thedrifter
11-04-03, 05:40 AM
Camp Lejeune Marine awarded Purple Heart
November 03,2003
Cyndi Brown
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Mark Detrick has on his left temple a small scar from being wounded in Iraq seven months ago. Last week, the Marine staff sergeant received an even more permanent reminder of the injury caused by shrapnel.
Detrick, of 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, was awarded a Purple Heart Thursday during a ceremony aboard Camp Lejeune for the wound he received March 26 while deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also received a Certificate of Commendation for his actions following the incident.
Detrick was with the rest of his company in Iraq from March 21 through May 1 as Task Force Tarawa's force reconnaissance asset. They were the first ones from the task force to cross the Iraqi border.
On the morning of March 26, Detrick and his team from 4th Platoon "took down" a gas station. The station hid anti-aircraft guns aimed at a major highway and in place to take out convoys.
"One (anti-aircraft gun) appeared to be booby-trapped, so we tried to blow it up by grenade launcher," said Detrick, "and in that process, a piece of shrapnel kicked back and got me in the left temple."
Detrick was still injured, with the shrapnel still imbedded in his head, when the call went out for volunteers to help evacuate the Marines injured when Task Force Tarawa came under attack. Detrick, assistant team leader for the 4th platoon's team 2, was in that group of volunteers.
"I was OK," he said. "There was nothing wrong with me really. There was more important things."
Two platoons ran the ground evacuation that escorted 31 injured Marines from An Nasiriyah to the Jalibah Airfield. After the evacuation, the hospital was too swamped to treat Detrick until the next day. The shrapnel was in his temple for 24 hours before it was removed.
Detrick's parents, Glenn and Pat Detrick, traveled to Camp Lejeune from Cleveland for the ceremony. They sat off to the side under an impossibly clear blue sky and smiled broadly as their son received the world's oldest military decoration still in use.
"We're very happy to be here and very proud of our son and happy he could help his country out," said mom Pat after getting an up-close look at the purple ribbon.
At first, though, the couple wasn't so sure of their son's choice in a military career nine years ago.
"Glenn said any branch but the Marine Corps. So what did Mark do?" asked Pat. "He went in the Marine Corps." Then Detrick went recon.
"I was really worried," said Pat, who tried to talk her son into pursuing a field that offered more marketable job skills. But after he made it through indoctrination, she said, they couldn't have been more proud.
Then came the news Detrick was headed to Iraq.
"Not much you could do," said dad Glenn, matter-of-factly. "You prayed a lot."
But the lack of news, according to Pat, didn't help.
"It was weeks sometimes before we heard from him," she said. "We didn't know what area he was in or what he was involved in."
Like many service members, Mark sent makeshift letters, using what he could when he could to send word home. Pat remembered getting one letter on a piece of cardboard. A friend received the same - only the latter one mentioned the injury his parents knew nothing about.
"His best friend from grade school got a cardboard letter that said (Mark) got shrapnel to the head (and that) he was out on a mission and couldn't get medical treatment," said Pat. That childhood friend told Detrick's older brother, who broke the news to mom and dad.
"He's my best friend and I thought he'd think it'd be pretty cool to hear," Detrick explained sheepishly.
At Thursday's ceremony, four others in Detrick's company received Certificates of Commendation for their part in the "first successful Prisoner of War rescue since World War II." Those Marines provided ground reconnaissance before a raid force went in to rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and provided cover when the raid force brought her out. Two other Marines with the company will receive Bronze Stars Tuesday for their actions in Iraq.
Detrick was the only casualty in the company.
"I was with him from the day we went in until the day we left," said Lt. Col. James E. Reilly IIII, the company commanding officer. "He was fantastic He did a tremendous job."
http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=17486&Section=Liberty
Sempers,
Roger
:marine:
November 03,2003
Cyndi Brown
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Mark Detrick has on his left temple a small scar from being wounded in Iraq seven months ago. Last week, the Marine staff sergeant received an even more permanent reminder of the injury caused by shrapnel.
Detrick, of 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, was awarded a Purple Heart Thursday during a ceremony aboard Camp Lejeune for the wound he received March 26 while deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He also received a Certificate of Commendation for his actions following the incident.
Detrick was with the rest of his company in Iraq from March 21 through May 1 as Task Force Tarawa's force reconnaissance asset. They were the first ones from the task force to cross the Iraqi border.
On the morning of March 26, Detrick and his team from 4th Platoon "took down" a gas station. The station hid anti-aircraft guns aimed at a major highway and in place to take out convoys.
"One (anti-aircraft gun) appeared to be booby-trapped, so we tried to blow it up by grenade launcher," said Detrick, "and in that process, a piece of shrapnel kicked back and got me in the left temple."
Detrick was still injured, with the shrapnel still imbedded in his head, when the call went out for volunteers to help evacuate the Marines injured when Task Force Tarawa came under attack. Detrick, assistant team leader for the 4th platoon's team 2, was in that group of volunteers.
"I was OK," he said. "There was nothing wrong with me really. There was more important things."
Two platoons ran the ground evacuation that escorted 31 injured Marines from An Nasiriyah to the Jalibah Airfield. After the evacuation, the hospital was too swamped to treat Detrick until the next day. The shrapnel was in his temple for 24 hours before it was removed.
Detrick's parents, Glenn and Pat Detrick, traveled to Camp Lejeune from Cleveland for the ceremony. They sat off to the side under an impossibly clear blue sky and smiled broadly as their son received the world's oldest military decoration still in use.
"We're very happy to be here and very proud of our son and happy he could help his country out," said mom Pat after getting an up-close look at the purple ribbon.
At first, though, the couple wasn't so sure of their son's choice in a military career nine years ago.
"Glenn said any branch but the Marine Corps. So what did Mark do?" asked Pat. "He went in the Marine Corps." Then Detrick went recon.
"I was really worried," said Pat, who tried to talk her son into pursuing a field that offered more marketable job skills. But after he made it through indoctrination, she said, they couldn't have been more proud.
Then came the news Detrick was headed to Iraq.
"Not much you could do," said dad Glenn, matter-of-factly. "You prayed a lot."
But the lack of news, according to Pat, didn't help.
"It was weeks sometimes before we heard from him," she said. "We didn't know what area he was in or what he was involved in."
Like many service members, Mark sent makeshift letters, using what he could when he could to send word home. Pat remembered getting one letter on a piece of cardboard. A friend received the same - only the latter one mentioned the injury his parents knew nothing about.
"His best friend from grade school got a cardboard letter that said (Mark) got shrapnel to the head (and that) he was out on a mission and couldn't get medical treatment," said Pat. That childhood friend told Detrick's older brother, who broke the news to mom and dad.
"He's my best friend and I thought he'd think it'd be pretty cool to hear," Detrick explained sheepishly.
At Thursday's ceremony, four others in Detrick's company received Certificates of Commendation for their part in the "first successful Prisoner of War rescue since World War II." Those Marines provided ground reconnaissance before a raid force went in to rescue Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch and provided cover when the raid force brought her out. Two other Marines with the company will receive Bronze Stars Tuesday for their actions in Iraq.
Detrick was the only casualty in the company.
"I was with him from the day we went in until the day we left," said Lt. Col. James E. Reilly IIII, the company commanding officer. "He was fantastic He did a tremendous job."
http://www.jacksonvilledailynews.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=17486&Section=Liberty
Sempers,
Roger
:marine: