my brother

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: yeah, .  Finished the book last night, those Men made those fuckers pay for every inch on that mountain.  I hadn't realized that Lt. Murphy was awarded the MOH until this thread. which book? Lone Survivor - Macus Lutrell He was the only SEAL Team member to survive an ambush in eastern Afghanistan  (killed his 3 immediate team mates, and another 16 killed trying to rescue them when their UH60 was shot down - including 8 additional SEAL Team memmbers, and IIRC, NightStalkers, Medic, and a PJ)

I just ordered a copy from Amazon.  Only $15 for a hard copy.  I saw Lutrell on TV promoting his book.

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

You have my sincerest condolences.

height=8

Quoted: height=8 Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg You have my sincerest condolences.

+1

Quoted: Quoted: PFC. Richard H Busby.  One of our customers who still works every day.  82nd AB 505th PIR and did jump into Normandy.  Got shot up pretty bad.  Got marks on his chest that makes him look like swiss cheese.  14th row up from the bottom on the left on this page.  www.ww2-airborne.us/units/505/505_trp.html I think I may be related to him. What part of TX?

He lives in Center, TX.

... west Baghdad

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

Your brother is a Hero and youhave my condolences.

Quoted: Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg Your brother is a Hero and you have my condolences.

A big +1

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

I just visited his page at TWS.

Semper Fi.

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

I just visited his page at TWS.

Semper Fi.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: PFC. Richard H Busby.  One of our customers who still works every day.  82nd AB 505th PIR and did jump into Normandy.  Got shot up pretty bad.  Got marks on his chest that makes him look like swiss cheese.  14th row up from the bottom on the left on this page.  www.ww2-airborne.us/units/505/505_trp.html I think I may be related to him. What part of TX? He lives in Center, TX.

He looks like a spitting image of my grandad, also from central TX, who was Army in WWII. I'll have to ask my dad about this.

Thanks

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

Sorry for your loss.

With 1/1 in Iraq

My father

height=8

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

I served in the Marines from 90 to 94... One of the ways I describe it is being fortunate enough to stand on the shoulders of giants - your brother is one of those giants.

sweet thread

Oorah for USMC infantry.



Support for your buddy.



The legendary Carlos Hathcock.



Son of USMC Scout/Sniper.

This little guy was badass. http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/frankydec/salvador-toloza1.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o316/frankydec/elsal.jpg



NAJAF, Iraq - One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Salvadoran Cpl. Samuel Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his switchblade knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen.

In one of the only known instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq (news - web sites) conflict, Toloza stabbed several attackers who were swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to their rescue.

"We never considered surrender. I was trained to fight until the end," said the 25-year-old Toloza, one of 380 El Salvador (news - web sites) soldiers whose heroism is being cited just as criticism is leveled against other members of the multinational force in Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said recently the Central American unit has "gained a fantastic reputation among the coalition" and expressed hope that they will stay beyond their scheduled departure.

Phil Kosnett, who heads the Coalition Provisional Authority in this holy Shiite city, says he owes his life to Salvadorans who repelled a well-executed insurgent attack on his three-car convoy in March. He's nominated six of them for the U.S. Army's Bronze Star medal.

"You hear this snotty phrase `coalition of the billing' for some of the smaller contingents," says Kosnett, referring to the apparent eagerness of some nations to charge their Iraq operations to Washington. "The El Sals? No way. These guys are punching way above their weight. They're probably the bravest and most professional troops I've every worked with."

The Salvadorans are eager to stress their role as peacekeepers rather than warriors, perhaps with an eye to public opinion back home. Masked protesters last week seized the cathedral in the capital of San Salvador (news - web sites), demanding that President-elect Tony Saca pull the troops out of Iraq.

Saca, who takes office June 1, has said he will leave the unit in Iraq until August as planned, despite the early departure of the Spanish troops under which they were serving. The other three Central American contingents — from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras — have already returned home or are scheduled to do so soon.

