportive Publicity
Joshua's experiences have been featured by numerous media outlets and weblogs supportive of the Iraq War effort. Media coverage of the death wish triggered an outpouring of over 20,000 cards and gifts to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed. Joshua was championed by Fox News commentator Sean Hannity who gave him gifts of several movies and an iPod. He has also appeared and spoken at Oliver North's "Freedom Alliance" concerts. Additionally, Joshua and his parents were invited to and attended the 2006 State of the Union Address as guests of J. Dennis Hastert.