One Brave Marine, My Husband, My Hero
In October, 2005, after being in Iraq for only three weeks, (this is my husbands third deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan) my husband was in combat with his AH-1W, when a ground marine was shot, and the medivac was unable to get to him. He landed his bird, grabbed the marine who had been shot in the stomach, and laid him on his lap in the helio. The helio took fire, and was unable to take off, the marine in his lap bleed to death, and the helio caught fire. My husband was able to get the dead marine out, and went back to the burning heliocopter to get his co-pilot out. He sustained serious third degree burns on his hands, and was hospitalized for over a month. For this he was awarded his second Silver Star (the first was in Vietnam). My husband is my hero. He has been awarded a Navy Cross, two Silver Stars, a Bronze Star, and numerous other medals for valor. He is a Colonel, and still will do everything that he requires his batallion to do. He is one brave marine, and would not even like it that I told his story here. He was also shot while flying in Afghanistan in May. Shot in the butt. Says it hurt and bled a lot, but he is fine and back in there. He is back in Iraq, and I am planning to visit him while he is on leave in the near future. We get 10 days, and I can hardly wait. I love him with all my heart. He had worked his way through the ranks in his forty years of service, from a grunt to a Colonel. He will be retiring soon and we will be spending our time mostly on our Montana Ranch, but some at our Hawaii pineapple farm. His son is being deployed and will be in Iraq very soon. He is in the Marine Reserves. I have a son who retired from the Marine Corp in 1999 after 19 years of service. Semper Fi (our wedding vows, also), ooRah, Go Marines!!!
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