![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635966909869833638-lewishelmet2jpg.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA view of the bullet-pierced helmet worn by Staff Sgt. Thalamus Lewis. At left, see where the bullet entered. The more noticeable damage is where the bullet exited (right side of photo).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Kyle Jahner\/Staff<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2012, Dillon was\u00a0a second lieutenant. He was standing near Lewis when bullets started flying. “I\u2019m still surprised that he\u2019s still standing, based on everything that went down that day.”\u00a0Were people killed? \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tuesday’s ceremony was a service\u00a0of\u00a0Program Executive Office Soldier. The command, which develops personal protection for the troops, regularly\u00a0organizes equipment-returns for soldiers who survive close-calls in combat. The damaged gear serves as a memento, and also provides some closure to these troops.\u00a0The ceremonies are also proof that the gear is saving soldiers’ lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lewis’ family members\u00a0attended the event, as did dozens of other soldiers and defense employees, many of them representative of various organizations involved in the\u00a0process that designs and puts\u00a0equipment like Lewis’ Army Combat Helmet\u00a0into soldier’s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ‘The Kevlar did it’s job’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dillon said during the ceremony that typically, route clearances\u00a0started at dusk, but the one on Oct. 4, 2012, was ordered to start at 1630. He said he raised concerns as they would be in hostile territory at a vulnerable time Why is it a vulnerable time?<\/span>, but the low-ranking officer’s objections\u00a0were in vain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 4, 2012, Lewis and his fellow soldiers set off to to verify a 12-kilometer path of\u00a0highway and entire village was clear of explosives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside the village, they were checking around buildings and in nearby vegetation when bursts of enemy gunfire rang out. Before anyone knew what had happened, Lewis had been hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I didn’t know how bad it was, I just knew it was a soldier laying down,” said Dillon, now with the 92nd Engineering Battalion out of Fort Stewart, Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dillon said the gunfight was about 10 minutes long with most of the action happening in the first five, though he said it felt like an eternity. During that time,\u00a0help couldn’t get to Lewis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The soldier said he\u00a0stayed on the ground and “played possum.” When the threat\u00a0dissipated, Dillon said he was thrilled to see Lewis\u00a0sitting and looking back at him, acting as if nothing was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I was being tough,” Lewis said at the ceremony, generating a few laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bullet had entered the right side of his ACH, just above the bottom ridge,\u00a0and left a tiny hole that continued\u00a0through to the inside of the helmet. A few inches away from the entry hole, the bullet exploded out of the front of the ACH, blowing off square inches of the green-painted surface, exposing the frayed Kevlar below. While it’s difficult to say exactly how much the helmet deviated the bullet’s path, Dillon believes it saved Lewis’ life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That would be the assumption that I would make, as I look at the helmet, the way it sits, where they were firing at us from. The Kevlar did its job and deflected it from going through just enough to keep him alive,” Dillon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Staff Sgt. Thalamus Lewis sits next to his mother Cynthia Boggan and talks to reporters about having his damaged combat helmet returned to him.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Kyle Jahner<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lewis said he was thankful to get the helmet back and for all the work done by the organizations of the Army that produce protective equipment. He said, like, many soldiers, he’d long complained\u00a0about the weight of gear, but his tune changed that October day during his fourth deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I always tried to short-cut it. But after the fourth of October, my main (message) to young soldiers is to use the gear the way it’s supposed to be used. I’m a walking testament,” Lewis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lewis, who\u00a0now serves in the 3rd Combined Arms Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, said he doesn’t suffer any lingering effects from the injury.\u00a0He’s seven months shy of 20 years in the Army, and he plans to retire. He’s not sure what he wants to do next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “That belongs to me. I don’t know what he thinks he’s going to do with it,” she said to\u00a0laughs, including a sheepish chuckle from her son. She’d later add: “He’s still not grown enough not to get a whooping.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Staff Sgt. Lewis came under fire In Afghanistan, he hit the ground. But not before his helmet took a bullet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":78414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":70,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[840],"class_list":["post-40945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HUFBQ3TW5ZDH5JGQSW6RVJZMXA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-army\/2016\/04\/20\/bullet-pierced-helmet-returned-to-lucky-army-combat-engineer\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/635966909860161576-lewishelmet1jpg.jpg\")
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