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Stryker soldier a hero here on the home front

Dec-14-2006 » Filed Under: 4/2 SBCT

Here is a follow up to the article we posted yesterday regarding SSG Martinez.

MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

Dan McKown joked Wednesday that his friend Moises Martinez used devious means to keep him alive after he’d been shot five times at the Tacoma Mall.

“He lied to me!” McKown recalled of that day back in November 2005, when he was struck down by the gunman who wandered the mall.

“He said … ‘Gut wounds hurt like hell but you’ll be fine, man. I was in Iraq and I’ve seen far worse than this and those guys pulled through. You’re going to be perfectly fine.’

“‘Open your eyes! You can’t sleep now!’ Things like that.”

But the Army staff sergeant’s reassuring words, and his cajoling, and the clear-headed direction he gave to others, would save McKown’s life.

The Army recognized Martinez on Wednesday with its highest award for noncombat bravery.

Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey presented Martinez, 30, with the Soldiers Medal, calling the Stryker infantryman “the personification of why the United States Army is the best army in the world.”

McKown, a Tacoma stand-up comedian and longtime employee at the mall, said Martinez cared for him for more than 90 minutes while the gunman was still on the loose.

The soldier is also credited with shepherding several children to safety just after the shooting started.

Seven people were wounded, Mc-Kown the most seriously. The gunman held four hostages before surrendering to police. [...]


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