thedrifter
04-07-07, 11:38 AM
Fallen Marine’s family to receive Navy Cross
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 7, 2007 9:32:34 EDT
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The commander of the 1st Marine Division will present the Navy Cross medal on April 13 to the family of a young Marine infantryman for his actions during the Battle of Fallujah in late 2004 and who died a month later during combat operations, Marine Corps officials announced Friday, April 6.
The Navy Cross medal, the nation’s second highest military medal to honor combat valor, was approved for the late Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Adlesperger. The medal is the 15th Navy Cross to be awarded to Marines since combat operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. John M. Paxton, the division commander, will award the medal to Adlesperger’s family during an afternoon award ceremony at the base.
Adlesperger, 20, from Albuquerque, N.M., died Dec. 9, 2004, in Fallujah.
The Navy Cross honors his actions a month earlier, when his infantry squad with Kilo Company of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was clearing houses that day in the Fallujah neighborhood teeming with insurgent fighters. That day, Nov. 10, 2004, saw some of the heaviest house-to-house urban combat by Marines perhaps since the Battle of Khe Sanh in Vietnam.
As Adlesperger and his team went into a house in Fallujah’s Jolan district, an enemy machine gun hit and killed the point man and injured another Marine and the platoon corpsman.
Adlesperger answered back against the insurgents with heavy rifle fire and hand grenades, according to the award citation. Wounded with shrapnel, he cleared a stairwell and moved the wounded men to the rooftop, then kept on the attack against the insurgents, at one point killing the insurgent with the machine gun. Adlesperger’s close friend, Lance Cpl. Erick J. Hodges, a 21-year-old from Bay Point, Calif., died in the attack.
But on Dec. 2, 2004, Adlesperger, a newly promoted lance corporal, was killed by enemy fire as he led his fire team on a clearing mission.
Adlesperger’s actions in that Nov. 10 battle “destroyed the last strongpoint in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah and saved the lives of his fellow Marines,” the citation states.
THE CITATION:
“The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS posthumously to Private First Class Christopher S. Adlesperger, United States Marine Corps for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism while serving as rifleman, Company K, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 10 November 2004. As Private First Class Adlesperger made entry into a house in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah, during Operation Al Fajr, his squad received a heavy volume of enemy machine gun fire from a well-prepared entrenched machine gun position. These fires instantly killed the point man and injured another Marine and the platoon corpsman. Exposed to heavy enemy machine gun fire and grenades, Private First Class Adlesperger immediately attacked the enemy with rifle fire. While doing so, he suffered a fragmentation wound from enemy grenades. With the majority of his platoon pinned down by insurgent positions, Private First Class Adlesperger single-handedly cleared stairs and a rooftop to move the injured to a rooftop where they could receive medical attention. On his own initiative, while deliberately exposing himself to heavy enemy fire, he established a series of firing positions and attacked the enemy, forcing them to be destroyed in place or to move into an area where adjacent forces could engage them. Disregarding his own wounds and physical exhaustion, Private First Class Adlesperger rejoined his platoon and demanded to take point for a final assault on the same machine gun position. Once an Assault Amphibian Vehicle created a breach in the wall adjacent to the enemy’s position, Private First Class Adlesperger was the first Marine to re-enter the courtyard where he eliminated a remaining insurgent at close range. When the fighting finally ceased, a significant number of insurgents from fortified positions had been eradicated. Through his actions, Private First Class Adlesperger destroyed the last strongpoint in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah and saved the lives of his fellow Marines. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire and utmost devotion to duty, Private First Class Adlesperger reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
For the President, Donald C. Winter, Secretary of the Navy”
Ellie
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Apr 7, 2007 9:32:34 EDT
OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The commander of the 1st Marine Division will present the Navy Cross medal on April 13 to the family of a young Marine infantryman for his actions during the Battle of Fallujah in late 2004 and who died a month later during combat operations, Marine Corps officials announced Friday, April 6.
The Navy Cross medal, the nation’s second highest military medal to honor combat valor, was approved for the late Lance Cpl. Christopher S. Adlesperger. The medal is the 15th Navy Cross to be awarded to Marines since combat operations began in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. John M. Paxton, the division commander, will award the medal to Adlesperger’s family during an afternoon award ceremony at the base.
Adlesperger, 20, from Albuquerque, N.M., died Dec. 9, 2004, in Fallujah.
The Navy Cross honors his actions a month earlier, when his infantry squad with Kilo Company of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, was clearing houses that day in the Fallujah neighborhood teeming with insurgent fighters. That day, Nov. 10, 2004, saw some of the heaviest house-to-house urban combat by Marines perhaps since the Battle of Khe Sanh in Vietnam.
As Adlesperger and his team went into a house in Fallujah’s Jolan district, an enemy machine gun hit and killed the point man and injured another Marine and the platoon corpsman.
Adlesperger answered back against the insurgents with heavy rifle fire and hand grenades, according to the award citation. Wounded with shrapnel, he cleared a stairwell and moved the wounded men to the rooftop, then kept on the attack against the insurgents, at one point killing the insurgent with the machine gun. Adlesperger’s close friend, Lance Cpl. Erick J. Hodges, a 21-year-old from Bay Point, Calif., died in the attack.
But on Dec. 2, 2004, Adlesperger, a newly promoted lance corporal, was killed by enemy fire as he led his fire team on a clearing mission.
Adlesperger’s actions in that Nov. 10 battle “destroyed the last strongpoint in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah and saved the lives of his fellow Marines,” the citation states.
THE CITATION:
“The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS posthumously to Private First Class Christopher S. Adlesperger, United States Marine Corps for service as set forth in the following CITATION:
For extraordinary heroism while serving as rifleman, Company K, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on 10 November 2004. As Private First Class Adlesperger made entry into a house in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah, during Operation Al Fajr, his squad received a heavy volume of enemy machine gun fire from a well-prepared entrenched machine gun position. These fires instantly killed the point man and injured another Marine and the platoon corpsman. Exposed to heavy enemy machine gun fire and grenades, Private First Class Adlesperger immediately attacked the enemy with rifle fire. While doing so, he suffered a fragmentation wound from enemy grenades. With the majority of his platoon pinned down by insurgent positions, Private First Class Adlesperger single-handedly cleared stairs and a rooftop to move the injured to a rooftop where they could receive medical attention. On his own initiative, while deliberately exposing himself to heavy enemy fire, he established a series of firing positions and attacked the enemy, forcing them to be destroyed in place or to move into an area where adjacent forces could engage them. Disregarding his own wounds and physical exhaustion, Private First Class Adlesperger rejoined his platoon and demanded to take point for a final assault on the same machine gun position. Once an Assault Amphibian Vehicle created a breach in the wall adjacent to the enemy’s position, Private First Class Adlesperger was the first Marine to re-enter the courtyard where he eliminated a remaining insurgent at close range. When the fighting finally ceased, a significant number of insurgents from fortified positions had been eradicated. Through his actions, Private First Class Adlesperger destroyed the last strongpoint in the Jolan District of Al Fallujah and saved the lives of his fellow Marines. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire and utmost devotion to duty, Private First Class Adlesperger reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.
For the President, Donald C. Winter, Secretary of the Navy”
Ellie