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thedrifter
08-04-07, 07:14 AM
Horseheads native hurt in Iraq awarded Purple Heart

John P. Cleary

There are so many newspaper stories about military personnel in Iraq injured in combat, it's easy to forget that each one of those fighting men and women is a real person, feeling real pain and with a real family worrying about them.

Try to remember Marine Cpl. Tyler L. Stewart the next time you see a story like that.

Stewart, a Horseheads native, recently received a Purple Heart for injuries received while serving with the 2nd Marine Division in Iraq.

According to a press release from the Marine Corps, Stewart was seriously injured last fall while leading a team of Marines investigating a mortar attack in Iraq's Al Anbar Province.

Here's how the Marine Corps tells the story:

The forward operating base where Stewart was working came under mortar fire about midmorning on Oct. 6.

Stewart, a military policeman, led a squad out of the camp to examine the craters caused by the mortars. During the mission, they found an improvised explosive device.

Stewart returned to the base and gathered more Marines to secure the area around the bomb.

They didn't realize that another IED was hidden just 20 feet away from their position.

It went off, injuring Stewart and another Marine.

"I didn't realize I was hit at first, just dazed a little bit," Stewart said in a report written by Lance Cpl. Aaron Rooks, a combat correspondent of the 2nd Marine Logistics Group.

"I heard 'fallback' and saw that my hand was hit. I then stood up and noticed that my flight suit was covered in blood from my knees down to my boots."

Stewart made it back to the forward operating base and was evacuated by helicopter to Camp Taqaddum, Iraq.

After being treated there, he was moved to Fallujah, Iraq, for almost two months of recovery.

"If (the IED) had been any bigger, I might not have my legs or even my life," he said in Rooks' report.

"I'm just happy to be walking and talking."

Stewart is now a police sergeant for the Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment of the 2nd Marine Division.

Ellie