Stabbed Paratrooper Dan Powers Back in the Sky
Paratrooper stabbed in the head in Iraq in 2007 returns to flight.
June 30, 2009 — -- Simply surviving might be enough for someone who had been stabbed in the head.
But for Army sergeant Dan Powers, now almost fully recovered, the goal had always been the one he was about to achieve: jumping from an airplane.
Powers, 41, had been a skilled paratrooper, but after coming within inches of death in Iraq, he struggled even to walk and his return to the skies seemed out of reach.
"It was doubtful for a while, it really was. I didn't know," Powers said.
Watch more of Bob Woodruff's report on "World News" at 6:30 p.m. ET
ABC News first met airborne military police officer Powers in October 2007, while he was recuperating from an astonishing and severe combat injury.
On July 3, 2007, a teenage Iraqi insurgent had inched up behind Powers on a Baghdad street, plunging part of a 9-inch knife deep into his skull.
"Bam. A guy just nailed me in the head, came up behind me and got me good with the knife," Powers said.
At the time, Powers was not even aware that he had been stabbed. He felt the blow of a punch, he thought.
Another soldier reported the blunt truth.
"They said, 'You got a knife in your head,' and I kind of looked up and I was like, 'So I do,'" Powers recalled.
Incredibly, Powers remained alert as he was rushed to a combat hospital where surgeons -- at great risk -- removed the knife and saved his life.
"He is a walking miracle," said his wife Trudy Powers.
Powers said everyone is surprised by his recovery and his continued military service.
"I've been running into people that I served with in Iraq, and they're like, 'Wow, you're still here."
Related Stories
ABC News Live