"We didn't come here to fire a single shot. Our rifles were just part of our equipment and uniforms. But we were prepared to repel an attack," says Col. Hugo Omar Orellana Calidonio, a 27-year army veteran who commands the Cuscatlan Battalion.

The troops, El Salvador's first peacekeepers abroad, conducted a wide range of humanitarian missions in Najaf. They provided books, electricity, playground equipment and other supplies to destitute schools and helped farmers with irrigation works and fertilizer supplies.

"Our country came out of a similar situation as in Iraq 12 years ago, so people in El Salvador can understand what is happening here," said Calidonio, referring to a civil war between the U.S.-backed government and leftist guerrillas that left some 75,000 dead. The military was held responsible for widespread abuses.

"We came here to help and we were helping. Our relationship with the people was excellent. They were happy with what we were doing," Calidonio says.

Then came April 4, when armed followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized virtual control of the city and staged attacks on two camps — Baker and Golf — adjacent bases on the fringes of Najaf occupied by the Salvadoran and Spanish units.

When Toloza and 16 other soldiers arrived that morning at a low-walled compound of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, about 1.2 miles from their camp, they found its 350 occupants had melted away and themselves trapped by al-Sadr's al-Mahdi militia.

Lt. Col. Francisco Flores, the battalion's operations officer, said the surrounded soldiers held their fire for nearly half an hour, fearful of inflicting civilian casualties, even as 10 of their number were wounded by rocket-propelled grenades and bullets from assault rifles and machine guns.

After several hours of combat, the besieged unit ran out of ammunition, having come with only 300 rounds for each of their M-16 rifles. Pvt. Natividad Mendez, Toloza's friend for three years, lay dead, riddled by two bullets probably fired by a sniper. Two more were wounded as the close-quarters fighting intensified.

"I thought, `This is the end.' But at the same time I asked the Lord to protect and save me," Toloza recalled.

The wounded were placed on a truck while Toloza and the three other soldiers moved on the ground, trying to make their way back to the base. They were soon confronted with al-Sadr's fighters, about 10 of whom tried to seize one of the soldiers.

"My immediate reaction was that I had to defend my friend, and the only thing I had in my hands was a knife," Toloza said.

As reinforcements arrived to save Toloza's unit, the two camps were under attack, with the El Salvadorans and a small U.S. contingent of soldiers and civilian security personnel trying to protect the perimeter and retake an adjoining seven-story hospital captured by the insurgents.

The Spanish didn't fight, and only after a long delay agreed to send out their armored vehicles to help evacuate the wounded. Flores says he cannot question the Spanish decisions that day, but with a slightly sardonic smile adds that they "could have helped us sooner."

U.S. troops have now replaced the Spanish. Salvadoran officers, many of whom were trained at military schools in the United States, say they're pleased to be working with the Americans.

Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg

I am sorry for your loss.

edited ~ 82nd

Quoted: Quoted: my brother viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg I am sorry for your loss.

+1

Thank you very much for your family's sacrifice.

Quoted: viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg Thank you very much for your family's sacrifice.

I should only hope his death was quick. War destroys so many young lives. Theres no glory in dying for your country. Life is Finite. Everyone dies, its just how you go out. Either on your feet or on your knees.  I should only hope he sent many many many of those stubburn little bastards straight to hell before he danced with the devil

Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh.

-Marcus Aurelius

Those Iraqi's better live up to this sacrifice.  They better earn this.

Quoted: Quoted: viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg Thank you very much for your family's sacrifice. I should only hope his death was quick. War destroys so many young lives. Theres no glory in dying for your country. Life is Finite. Everyone dies, its just how you go out. Either on your feet or on your knees.  I should only hope he sent many many many of those stubburn little bastards straight to hell before he danced with the devil Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh. -Marcus Aurelius

There is glory in sacrificing your life to save your brother soldiers - as many Medal of Honor recipients did.  I could not disagree more.  Also, it cheapens the sacrifices of the thousands who died on battlefields far away to preserve freedom and for our way of life to say that there is no glory for dying for our country.

