BAGHDAD, Iraq - An 18 year old Private earned the first
U.S. Army Silver Star medal awarded to any of the 32,000 American
soldiers currently serving in the Iraqi capital, after helping
fight off a deadly guerrilla ambush in May that killed two of his
companions and wounded five.
The 1st Cavalry Division's Pfc. Christopher Fernandez, of
Tucson, Arizona received the Silver Star from the division's
commander, Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, on Aug. 13. The award is
given for uncommon valor in combat.
Fernandez, a Humvee machine gunner, is credited with holding a
band of insurgents at bay while his companions gathered wounded and
dead soldiers from a vehicle disabled by a roadside bombing. The
ambush took place May 5 in west Baghdad.
One soldier that carried the dead and wounded to safety,
33-year-old Sgt. Timothy Buttz of Bloomington, Minnesota, was
decorated with the Army's Bronze Star medal, with a special
commendation for valor.
"After the (bomb) went off, I noticed their Humvee was taking
fire, that's when I started shooting back," said Fernandez, a
quiet, lanky man who wears glasses.
Fernandez ran out of ammunition for his M-249 machine gun. He
sprinted to the disabled Humvee and grabbed a damaged M-240 heavy
machine gun and dashed back to his position to continue firing. The
M-240's protective hand guards had been blown off and Fernandez
said he burned his hands in about 10 minutes of sustained shooting.
"I knew I had to do something. I could've gotten myself killed
to do it," said Fernandez, interviewed at 1st Cavalry headquarters
near Baghdad International Airport.
The two soldiers who died in the attack were 19-year-old Pfc.
Bradley Kritzer, of Irvona, Pennsylvania; and 18-year-old Spc.
James Marshall, of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Buttz said the two were
unconscious in the back of the disabled Humvee, along with two of
the wounded soldiers.
"I moved them from their Humvee to mine," Buttz said.
Buttz also destroyed the vehicle's sensitive radios before
abandoning the damaged Humvee and driving back to their base.
Kritzer and Marshall died en route, he said.
The Silver Star is the military's third-highest combat medal.
Since March 2003, 124 Silver Stars and 399 Bronze Stars for valor
have been awarded in the Iraq conflict, according to Pentagon
figures.
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