StoryCorps: Max Voelz

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 02:34

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Max Voelz remembers his wife, Staff Sgt. Kimberly Voelz, who died in Iraq while disarming an IED. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps: Max Voelz
From: StoryCorps

Voelz_small In 2003, Staff Sgts. Kimberly Voelz and her husband, Max, were serving in Iraq. Both were members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal -- the Army's elite bomb squad.

Here, Max remembers his wife, Kimberly, who died in Iraq while disarming an IED.

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Piece Description

In 2003, Staff Sgts. Kimberly Voelz and her husband, Max, were serving in Iraq. Both were members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal -- the Army's elite bomb squad.

Here, Max remembers his wife, Kimberly, who died in Iraq while disarming an IED.

Broadcast History

NPR Morning Edition 5/25/11

Transcript

Max Voelz: We deployed in 2003. We were in the same unit. She ripped bombs apart by hand in Iraq just like I did. There was no being scared, no doubt, no "I might die" -- we never talked about that. But she died on an incident that I sent her on.

That night she was at a different base and I tried to talk to her on the phone before she went -- just to tell her, like, an extra "Be careful." But she was already on her way to take care of it, so I didn't get to.

Her injuries were severe. One leg was blown off. She was in a medically induced coma when I got to the hospital. I talked to her the whole time she was in there. The nurses were telling me to talk to her because they assured me that they had seen people come out of comas before and that they remembered hearing things that people said. I mean, what are you gonna tell your wife who's dying? That you love her and you don't want he...
Read the full transcript