Quoted: My father i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa152/rtsteed/dadmosuliraq.jpg i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa152/rtsteed/Dalbey0111.jpg

My thanks to him, and my condolonces for your loss.

Be proud.

wow. there are truly some amazing stories/pictures here.

Quoted: i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa152/rtsteed/SFsoldierAfghanistan.jpg

TheSTEED, is this you?

Quoted: I AM IN AWE! You guys are GREAT!   I suck. It's not quite Shakespeare's Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt speech, but you get the idea.

but u gots character..

my friends




sorry for the large size on the first one.

Robert L. Howard was said to be the most decorated American serviceman of the Vietnam War.  He was in all the places our government told us there were no American forces.

Then-- carrying a VC prisoner snatched from Laos or Cambodia.  The only part harder than quickly killing all the other VC in the immediate area while taking this one alive was the part after that-- binding him and carrying him to the LZ while hundreds of his compatriots attempted to find and rescue him.  Alot of these kidnap missions went wrong when the snatched soldiers would themselves be killed by enemy fire during the massive counterattacks that always followed a snatch-n-grab operation behind enemy lines.


On the front left, with some of the other SOG crew.  The guy on the far left is Chuck Erikson, who would later be one of the 14 commandos of assault group "Blueboy", which would intentionally crash land their helicopter in the middle of the prison camp at Son Tay in order to maximize tactial surprise.  Read about Son Tay and its incredible display of American badassery here.


Any landing you can walk away from, right?


MOH Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then SFC.), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an American-Vietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer's equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant's belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard's small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard's gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.  

At the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial in 1982:


He has just a bit of a "fruit salad" on his uniform eh?

Today, alongside an old friend named John Plaster who wrote a book about some crazy stuff they used to do together as kids.

Quoted: Robert L. Howard was said to be the most decorated American serviceman of the Vietnam War.  He was in all the places our government told us there were no American forces. Then-- carrying a VC prisoner snatched from Laos or Cambodia.  The only part harder than quickly killing all the other VC in the immediate area while taking this one alive was the part after that-- binding him and carrying him to the LZ while hundreds of his compatriots attempted to find and rescue him.  Alot of these kidnap missions went wrong when the snatched soldiers would themselves be killed by enemy fire during the massive counterattacks that always followed a snatch-n-grab operation behind enemy lines. rlhtribute.com/images/photo_6.jpg On the front left, with some of the other SOG crew.  The guy on the far left is Chuck Erikson, who would later be one of the 14 commandos of assault group "Blueboy", which would intentionally crash land their helicopter in the middle of the prison camp at Son Tay in order to maximize tactial surprise.  Read about Son Tay and its incredible display of American badassery here. rlhtribute.com/images/photo_3.jpg Any landing you can walk away from, right? rlhtribute.com/images/photo_4.jpg MOH Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then SFC.), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an American-Vietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer's equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant's belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard's small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard's gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.   At the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial in 1982: rlhtribute.com/images/photo_8.jpg He has just a bit of a "fruit salad" on his uniform eh? Today, alongside an old friend named John Plaster who wrote a book about some crazy stuff they used to do together as kids. rlhtribute.com/images/photo_12.jpg

FINALLY someone posted Robert Howard and Jon Plaster. I've read all about SOG, from his SOG book to Secret commando's. That unit is unmatched :)

I like this thread.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: viahj.com/Coppermine/albums/userpics/31.jpg Thank you very much for your family's sacrifice. I should only hope his death was quick. War destroys so many young lives. Theres no glory in dying for your country. Life is Finite. Everyone dies, its just how you go out. Either on your feet or on your knees.  I should only hope he sent many many many of those stubburn little bastards straight to hell before he danced with the devil Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh. -Marcus Aurelius There is glory in sacrificing your life to save your brother soldiers - as many Medal of Honor recipients did.  I could not disagree more.  Also, it cheapens the sacrifices of the thousands who died on battlefields far away to preserve freedom and for our way of life to say that there is no glory for dying for our country.

