Most gave a year of their lives fighting in a foreign country. Some gave considerably more.

Spc. Blake Basansky, 22, has a five-inch scar on his neck and a slightly raspy voice caused by shrapnel from a roadside bomb that clipped his right vocal chord.

The soldier with the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds has little strength in his right arm because of nerve damage, and his injuries are so bad he sometimes has trouble getting out of bed.

"I've got shrapnel from head to toe," the married father of a 3-year-old daughter said.

Basansky, who's from South Carolina, was one of 11 soldiers awarded a Purple Heart yesterday in an outdoor ceremony near 25th Infantry Division (Light) headquarters.

Lt. Gen. John M. Brown III, pins a Purple Heart on Sgt. Roberto Quintana-Santana. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

It's a ceremony that has been held many times already, and will be held more times to come. As of yesterday, the division said it had 207 soldiers wounded in action in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 63 soldiers wounded in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Lt. Gen. John M. Brown III, the commander of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, pinned on the medals, saying it was a personal honor for him to take part in the ceremony.

"It's a ceremony that I wish I never had to officiate at, for you never want a fellow soldier to be injured," Brown said. "But it's a sacrifice that needs recognition."

Behind the small Purple Heart, which bears a profile of George Washington, are poignant stories of family fear, pain, loss, and pride in service.

Sgt. Zachary Parinello, 25, doesn't remember the roadside bomb that wounded him in Afghanistan on Nov. 24 and killed two other Schofield soldiers, Cpl. Dale Fracker Jr., 23, and Cpl. Jacob Fleischer, 25. The soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment.

"I remember ordering flowers for my wife on my anniversary over the Internet on the 22nd of November," said Parinello, who is from Redford, Mich. "That's the last I remember before waking up and being surrounded by doctors."

That was at Bagram Air Base. He realized something bad had happened, and thought about the soldiers on patrol with him that day north of Kandahar.

"I kept asking over and over again — are the guys OK?" recalls the team leader.

His mom, Deborah Parinello from Detroit, flew into Hawai'i with the soldier's father and uncle for the Purple Heart ceremony. She remembers the phone call she got, and how she took the news of her son's injury.

"Not well," Deborah Parinello said. "I was at work actually, and one of my fellow employees called my husband to come and get me."

Zachary Parinello had internal injuries and swelling on the brain, and was in critical condition.

"It's been difficult at times — I'm still dealing with it," he said. "I'm dealing with a lot of things as far as that (the bombing). The hardest thing is to know that I was responsible for these two people's lives. You feel like you failed."

Parinello said he feels good about serving in Afghanistan, and "seeing the smiles on people's faces when we did the voting and gave them aid."

Basansky remembers the car bomb that went off on Dec. 20. It was like so many others on the side of the road about 35 miles southwest of Kirkuk, where the 1-27 Wolfhounds operated in Sunni Arab territory.

Sgt. Zachary Parinello was injured by a roadside bomb Nov. 24 in Afghanistan. Two other Schofield soldiers died in the blast. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

"All I could see was what my eyes could see in front of me," Basansky said. He couldn't move. "I began to see one of the guy's faces. He had his eyes closed, and I could see the blood trickling on his face."

Basansky was the worst off. His entire right arm has nerve damage from the blast.

"It's been progressively getting better, but it really isn't that good," he said. He's expecting a year of recuperation, but wants to stay in the Army, even though he can't be an infantryman. "They have a place for me in the Army. It's what I enjoy," he said.

Asked what he thought about his service — and loss in Iraq — Basansky said, "Personally, I would have like to have stayed and finished the job."

Sgt. Roberto Quintana-Santana, 24, from Puerto Rico, was in a wheelchair at the ceremony. He, too, was injured in Iraq by a roadside car bomb. "It's a big problem," he said of the bombs.

Shrapnel hit him in the leg on Oct. 17 while he was a passenger in a fuel truck. Nerves to his foot were severed. He will undergo surgery next month.

Getting a Purple Heart is a medal "I was not looking for, you know?" said Quintana-Santana, part of the 225th Forward Support Battalion. "But now that I've got it, I'm proud to be part of it. My grandfather had one and he served in World War II."

Quintana-Santana can walk short distances with a cane, and he's not sure how much use of his foot he'll regain.

As a returning soldier, he said he appreciates the support he and others have been given, but he wishes there could be a little more recognition — and not just when soldiers get hurt.

"If you see a soldier, say thank you by giving a handshake," he said. "It means something to us. It makes what we're doing worthwhile."