By HUEY FREEMAN

Six months after he lost part of his leg in a roadside bomb attack in Afghanistan, Army Sgt. 1st Class John Wright received the red carpet treatment at the U.S. Capitol.

Wright, 38, was invited by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to attend the State of the Union Address on Wednesday night as Durbin’s special guest.

“It was a very unique experience, and I was honored to be part of the evening,” said Wright, in a phone interview from a Washington airport. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I have to be humble about it. Here was little old Johnny Wright, who used to bag groceries for little old ladies at the IGA and cleaned floors at the Dairy Queen.”

The Tuscola native watched President Obama deliver his speech from the front row of the balcony in the House Chamber, near the center aisle.