To quote a book written by Reynel Martinez "Six Silent Men - Long Range Recon Patrol"

"We inserted into a cove of trees on a fairly big island. there wasn't any water in the paddies so it made for a food LZ. We didnt' receive any fire coming in. We did a ercon around the area, then went and set up a linear ambush facing out across the wet paddies to our front. the paddies extended out about 150 meters, where they ran into the big island of trees and growth. The island ran east and then cut back south with the paddies extending inward for a ways. it was a good place to set down an anvil and a damn good place to die. We did a short recon back into the island behind us about 100 meters, where we found corpses that had been lying there for a few days. We came back to the original ambush about the time the 1/327 hammer was crunching on the other side of the island to our front. Pretty soon people were running our way in an attempt to get away from the infantry push. People with weapons were running across the open paddies about 400 meters away.

Everyone started firing, with sp5 Harvey Vieber and Sgt. James Gary doing the most good with their M-60's. Gray was knocking the shit out of them, and several went down. There was a lull in the firingl then another group started crossing the paddies, alittle closer to our position. We resumed firing. After a while we were ordered by the battalion headquarters to go check the bodies for weapons and get a body count. Lieutenant McIsaac reluctantly ordered us to do so. my team and Sgt. Bob McKinnon's team wound be going out, with one team in reserve as security. We were the point team, and the order of maarch was Beaver, myself ,Sullens, Benston, and Doc Kraft. Sergeant McKinnon's team was trailing. I remember going across two paddies full of water. Coming up to the second dike, I stepped up with my right foot on the dike and it crumpled, causing me to slip and fall fowar, sticking the barrel of my M-16 right into the mud. As I was falling forward, I remember thinking that was a stumblebum I was. Suddenly I felt a hot crack extremely close to my right cheek and ear, then several other cracks almost like just one string of cracks together. Stumbling had saved my life. We were getting shot at with automatic weapons. I fell, rolled to my right, grabbed my sawed-off M-79, and fired at a muzzle flash sixty or seventy meters away, at the edge of the tree line I had glimpsed as I was falling. I rolled onto my left side to get another round rolling to the right side of my body out of the water. In doing so I happened to face my right rear. Sully was facedown in the paddy water about twenty meters away, air bubbles and a steady spread of bright pink in the water around his body.That Pissed me off. Simultaneously, I saw Doc Kraft running toward him. I turned around and fired my M-79 again, thinking I needed to put out some covering fire for Doc. then I tried to clean the mud out of the barrel of my M-16. It didn' work, so I rolled over to get another M-79 round and saw Doc Kraft with Sully. I loaded the round and fired again. I had to keep ro,ling my body out of the water to get rounds for my M-79. eachtime I glanced over at Doc Kraft again and cound see that he was having trouble working on Sully."  

it continues on and then...

"I was looking for wounds in the upper body looking for major bleeders,: doc told me later. I had dressings out and was stuffing holes in his chest," Doc later told me.  "Usually you can feel your hands if they're breathing. There wasn't any breathing so I asked Marty, 'do we have a pulse?' he replied, 'I don/t think so' well I said, 'I think he's dead' I really did. I would never leave anyone unless I absolutely knew he was dead. Those rounds were on both sides of his nipple line and sternum. I can recall tracers and splashes around us as we were working on Sully."

When doc asked me if he was breathing and had a pulse I couldn't tell at first. And then I realized I was just trying to prolong wha we both already knew. Sully had been dying as Doc was working on him and I was holding him. he had died in my arms."

Sully was a huge favorite amung the LURPS. His loss hit them very hard, and he had requested to go on the mission even though he had two days before his tour was over. Now you tell me..whats the glory in bleeding to death face down in the mud. I'm enlisted in the army, Signed up for Air Bourne Rangers. I ship out in the end of January. My old man was a Green Beret attached to the 5th special forces group in Vietnam and served 3 tours of duty, and did operations for the Phoenix Program. he'll be 60 in June and I'll be 23 in April. To this day he hasn't talked to me about anything that he did over there. He refuses to talk about it. He says its too terrible to think about. He only tells me that theres nothing gung ho or glorious to see your friends ripped to pieces by machine gun fire and watch them scream in agony as they bleed to death in the mud.  It takes serious guts to do what our soldiers do and our marines and airmen and seamen. But theres nothing glorious in watching your friends get cut to pieces and attempt to piece them back together and watch them die in front of you or in their arms. To semi-quote Patton. "I'd rather live for my country and make the other guy die for theirs."

