thedrifter
10-09-03, 10:29 AM
Marine Who Rescued Pfc. Lynch Gets Military Honor
Man Was Crew Chief In Lead Chopper During Rescue
POSTED: 12:17 p.m. PDT October 8, 2003
UPDATED: 1:01 p.m. PDT October 8, 2003
LOUISVILLE, KY -- A Louisville native who took part in U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped rescue injured Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch has won a Marine Corps award.
Sgt. Bryan Cox recently was named Marine Corps aviation enlisted air crewman of the year.
Cox, 28, was the crew chief on a Marine CH-53 helicopter, which is used to ferry Marines, Navy SEALS, and Army Special Forces and Rangers into and out of combat missions and hostile situations. He flew on a rescue mission to pick up injured Special Forces soldiers and Afghan Northern Alliance fighters outside Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The Marine was also was the crew chief on the lead helicopter in Lynch's rescue.
Cox spent his first two years of high school at Louisville Male. He transferred to Jeffersonville High School in southern Indiana after moving to that city with his mother and stepfather, Libby and Bill Hill. He graduated in 1993. His mother and stepfather now live in Fern Creek. Cox's father, Sonny Cox, and stepmother, Libby Cox, live in Okolona.
Cox is stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego between postings. He will be in Louisville for a few days later this month before heading to New Bern, N.C., to receive the Danny L. Radish, Marine Enlisted Aircrew of the Year Award from the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee.
He will then return to San Diego for training as a recruiter, and he and his family hope he is posted to a recruiting station in the Louisville area.
Cox said he has met the Marine for whom the award is named, retired Master Gunnery Sgt. Danny Radish, and is excited that he will see him again at the awards ceremony.
"I'm pretty excited to win the award that's named after him ... that guy is just a hero," Cox told the Courier-Journal in a phone interview from California.
On the night of the mission to rescue Lynch, Cox said, he and his crew anxiously awaited news after dropping off the Army Ranger team that pulled Lynch from an Iraqi hospital. After no more than an hour, he said, they got the word.
"One of the guys came in and said, 'They've got her, she's alive, we're going back in to get her,"' Cox remembered. "You want to talk about five guys who acted like schoolgirls. We were all pretty excited to be going back for her."
Afterward, when allegations surfaced that the rescue might have been staged, Cox was angry.
"I can tell you right now it wasn't a setup," he said. "We had some (bullet) holes in the plane to show it wasn't a setup."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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http://www.nbcsandiego.com/employment/2540926/detail.html
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
Man Was Crew Chief In Lead Chopper During Rescue
POSTED: 12:17 p.m. PDT October 8, 2003
UPDATED: 1:01 p.m. PDT October 8, 2003
LOUISVILLE, KY -- A Louisville native who took part in U.S. combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped rescue injured Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch has won a Marine Corps award.
Sgt. Bryan Cox recently was named Marine Corps aviation enlisted air crewman of the year.
Cox, 28, was the crew chief on a Marine CH-53 helicopter, which is used to ferry Marines, Navy SEALS, and Army Special Forces and Rangers into and out of combat missions and hostile situations. He flew on a rescue mission to pick up injured Special Forces soldiers and Afghan Northern Alliance fighters outside Kandahar in Afghanistan.
The Marine was also was the crew chief on the lead helicopter in Lynch's rescue.
Cox spent his first two years of high school at Louisville Male. He transferred to Jeffersonville High School in southern Indiana after moving to that city with his mother and stepfather, Libby and Bill Hill. He graduated in 1993. His mother and stepfather now live in Fern Creek. Cox's father, Sonny Cox, and stepmother, Libby Cox, live in Okolona.
Cox is stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego between postings. He will be in Louisville for a few days later this month before heading to New Bern, N.C., to receive the Danny L. Radish, Marine Enlisted Aircrew of the Year Award from the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Michael Hagee.
He will then return to San Diego for training as a recruiter, and he and his family hope he is posted to a recruiting station in the Louisville area.
Cox said he has met the Marine for whom the award is named, retired Master Gunnery Sgt. Danny Radish, and is excited that he will see him again at the awards ceremony.
"I'm pretty excited to win the award that's named after him ... that guy is just a hero," Cox told the Courier-Journal in a phone interview from California.
On the night of the mission to rescue Lynch, Cox said, he and his crew anxiously awaited news after dropping off the Army Ranger team that pulled Lynch from an Iraqi hospital. After no more than an hour, he said, they got the word.
"One of the guys came in and said, 'They've got her, she's alive, we're going back in to get her,"' Cox remembered. "You want to talk about five guys who acted like schoolgirls. We were all pretty excited to be going back for her."
Afterward, when allegations surfaced that the rescue might have been staged, Cox was angry.
"I can tell you right now it wasn't a setup," he said. "We had some (bullet) holes in the plane to show it wasn't a setup."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://images.ibsys.com/2003/0606/2255240_200X150.jpg
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/employment/2540926/detail.html
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: