When Louis Webster “Webb” Mason volunteered to go to Afghanistan for the Army Corps of Engineers in December 2007, he planned to spend the six-month deployment, as so many other Corps employees have, building roads, medical clinics, schools and other facilities for some of the poorest people in the war-torn country.

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About a month into a requested extension of his job — and on his 56th birthday — Mason was wounded by rocket fire. His lost his left arm and sustained serious damage to his left leg.

Thursday, Mason was presented the Defense of Freedom medal at the Engineering Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, where he has been a 25-year employee as a civil engineering technician.

He told family, friends and colleagues, both civilian and military, the Corps mission has been worthwhile. “We were making a difference, I’m positive,” Mason said.

In addition, live video feeds linked the program to Corps sites in Illinois, Virginia and New Hampshire as well as the Afghanistan Engineer District. Though it was about midnight in Afghanistan, his colleagues wanted to be part of the ceremony. “You are truly an American hero,” said Sonny Ahtesham, deployed with the Sharana Provisional Reconstruction Team in Paktika Province, who had been Mason’s roommate. “We miss you and we love you.”

The Defense of Freedom medal, the civilian equivalent of the Purple Heart, was created in the aftermath of Sept. 11 to recognize employees of the Department of Defense who are wounded or killed while on duty. Mason’s award was presented by Maj. Gen. Bo Temple, deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations for the Corps of Engineers.

Amid the emotion of the day there were moments of humor. Giving a short biography and tribute to Mason, Dr. Jeffrey Holland, deputy director of ERDC, said, “Those of us who know Webb know that he would do almost anything to keep from sitting right here, and in fact he tried to make a run for it.”

But after a presentation of photos of himself, his projects and team members in Afghanistan, Mason began wiping his eyes, and when it was time for him to speak, he wept and paused frequently to rein in his emotions. Mason abandoned the note cards he’d prepared for his speech, instead calling on family and friends in the audience and acknowledging each in turn for helping him and his wife, Hazel, a teaching assistant at Beechwood Elementary, during his recovery.

“Your outpouring of support is unbelievable,” he said. “I can’t begin to express how much it has meant to us.”

Mason’s deployment in Afghanistan was his third volunteer tour into a war zone with the Corps. In 2004 he spent four months in Tikrit, Iraq, as a contracting officer’s representative helping soldiers with housing and other daily needs.

He went back to Iraq in January 2005, where he supervised an airfield construction project.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, the Corps has followed its American model, creating division and district offices to design and manage billions of dollars worth of civilian reconstruction projects, including water and sewer systems, police and fire departments, schools, road and power facilities. Many Vicksburg residents have served volunteer deployments.

Mason said he feels a “passionate loyalty” to the Corps and would deploy a fourth time if he could.

He explained that the Afghanistan deployment entailed a lot of travel. “Our projects were scattered all over the province,” he said. “They were difficult to get to. What took 36 minutes in a helicopter took 18 hours to drive.”

Mason had been working in a mountain village the day of the attack. After being wounded, he crawled to his first-aid kit and applied a tourniquet to his arm while he waited for help. He was taken to a hospital in Salerno, Italy, where doctors amputated his left arm above the elbow.

Though his left leg was also badly damaged, they saved it. He was sent to a hospital in Germany for a few days, and finally to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Mason thought only one day had passed. “My most urgent concern had been to get to a phone and inform my wife. I didn’t understand she had already been informed.”

In fact, ERDC had arranged to get Hazel Mason and the couple’s two sons to Washington, and they were the first people he saw when he arrived. “That was a great moment,” he said.

Mason will return to his job in Vicksburg March 2. “It’s great to be back,” he said.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.