St. Clair County prosecutor and Army veteran speaks to Port Huron Northern baseball team

Standing in front of the Allied Veterans' Cemetery Wednesday, St. Clair County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and Army veteran Joshua Sparling told the Port Huron Northern baseball team about the day he nearly died. 

Sparling was hit with an IED explosive device during an ambush while on tour in Iraq in November 2005. 

"I remember coming down and being on that hot ground and our medic came running over to us. You know, if any of you guys have been seriously hurt, when somebody looks at you, you can recognize that look, you just know that this is not going to end well. I got that look and I could see the writing on the wall," he said. 

The medic told Sparling he should make a phone call to say goodbye. He said he was scared, not for his own life, but for his friends and family who would have to carry the weight of their grief without him. 

"It was my father who answered the phone, and my dad, I can count on one hand the amount of times I saw him cry in his life," he said. "He sat there, bawling on the phone, saying, 'Josh I love you, I'm so sorry, I'll tell your brothers and sisters and mom that you love them.'"

While Sparling would lose his right leg, spend two years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and undergo about 40 surgeries, he survived, and now has his own family. 

But Memorial Day is to remember those who did not make it home, he said.

Sparling remembered Private First Class Nicholas Greer and Sgt. Eric Fifer, two soldiers in his unit who died. A 21-year-old with "a smile that could light up the room" and the ability to name any helicopter from miles away, Greer's parents had to bury their only child. Fifer, who sacrificed his own life to save five others in an ambush, left behind an infant daughter whom he only met once. 

Memorial Day is also to honor the sacrifice of the families of those who have died, Sparling said. 

"It’s not just the sacrifice of these soldiers, and these airmen, these marines...this is a sacrifice that all their families have to make. And that’s something that is often overlooked...That shared sacrifice is the difference between the folks that are buried here today and the ones that were left behind, that’s a scar that does not go away," Sparling said. 

Sparling said we should honor those who have sacrificed their lives for our country by sharing their stories. 

Speaking to the team, he said they could also honor those who have lost their lives by living their lives with virtue, integrity and honor. They should do the right thing, rely on each other, help others and give everything they have to everything they do. 

Dressed in special camouflage uniforms normally worn for the Memorial Day tournament, the team walked in silence through the cemetery before taking a knee to listen to their coach speak.  

Nate Manis said the baseball team plays in a Memorial Day tournament and involves veterans in the weeks' events every year. 

Manis said the baseball program is designed to build students' character. He often talks about building grit and resiliency.

"We talk about grit and resiliency every day on the baseball field and in our everyday life and I think Josh Sparling is the epitome, the perfect example of that," Manis said. "The stuff he's dealt with, in his career and in combat and the obstacles he's had to get over in his everyday life to get to where he is now. So, that really puts things into perspective for us, not just on the baseball field but in everyday life."

The day is personal to Manis. Addressing the players before Sparling's speech, he said both of his grandfathers and his father were military veterans. Several people in his wife's family are buried at the memorial cemetery, including his father-in-law and brother-in-law. 

Port Huron Northern junior and team captain Logan Sheffer said the day helped him learn how to honor military veterans.

"Do everything in your life 100% because that's what we owe the people who sacrifice their lives," Sheffer said. 

Graduating senior and team captain Luke Angels said he learned that he should not take anything for granted. 

They both said Sparling's speech will give the team motivation ahead of district games next week. 

After Sparling's speech, players read the names of military veterans engraved on plaques at the war memorial.

Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or at lfitzgeral@gannett.com. Brian Wells contributed to this article; contact him at (810) 357-8668 or bwells@gannett.com.