Quoted: bout time someone posted Pat Tilman. God damn that guy was hardcore as hell. Its a damn shame he was fragged.

He wasn't "fragged".  Not every friendly-fire death is a "fragging".  Fragging is the murder of a superior by subordinates, an intentional act.  

1st vote to make this thread a stickie!!!!!!


Thanks for sharing guys and my prayers go out to the families of those who have not returned.

Quoted: Quoted: bout time someone posted Pat Tilman. God damn that guy was hardcore as hell. Its a damn shame he was fragged. ] He wasn't "fragged".  Not every friendly-fire death is a "fragging".  Fragging is the murder of a superior by subordinates, an intentional act.

there are still very valid questions regarding this...
when someone stands up and yells" it's me..Pat Fucking Tillman"...

even in the middle of the firefight with all the chaos, you have to wonder.
those aren't words that the taliban would usually use..

BOB HOLLER

This MAN was a legend, and a true hero to everyone at SOCOM.

The most hardened warriors is the world stood in awe of his feats, which he would never even mention.

He was probably the best damned PJ who ever lived, they should make a statue of him under canopy, he had over 500 career saves.

read what he had to say about his military life in the shit.

He has gone but will not be forgotten.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: bout time someone posted Pat Tilman. God damn that guy was hardcore as hell. Its a damn shame he was fragged. He wasn't "fragged".  Not every friendly-fire death is a "fragging".  Fragging is the murder of a superior by subordinates, an intentional act.   there are still very valid questions regarding this... when someone stands up and yells" it's me..Pat Fucking Tillman"... even in the middle of the firefight with all the chaos, you have to wonder. those aren't words that the taliban would usually use..

Don't crap on this thread with that bullshit.  

Quoted: i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/rubberfly/USMC/1112marine.jpg Oorah for USMC infantry. i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/rubberfly/USMC/04sniper6001.jpg Support for your buddy. i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/rubberfly/USMC/carloslh7.jpg The legendary Carlos Hathcock. i29.photobucket.com/albums/c299/rubberfly/USMC/thefallen.jpg Son of USMC Scout/Sniper.

Holy cow!!,   that kid of the Scout-sniper choked me up hard.  God bless him and his dad.

Tag

<Take the hint and stop crapping in the thread. NorCal>

Col. Joseph W. Kittinger II from 102,800 feet

Quoted: www.space.com/images/h_kitt_03,0.jpg Col. Joseph W. Kittinger II from 102,800 feet

That was the jump out of the converted weather balloon right?  I remember someone  saying the weirdest part of the jump was the absence of wind and rushing air.

Corporal Bill (Willy) Apiata has just been awarded the Victoria Cross for bravery under fire in Afghanistan in 2004



