Touching Story Of Soldier Who Cut Off His Own Leg To Save The Life Of His Colleagues (Photos)

Ezra Maes, 21, had to amputate his own leg in order to save his fellow Army soldiers during Exercise Atlantic Resolve in 2018. He credits his cellphone for saving his life by waking him up just in time.

“My cell phone saved my life,” Maes said in a Monday Defense Department Press release

Maes and two other soldiers fell asleep in the tank last year after a week-long training exercise in Europe. They woke up to find the tank speeding down a hill.

“I called out to the driver, ‘Step on the brakes!’” Maes said. “But he shouted back that it wasn’t him.”

There was a hydraulic leak in the 65-ton M1A2 Abrams tank and it was going about 90 miles per hour. The operational systems weren’t responding, either.

“We realized there was nothing else we could do and just held on,” Maes said in the release.

The last thing he remembers was his sergeant major running up the hill with his leg on his shoulder. They tried to save it, but it was too damaged.

Despite losing a leg, Maes said he feels “super lucky.”

“My crew all does. So many things could have gone wrong. Besides my leg, we all walked away pretty much unscathed,” he said.

Amazingly, Maes is keeping a positive attitude about the whole situation.

“When something like this happens, it’s easy to give up because your life won’t be the same, and you’re not wrong,” he said. “Life will take a 180, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Don’t let it hinder you from moving forward.”

Maes is now assigned to the Brooke Army Medical Center Warrior Transition Battalion at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

He now hopes to help other people who’ve lost their limbs by becoming a prosthetist.