Alexey Tolchinsky photography

U.S. Marine, James King, was wounded in Iraq. With his knee and shin shattered, infection set in around the shrapnel wounds, his leg had to be amputated. Sgt. King spent five days in Germany in a drug-induced coma before being flown back to the United States. James went through multiple operations in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He can only hear with one ear.

James met his fiance Beth in the hospital. He said that if he ever met that guy who remotely detonated the car loaded with explosives in Iraq, which took the lives of four Marines and James's leg, James would first shake this person's hand and thank him for the chance of meeting Beth. Then James said he would revenge for the Marines that died in the blast.

James joined the Freedom Team of Wounded Veterans - program run by Mary Bryant from the Achilles Track Club. He completed his first Marathon on a hand cycle in October - Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. A week after James completed the NYC 2006 Marathon. A day before James took a bus to NY he found out that another operation was needed to remove more of the damaged tissue. His prosthetic leg will have to be redone after the operation.