You Big Mouth, You!

SGT Zedwick was the driver of the third vehicle, in a four vehicle combat patrol north of Camp Taji when a vehicle borne IED hit and destroyed his HMMWV, killing his gunner and severely wounding the vehicle commander. Despite sustaining extensive wounds himself, SGT Zedwick pulled the truck commander from the flaming vehicle and immediately went back for the gunner. The burning HMMWV subsequently became the target of intense small arms fire. SGT Zedwick instinctively returned to his injured truck commander despite the increasing barrage of enemy fire and insured that he was safely behind cover.

With the truck commander’s safety established, SGT Zedwick again ran back thru the enemy’s assault to the HMMWV to attempt to retrieve the body of the gunner. Unable to do so, SGT Zedwick retrieved weapons and the radio before rounds started cooking off in the flaming vehicle. Again facing heavy enemy fire, SGT Zedwick returned with the sensitive items and continued to administer aid to the wounded truck commander and defend against the enemy ambush until they were both medically evacuated.

SGT Zedwick’s actions embody the warrior ethos. His repeated disregard for his own personal safety to ensure the safety of his comrades and the completion of the mission is a testament to his character and bravery. His gallantry in the face of the enemy reflects great credit upon himself, the Ghost Battalion, the First Cavalry Division and the United States Army.

Major General Pete Chiarelli, the Division Commander, after pinning the award on Zedwick, told him, “Young Sir, my father won the Silver Star in World War II, and he was my hero. I am so very honored to be in your presence. I salute you.” While it is traditional to salute the office presenting the award, MG Chiarelli raised his hand in salute to SGT Zedwick. It was very moving. The Silver Star is the third highest honor a soldier can be awarded.

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2005 � He may have just been doing his job, but the actions of Spc. Jeremy L. Church saved lives when his convoy came under heavy fire one year ago. They also earned him the first Silver Star awarded to an Army reservist during the global war on terrorism.

Church is humble about receiving the medal, among the nation’s highest awards, given for gallantry against enemy action. �I�m honored to have received it,� Church said today in a Pentagon interview. �But honestly, I was just doing my duty.�

His duty on the morning of April 9, 2004, started with his unit, the 724th Transportation Company, from Bartonville, Ill., set to make an emergency fuel delivery. The original assignment to transport the fuel to western Iraq had changed earlier that morning. The 26-vehicle convoy headed out from Balad around 11 a.m. en route to Baghdad International Airport. The hour-and-a-half trip dissolved into complete chaos five miles from its destination.

As the convoy approached the five-mile juncture, then-Pfc. Church and 1st Lt. Matt Brown in the lead vehicle said they encountered empty streets. There were no vehicles, unusual in Baghdad, Brown noted, and no people on the stretch of road.

The one person they did see was sprinting away from the road. That�s when Brown, the convoy commander, realized the gravity of the situation. He looked to another soldier in his vehicle and said, �Hey, I think we might be in trouble.� The answer was barely uttered when the small-arms fire began, Brown said.

�It was like a downpour on a tin roof,� he said. �It was so noisy we couldn�t talk. It was truly chaotic.�

Five minutes into the firefight two bullets came through the windshield and struck Brown’s Kevlar helmet just above his left eye. Had he not just turned to his right to try and locate a source of fire, he said he feels the shots may have hit him directly in the face. As it was, his helmet imploded causing a deep gash and forcing his left eye from its socket. Simultaneously, there were explosions on either side of the vehicle, said Church, who was driving.

Church, his ears ringing from the concussion of the explosions, turned to ask Brown if he was OK and was met with a dazed-looking Brown holding his hand over his eye and covered in blood.

Driving one-handed through the hail of bullets, shrapnel and debris, Church used his other hand to tear open his first-aid kit to get a bandage and had Brown apply it to his injured eye. At this point, Brown said, he hadn�t been knocked out, but was disoriented. �I couldn�t comprehend what was going on outside the vehicle,� he said. �I couldn�t focus past the windshield.�

This technically left Sgt. 1st Class Robert Groff as the convoy commander. But he was at the rear of the convoy, so Church in the lead vehicle realistically became the convoy commander. While maneuvering the vehicle with one hand toward a secured perimeter established by the 1st Cavalry Division�s 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, just hours before this attack, Church used his other to fire his M-16 rifle at insurgents.

According to Brown and Church, from the time Brown was hit, it took between 15 and 20 minutes to get to the secured zone. From there, Brown was medevaced to the to Baghdad’s heavily fortified International Zone, and he eventually ended up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he spent two months.

Brown had brain surgery to remove a subdural hematoma (a collection of blood between the inner skull surface and the brain) and his left eye. Currently still assigned to the 724th Transportation Company, he awaits a decision to be assigned to the Active Guard Reserve. While his commander was being medevaced, Church headed back out into the fray on foot to help wounded civilians and soldiers.

When all was said and done, two 724th Transportation Company soldiers died. Another, Spc. Keith �Matt� Maupin, was captured and remains missing. Six civilians were also killed during the firefight. One, Thomas Hamill, Kellogg Brown & Root contract employee, was captured but escaped 24 days later.

As for the actions that earned him that medal, he just recently started talking about the ordeal. �I didn�t talk about it once over in Iraq,� Church said, noting his job there hadn�t been completed yet.

Now that his duty in Iraq is done, he�s discussed the incident more freely in the last few weeks since receiving his Silver Star.

As a reinforcement of his patriotic nature, not only did Church go out on the very next convoy he could get out on after the firefight. He also re-enlisted just before the company came home in February after a 14-month deployment. He said he will proudly serve in the Army Reserve for another six years.

In civilian life, Church used to work in theft prevention at a Wal-Mart store. He said now he’s trying to obtain a position with the U.S. Postal Service. Church said he�d like to work a civilian job where he�s not getting shot at � strange thought for someone who spent the better part of 14 months in just such a position and volunteered for the possibility of doing it all over again. But Church said there�s a difference in getting shot at for trying to stop someone from stealing a video recorder and getting shot at defending the country.

FORT McCOY, Wis. (Army News Service, Feb. 28, 2005) — As the 724th Transportation Company was welcomed home from Iraq Feb. 25, the first Army Reserve Soldier in the Global War on Terrorism received a Silver Star. Pfc. Jeremy Church of the 724th was pinned during a homecoming ceremony at Fort McCoy, Wis., with the Silver Star, the Army�s third-highest medal for valor.

Church earned the medal when his convoy was attacked April 9 by more than 150 insurgents in an ambush during which Spc. Keith �Matt� Maupin was captured.

Church was the convoy commander�s driver in the lead vehicle. The convoy was taking fuel to Baghdad International Airport when the Madr Militia struck. Church�s actions are attributed with saving the lives of at least five Soldiers and four civilians.

Church drove aggressively through the �kill zone� to dodge explosions, obstacles and small arms fire, according to his citation. When the convoy commander was shot, Church grabbed his first aid pouch, ripped it open, and instructed the platoon leader to apply a bandage. Church fired his M-16 at the enemy as he continued to drive around barriers.

When an improvised explosive devised blew out a tire, Church continued driving for four miles on only three tires, all the while firing his M-16 out the window with his left hand. He finally led the convoy into a security perimeter established by a cavalry company from 2-12 Cav. He then carried his platoon leader out of the vehicle to a casualty collection point for treatment.

Then Church rallied the troopers to launch an immediate recovery mission and escorted them back into the kill zone. �Pfc. Church identified the assistant commander�s vehicle amidst heavy black smoke and flaming wreckage of burning fuel tankers to find two more wounded Soldiers and four civilian truck drivers,� his citation reads, adding that after a hasty triage and treating a sucking chest wound, he �carried the Soldier over to one of the recovery vehicles while exposing himself to continuous enemy fire from both sides of the road.�

When all the wounded were loaded in the truck, there was no room and Church volunteered to remain behind. He climbed into a disabled Humvee for cover, according to his citation, and continued firing at and killing insurgents until the recovery team returned. He then loaded up several more wounded before sweeping the area for sensitive items and evacuating.

Army Reserve Chief Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly presented Church with the Silver Star. Helmly also spoke with the parents of Maupin, who was captured in the ambush. Even though Maupin�s Army Reserve unit has returned to its home station of Bartonville, Ill., Army officials said other Soldiers in Iraq will never stop the search for Maupin.