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thedrifter
03-24-04, 06:09 AM
Five Marines honored for service in Iraq war
March 23,2004
ERIC STEINKOPFF
DAILY NEWS STAFF

For the past few weeks, the focus has been on Marines returning to Iraq and the one-year anniversary of U.S. forces initiating the beginning of the end of Saddam Hussein.

Monday at Camp Lejeune, however, it was about three tankers, a radioman and a Harrier pilot. All five were presented medals for their actions in Iraq a little more than a year ago.

About 200 green camouflage-clad members of 2nd Tank Battalion saluted their comrades.

"I'm the luckiest lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps," said 2nd Tank Battalion commander Lt. Col. Donald C. Morse. "I have a unit full of heroes."

A brief look at each follows.

Campaign planning

Maj. Jimmie G. Gruny, an operations officer, was attached to the West Coast's Regimental Combat Team 5, 1st Marine Division and received a Bronze Star for planning at least three successful campaigns that allowed them to attack further and faster than any unit in the history of the Marine Corps, according to a citation read at the ceremony.

This gave them the edge as the first American ground combat unit to cross the Tigris River, seize the town of An Numinayah and take control of Highway 6, a major access road connecting Iraqi forces in the north and the south.

"The planning for the opening gambit was the big one," Gruny said. "They were all (fragmentary orders) after that. We had to craft and turn around (the orders) very quickly. It was important because we were the main effort for the main effort."

Putting out the fire

Tank driver Cpl. Billy Peixotto, 23, of Wetumka, Okla. also received a Bronze Star for his actions on April 4.

While still a lance corporal Peixotto realized that fuel bladders strapped to his tank caught fire from the Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 automatic rifles outside, but he climbed outside and used fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

"It felt like being inside a building during a thunderstorm," Peixotta said.

As the RPGs continued to bounce off his tank, Peixotta came to the aid of his company commander who had been hit, dragging the officer to safety and firing his pistol in the direction of the Iraqis until help could arrive.

"It's scary, but you really don't think about it," Peixotta said. "There was another Marine down, and I didn't want to be the one who could have helped him and didn't."

Wounded in action

Lance Cpl. Jose Martinez, 23, a communications technician from Nicoma Park, Okla., received a Purple Heart medal for his wounds sustained in combat.

He was wounded in the same battle Peixotta was in. He was trying to fix the communications in his amphibious assault vehicle when the turret in the front was hit.

"The turret power went out, so I went up to be the driver's eyes," Martinez said.

What followed was a massive explosion that left Martinez with five pieces of shrapnel in his head, and although the scars have faded and are hardly noticeable, the memories still linger.

"I felt a rush of heat," said Martinez of the event that nearly blinded him.

"My jaw kind of hurt because one piece of shrapnel was near the muscle, but a corpsman treated me out there, and when they asked me if I wanted to be evacuated, I decided to stay."

Hit by grenades

On April 10 in Baghdad, 1st Lt. Keith Montgomery, 29, a 1st Platoon commander with Alpha Company, was in a tank in narrow streets when his vehicle was hit by five rocket-propelled grenades.

"We were the quick reaction force for (1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment) down in Baghdad," Montgomery said.

Montgomery said the second RPG entered the tank, and by the fifth one they lost power to the turret and 50-caliber machine gun.

"It was a lucky shot, and it was the last thing he did," said Montgomery of the Iraqi RPG team after his gunner spotted them and returned fire.

"All I could do was move and communicate, but I could no longer shoot."

Nearly all the members of their four-man crew were wounded, but they managed to get into a position that allowed another tank in their platoon to move ahead and protect them until they could be evacuated.

Air support

One of the newest members of 2nd Tank Battalion is Capt. Steven Schnur, 33, an AV-8B Harrier pilot from Marine Attack Squadron 542 at Cherry Point Air Station.

Schnur's new job is as a forward air controller to call in other aircraft laden with missiles and bombs for 2nd Tank Battalion, should the need arise.

Monday, he was awarded the Air Medal with first and second flight awards for March and April of last year, when he flew more than 21 combat missions into Iraq from the USS Bataan in the Persian Gulf, supporting the southern no fly zone, close air support missions and armed reconnaissance missions in extremely hostile and hazardous weather conditions.

"It was in support of the Marines moving up to Baghdad," Schnur said. "There were a bunch of days when visibility under 10,000 feet was very restrictive. The sand made it harder to acquire targets. The most important thing is acquiring enemy and not friendly targets."

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John Althouse/Daily News
Jobs well done: Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, commanding general of the 2nd Marine Division, congratulates medal recipients at Monday's ceremony.

Ellie