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Acts of valor earn medals for Fort Lewis soldiers

Feb-12-2005 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

This story is worthy of separate entries in today's news.

Link to Full Article
By CHRISTIAN HILL

Dozens honored for helicopter rescue, other efforts

FORT LEWIS -- A U.S. military helicopter is brought down by enemy fire in hostile territory. Soldiers rush to the rescue, engaging hundreds of enemy fighters for hours as mortars and rocket-propelled grenades explode around them.

But this isn't the Battle of Mogadishu on Oct. 3, 1993, which was retold in the book and 2001 movie, "Black Hawk Down."

This story hits closer to home.

"It was our version," said Spc. Aaron Sykora, 20, a member of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Fort Lewis. "Totally different enemy though."

Sykora was one of nearly two dozen soldiers with the unit who received Army Commendation Medals for Valor on Friday.

They earned the medals for the gallantry they displayed evacuating and securing an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter that crashed in Tall 'Afar, Iraq, on Sept. 3.

A dozen soldiers from the unit received the medal for heroic acts during the unit's yearlong deployment with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. That deployment ended in November.

First Lt. Robert McChrystal, a 24-year-old Yelm resident, received the highest medal of the day, a Bronze Star with Valor, for commanding a 25-man scout platoon first on the scene at the crash site. [...]

The soldiers battled more than 300 insurgents over that four-hour period, the Army said.

No U.S. soldier died in the attack and the 15 soldiers injured eventually were able to return to duty, McChrystal said.

Eighteen U.S. soldiers died in the 18-hour battle against fighters in the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, where two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.

"For me, I thought it was a good example of definitely not quitting, not giving up," McChrystal said. "I think we were able to turn what could have been an awful situation into a pretty good situation."

During Friday's ceremony, Col. Stephen Townsend, 3rd Brigade commander, said many soldiers displayed valor that either went unnoticed or unrewarded.

"You wish you could give it to a lot more people," Thompson said of the medal.


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