A Kansas University graduate student wasn’t the only soldier with ties to Lawrence injured in a recent explosion in Iraq.

Army Reserve Sgt. Jared L. Myers, 23, a Lawrence resident and Lawrence High School graduate, also suffered injuries Oct. 23 when a remote-controlled bomb exploded under a military Humvee north of Baghdad. An article in Thursday’s Journal-World featured KU student Chuck Bartles, who lost much of his right arm in the explosion.

Myers, who like Bartles is a member of the 418th Civil Affairs Battalion of Belton, Mo., was driving the Humvee at the time of the explosion, said his mother, Judy Hammond. The attack took place in Baqubah, north of Baghdad.

Myers told his mother he tried to take the pulse of a third passenger in the vehicle, Capt. John Teal, and drove the Humvee one-handed to get away from the site of the explosion.

“He really hasn’t gone into a whole lot of detail because I truly don’t think it’s hit him yet,” Hammond said.

Teal, 31, was killed in the blast, according to the Pentagon.

A 1- by 2-inch piece of shrapnel broke a bone in Myers’ right arm, and another piece of shrapnel lodged in his jaw and was removed during surgery, Hammond said. Myers also suffered wounds on his face and chest that made him feel as if he’d been sprayed by buckshot, his mother said.

“He said ‘Mom, I’ve been injured, but I just broke my arm.’ He made it sound like he fell off a ladder,” she said.

Myers has feeling in all of his fingers, and his arm is expected to heal, Hammond said.

Myers arrived Thursday morning at Andrews Air Force Base outside of Washington, D.C., and is headed next to Fort Campbell, Ky., where he’ll undergo more surgery, his mother said.

Myers works as a phlebotomist at ZLB Plasma Services, 816 W. 24th St., said his girlfriend, Stephanie Cabral. The two met about a year ago when she went to donate plasma. She said they had been keeping diaries in the time they’ve been separated and plan to read each others’ when he gets home.

Even though Cabral is relieved her boyfriend is out of danger, she’s uneasy about what will happen when he returns because she knows he’s been through a traumatic event.

“I think an awful lot about our relationship,” she said. “I know he’s got more than that going through his mind, coming so close to death.”