thedrifter
04-26-06, 06:58 AM
'Doing His Duty'
Todd Alexander of Marina del Rey was wounded while working in Iraq. He received a Defense of Freedom medal Tuesday.
By Kristin S. Agostoni
DAILY BREEZE
Even when he thinks back to the haunting sounds from that day, and the blow that felt like "a very large rock" hitting his back, Todd Alexander wouldn't trade the time he spent working in Iraq.
As an engineer for a company called The Insitu Group, he lived and worked side by side with the Marines for roughly eight months in Fallujah.
And despite the 2004 insurgent attack that left him with a shrapnel injury on his upper back, the Marina del Rey man said he'd do his job all over again to support the Marines' mission.
"When I first volunteered to do this, I knew there was the possibility to go to Iraq," said Alexander, who now works as a systems engineer for Boeing in Seal Beach. "I knew I wanted to work with the Marines. It was just kind of a fluke accident. I really didn't feel like I was in danger out there."
He makes light of it today, but his sacrifice hasn't gone unnoticed.
At a small ceremony Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, the Marines honored 25-year-old Alexander with what is believed to be its first Defense of Freedom medal -- the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart.
The award was created by the Defense Department in 2001 for the military branches to recognize civilians injured or killed in the line of duty. Another South Bay resident honored with the Defense of Freedom medal was Chad Keller, an engineer with Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, who was killed when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11.
Alexander shipped off to Iraq in July 2004 to provide technical support for a miniature aircraft device called the ScanEagle. The unmanned aerial vehicle was being used for military surveillance through a partnership between The Insitu Group and Boeing.
Today, Alexander talks about Sept. 4, 2004, as if it were just a small interruption to his work schedule.
But the details are still clear in his mind, from the sounds of the rockets to the military official he chatted with as he heard them.
"I went out to work on one of our aircraft, doing some trouble-shooting. Some fixing. Getting it ready for flight," Alexander said.
"We were talking, and the next thing we knew we could hear incoming rockets.
"The only thing that was going through my head was, this is going to be very loud."
But it wasn't only loud; it was painful.
A piece of shrapnel struck Alexander just below his left shoulder, "like someone hit me in the back with a very large rock," he said.
Multiple rocket attacks followed, he remembered, fatally wounding one serviceman and injuring at least two others.
Lt. Col. A.J. Ward, who was also stationed in Fallujah at the time, said the blasts blew out the back windows of the SUV that carried Alexander to a nearby Navy field hospital, and they shattered a mirror and blasted a tire on another military vehicle.
"We were probably 35 to 40 meters away," Ward said, but "the shrapnel goes all over."
He called Alexander "just a great American doing his duty."
After doctors did surgery to remove the shrapnel, the young engineer was back at work about five days later.
His family and co-workers asked him to consider coming home, he said. But it was never an option.
Ellie
Todd Alexander of Marina del Rey was wounded while working in Iraq. He received a Defense of Freedom medal Tuesday.
By Kristin S. Agostoni
DAILY BREEZE
Even when he thinks back to the haunting sounds from that day, and the blow that felt like "a very large rock" hitting his back, Todd Alexander wouldn't trade the time he spent working in Iraq.
As an engineer for a company called The Insitu Group, he lived and worked side by side with the Marines for roughly eight months in Fallujah.
And despite the 2004 insurgent attack that left him with a shrapnel injury on his upper back, the Marina del Rey man said he'd do his job all over again to support the Marines' mission.
"When I first volunteered to do this, I knew there was the possibility to go to Iraq," said Alexander, who now works as a systems engineer for Boeing in Seal Beach. "I knew I wanted to work with the Marines. It was just kind of a fluke accident. I really didn't feel like I was in danger out there."
He makes light of it today, but his sacrifice hasn't gone unnoticed.
At a small ceremony Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, the Marines honored 25-year-old Alexander with what is believed to be its first Defense of Freedom medal -- the civilian equivalent of a Purple Heart.
The award was created by the Defense Department in 2001 for the military branches to recognize civilians injured or killed in the line of duty. Another South Bay resident honored with the Defense of Freedom medal was Chad Keller, an engineer with Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, who was killed when Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on 9-11.
Alexander shipped off to Iraq in July 2004 to provide technical support for a miniature aircraft device called the ScanEagle. The unmanned aerial vehicle was being used for military surveillance through a partnership between The Insitu Group and Boeing.
Today, Alexander talks about Sept. 4, 2004, as if it were just a small interruption to his work schedule.
But the details are still clear in his mind, from the sounds of the rockets to the military official he chatted with as he heard them.
"I went out to work on one of our aircraft, doing some trouble-shooting. Some fixing. Getting it ready for flight," Alexander said.
"We were talking, and the next thing we knew we could hear incoming rockets.
"The only thing that was going through my head was, this is going to be very loud."
But it wasn't only loud; it was painful.
A piece of shrapnel struck Alexander just below his left shoulder, "like someone hit me in the back with a very large rock," he said.
Multiple rocket attacks followed, he remembered, fatally wounding one serviceman and injuring at least two others.
Lt. Col. A.J. Ward, who was also stationed in Fallujah at the time, said the blasts blew out the back windows of the SUV that carried Alexander to a nearby Navy field hospital, and they shattered a mirror and blasted a tire on another military vehicle.
"We were probably 35 to 40 meters away," Ward said, but "the shrapnel goes all over."
He called Alexander "just a great American doing his duty."
After doctors did surgery to remove the shrapnel, the young engineer was back at work about five days later.
His family and co-workers asked him to consider coming home, he said. But it was never an option.
Ellie