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thedrifter
02-03-09, 06:25 AM
Redmond Marine Receives Bronze Star

Redmond 2/02/09

by Ariel Wesler

The bronze star is the military's fourth highest award and for 24-year old Sergeant Wayne DeKorte of Redmond--- an unexpected honor.

“I look at my marine online account and all of a sudden there's this award up there, and I was like what's this all about,” Wayne said.

His father, Lieutenant Gary DeKorte of the Redmond Police Department and Vietnam Vet, says the announcement just kind of popped out.

“Oh, by the way, two of my commanders have put me in for an award. It's the bronze star and of course my jaw dropped. It was huge and i mean, it was just incredible for me,” Gary said.

Wayne recently returned to Redmond after serving seven months in Iraq on his second tour. While there, he and his fellow marines--stationed in Ramadi-- helped train the Iraqi Police Force, improving their facilities, and working with them to become more self sufficient. It's something Wayne says is just part of the job.

“You can take any infantry marine and tell him, hey this is the job we need you to do and he's not gonna say oh no, I can't do that,” Wayne said. “He's going to say, all right, let's get in there. He's gonna do the job and do it above and beyond what is expected of him."


Wayne humbly gives most of the credit to his fellow marines.

“They're the reason that I actually was awarded the bronze star. It was nothing really I did. It was the work that they did and I just kind of supervised.“

In the meantime, Wayne is finishing his associates degree at COCC and playing baseball for the Bobcats. He says he might one day follow in his father's footsteps as a police officer. For now, his parents are grateful their son is home.

“We've got many families in Central Oregon who've lost loved ones and we just need to think about them too,” Gary said.

Video

http://kohd.com/news/local/86026

Ellie