Corporal Apiata saved the life of a heavily wounded colleague under heavy fire from opposing forces, by carrying him across open ground while coming under intense attack. The citation reads:
Lance Corporal (now Corporal) Apiata was, in 2004, part of a New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) Troop on patrol in Afghanistan , which laid up in defensive formation for the night. At approximately 0315 hours, the Troop was attacked by a group of about twenty enemy fighters, who had approached by stealth using the cover of undulating ground in pitch darkness. Rocket-propelled grenades struck two of the Troop’s vehicles, destroying one and immobilising the other. The opening strike was followed by dense and persistent machine gun and automatic rifle fire from close range. The attack then continued using further rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun and rifle fire. The initial attack was directed at the vehicle where Lance Corporal Apiata was stationed. He was blown off the bonnet by the impact of rocket propelled grenades striking the vehicle. He was dazed, but was not physically injured. The two other vehicle crew members had been wounded by shrapnel; one of them; Corporal A, was in a serious condition. Illuminated by the burning vehicle, and under sustained and accurate enemy fire directed at and around their position, the three soldiers immediately took what little cover was available. Corporal A was discovered to have sustained life-threatening wounds. The other two soldiers immediately began applying basic first aid. Lance Corporal Apiata assumed command of the situation, as he could see that his superior’s condition was deteriorating rapidly.
By this time, however, Lance Corporal Apiata’s exposed position, some seventy metres in front of the rest of the Troop, was coming under increasingly intense enemy fire. Corporal A was now suffering serious arterial bleeding and was lapsing in and out of consciousness.
Lance Corporal Apiata concluded that his comrade urgently required medical attention, or he would likely die. Pinned down by the enemy, in the direct line of fire between friend and foe, he also judged that there was almost no chance of such help reaching their position. As the enemy pressed its attack towards Lance Corporal Apiata’s position, and without thought of abandoning his colleague to save himself, he took a decision in the highest order of personal courage under fire. Knowing the risks involved in moving to open ground, Lance Corporal Apiata decided to carry Corporal A single-handedly to the relative safety of the main Troop position, which afforded better cover and where medical treatment could be given. He ordered his other colleague, Trooper T to make his own way back to the rear.
In total disregard of his own safety, Lance Corporal Apiata stood up and lifted his comrade bodily. He then carried him across the seventy metres of broken, rocky and fire swept ground, fully exposed in the glare of battle to heavy enemy fire and into the face of returning fire from the main Troop position. That neither he nor his colleague were hit is scarcely possible. Having delivered his wounded companion to relative shelter with the remainder of the patrol, Lance Corporal Apiata re-armed himself and rejoined the fight in counter-attack. By his actions, he removed the tactical complications of Corporal A’s predicament from considerations of rescue.
The Troop could now concentrate entirely on prevailing in the battle itself. After an engagement lasting approximately twenty minutes, the assault was broken up and the numerically superior attackers were routed with significant casualties, with the Troop in pursuit. Lance Corporal Apiata had thereby contributed materially to the operational success of the engagement. A subsequent medical assessment confirmed that Corporal A would probably have died of blood loss and shock, had it not been for Lance Corporal Apiata’s selflessly courageous act in carrying him back to the main Troop lines, to receive the immediate treatment that he needed.
A true hero indeed, and living up to all the best traditions of the SAS. Credit also to three other SAS members who have been decorated but can not be named:
Captain C, the New Zealand Gallantry Decoration for for an exceptional act of gallantry and leadership under heavy fire and his leadership in general throughout the tour of operations.
Corporal B, the New Zealand Gallantry Decoration, for displaying outstanding courage and leadership and accepting extraordinary risks during his tour of operations.
Corporal R, the New Zealand Gallantry Medal, for gallantry and the application of firm and timely leadership under extreme combat conditions.
It seems we are blessed not to have had any fatalities.
The Victoria Cross has only been awarded 1,354 times since it was created in 1856 and this is only the 14th VC since the end of WWII.
Corporal Apiata may be getting a lot of salutes in future. While not mandatory, it is tradition for everyone from the Chiefs of Staff down to salute the holder of a VC.

Quoted: Quoted: www.space.com/images/h_kitt_03,0.jpg Col. Joseph W. Kittinger II from 102,800 feet That was the jump out of the converted weather balloon right?  I remember someone  saying the weirdest part of the jump was the absence of wind and rushing air.

That, and the fact that the glove fitting on his pressure suit failed and he began to freeze halfway down.

My Dad in 1942, was assigned to the 101st ABN 326th Para Engineers.
"Battered bastards of Batogne"



Me in 1994, 101st ABN (AASLT) 101st MP CO.
Port au Prince Haiti

to AFSOC's post...GREAT find. The material in this thread is just getting better and better as the days progress. Keep up the great work guys/girls!

Arclight.


LRRPS