John Peck was awarded the Purple Heart on two occasions; first for serious injuries sustained in Iraq, and again when he was catastrophically wounded in Afghanistan. He suffered a traumatic brain injury when an IED exploded underneath his truck in Iraq in 2007, leaving him with a lengthy recovery period. In 2010, Peck re-enlisted in the Marine Corps and deployed to Afghanistan.[2]
In May 2010, an IED explosion resulted in the loss of both of Peck’s legs and one of his arms.[3] Infection led to the amputation of his remaining arm, making him the third surviving quadruple-amputee from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.[4]
In August 2016, after two years on the waiting list, John underwent a 14-hour, double arm transplant surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.[5] He is the second quadruple-amputee from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to get a double arm transplant.[5]
Peck wrote a book, Rebuilding Sergeant Peck: How I Put Body and Soul Back Together After Afghanistan, that was released on May 7, 2019. Also a documentary was made about him.[6]
In 2021, Our Life released a documentary, The Man with Another Man's Arms, following Peck's recovery from bilateral arm transplant on YouTube.[7] The video received over 8,000,000 views within its first year. He was also named Military Times Veteran of the Year for 2021.[3][8]
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