thedrifter
01-03-06, 10:17 AM
Top 10 of 2005: Marine wounded in Iraq remains proud to serve
Perry County News
BRANCHVILLE - “The ambush in Falluja made June 23 one of the worst days in the history of women in the American military,” according to a Dec. 20 story in the New York Times. One of the women wounded in that ambush was Perry County resident Sally Saalman.
A car bomber launched the attack, ramming a vehicle into a truck returning female Marines to their camp after a shift searching Iraqi women at checkpoints into the city. Snipers went to work after the truck's occupants were blown from their seats by the explosion. Five Marine women and one female sailor died as a result of the attack.
Saalman's previous appearances in Perry County limelight were in Schweizer Fest and marching-band performances before she graduated from Perry Central High School in 2002. She enlisted in the Marines and was serving in Okinawa until she responded to a call for women to search female Iraqis.
She suffered burns to her back and hands and injuries to her left leg and right foot in the attack and was flown to a military hospital in Texas.
Her mother, Tammy Saalman, said when her daughter was in that hospital, “She's more worried about everyone else than herself.” The New York Times story confirmed that. Describing the scene when the dead and wounded were being taken back to their camp, Michael Moss wrote of Saalman riding in the back of a cargo truck, singing “America the Beautiful,” then “Amazing Grace.”
“I have this thing ever since I was little, if I get scared or I'm worried or someone else is worried, I sing,” she was quoted as saying. She had become known as “Songbird.”
Saalman was home on leave from Camp Pendleton, Calif., the week before Christmas, and said she still has “some issues with the knee” and “my foot's still kind of messed up, but that's the only thing slowing me down.” She worked to get back into shape to earn a first-class rating on a physical-fitness test, however, scoring 271 out of a possible 300 points. That performance level is necessary for her to make sergeant, a goal she aspires to whether she decides to re-enlist or leave the Marine Corps.
Her current enlistment will expire in September, and she hadn't yet decided whether she'll stay, but “I love the Marine Corps,” she said. “I hate to get out. They'll send me to college; that's a plus, and they gave me some crazy experiences.” Stressing she has no regrets, she advised anyone who feels a need to get out of Perry County to join the Marines.
As she did the last time The News spoke to her in July, Saalman expressed appreciation for support she and her parents experienced.
“It's great that people supported myself and other Marines from Perry County,” she said.
[img]http://www.perrycountynews.com/content/articles/2006/01/03/headlines/h3.jpg[img]
Ellie
Perry County News
BRANCHVILLE - “The ambush in Falluja made June 23 one of the worst days in the history of women in the American military,” according to a Dec. 20 story in the New York Times. One of the women wounded in that ambush was Perry County resident Sally Saalman.
A car bomber launched the attack, ramming a vehicle into a truck returning female Marines to their camp after a shift searching Iraqi women at checkpoints into the city. Snipers went to work after the truck's occupants were blown from their seats by the explosion. Five Marine women and one female sailor died as a result of the attack.
Saalman's previous appearances in Perry County limelight were in Schweizer Fest and marching-band performances before she graduated from Perry Central High School in 2002. She enlisted in the Marines and was serving in Okinawa until she responded to a call for women to search female Iraqis.
She suffered burns to her back and hands and injuries to her left leg and right foot in the attack and was flown to a military hospital in Texas.
Her mother, Tammy Saalman, said when her daughter was in that hospital, “She's more worried about everyone else than herself.” The New York Times story confirmed that. Describing the scene when the dead and wounded were being taken back to their camp, Michael Moss wrote of Saalman riding in the back of a cargo truck, singing “America the Beautiful,” then “Amazing Grace.”
“I have this thing ever since I was little, if I get scared or I'm worried or someone else is worried, I sing,” she was quoted as saying. She had become known as “Songbird.”
Saalman was home on leave from Camp Pendleton, Calif., the week before Christmas, and said she still has “some issues with the knee” and “my foot's still kind of messed up, but that's the only thing slowing me down.” She worked to get back into shape to earn a first-class rating on a physical-fitness test, however, scoring 271 out of a possible 300 points. That performance level is necessary for her to make sergeant, a goal she aspires to whether she decides to re-enlist or leave the Marine Corps.
Her current enlistment will expire in September, and she hadn't yet decided whether she'll stay, but “I love the Marine Corps,” she said. “I hate to get out. They'll send me to college; that's a plus, and they gave me some crazy experiences.” Stressing she has no regrets, she advised anyone who feels a need to get out of Perry County to join the Marines.
As she did the last time The News spoke to her in July, Saalman expressed appreciation for support she and her parents experienced.
“It's great that people supported myself and other Marines from Perry County,” she said.
[img]http://www.perrycountynews.com/content/articles/2006/01/03/headlines/h3.jpg[img]
Ellie