catdat
05-19-2004, 09:00 PM
http://www.navytimes.com/content/editorial/editart/050504martinez.jpg
A sergeant from Camp Pendleton, Calif., received the Navy Department’s second highest award for his actions during last year’s invasion of Iraq.
Navy Secretary Gordon England presented the Navy Cross to Sgt. Marco A. Martinez, 22, with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at a Monday afternoon ceremony at Camp Pendleton, according to a press release.
Martinez is one of a handful of service members since the Vietnam War to receive the medal, second only to the Medal of Honor.
Three other Marines from the same Regiment also received Silver Stars at the ceremony.
Staff Sgt. Adam R. Sikes, Cpl. Timothy C. Tardif and Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey E. Bohr, Jr., each received the Silver Star, the Navy Department’s third-highest award. Bohr’s wife, Lori, accepted the award on behalf of her husband, who was killed April 10, 2003, in Iraq.
“These brave Marines did good things without notice and without the acclaim of crowds,” the press release quoted England as saying. “But they got the acclaim of their fellow Marines.”.
Martinez, Sikes and Tardif were recognized for their actions during an April 12, 2003, ambush of 1st Platoon, Golf Company, 2/5, at the town of Tarmiya, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.
The platoon was moving north to take on Iraqi Fedayeen fighters in Tikrit when it was ambushed.
Martinez’s squad leader was wounded in the attack and Martinez, then a corporal, took over and led an assault through a tree line where the ambush began, according to his award citation.
While the squad received heavy fire from a nearby building, Martinez launched a captured enemy rocket-propelled grenade into the building, silencing the fire long enough for a wounded Marine to be evacuated from the area.
Martinez then “single-handedly” assaulted the building and killed four enemy soldiers using his rifle and a grenade, the citation said.
Silver stars
Sikes, pinned down by heavy small-arms and RPG fire in the opening moments of the ambush, rallied two squads for a counter attack, then charged alone across 70 meters of fire-swept ground to close in and destroy an enemy strongpoint, his citation states. He then climbed to the roof of a three-story building and sent 60mm mortar rounds onto nearby Iraqi positions.
Tardif, who also was pinned down by Iraqi fire, charged across a road under intense small-arms and RPG fire, and was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade during the close-quarters battle that followed. Despite being wounded, Tardif refused to be evacuated and led his squad in an assault on an enemy-held compound, his citation said. After securing the compound, Tardif collapsed from his wounds.
Bohr was honored posthumously for his actions in a separate firefight while serving as the company gunnery sergeant for Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
He had volunteered to accompany the company’s armored convoy in a soft-skinned Humvee during a seizing of a presidential palace in Baghdad to ensure the convoy was resupplied quickly, his citation said.
While moving through the narrow streets of Baghdad, the convoy came under intense fire and Bohr was killed while trying to get a medical evacuation vehicle to a wounded Marine.
A sergeant from Camp Pendleton, Calif., received the Navy Department’s second highest award for his actions during last year’s invasion of Iraq.
Navy Secretary Gordon England presented the Navy Cross to Sgt. Marco A. Martinez, 22, with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, at a Monday afternoon ceremony at Camp Pendleton, according to a press release.
Martinez is one of a handful of service members since the Vietnam War to receive the medal, second only to the Medal of Honor.
Three other Marines from the same Regiment also received Silver Stars at the ceremony.
Staff Sgt. Adam R. Sikes, Cpl. Timothy C. Tardif and Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey E. Bohr, Jr., each received the Silver Star, the Navy Department’s third-highest award. Bohr’s wife, Lori, accepted the award on behalf of her husband, who was killed April 10, 2003, in Iraq.
“These brave Marines did good things without notice and without the acclaim of crowds,” the press release quoted England as saying. “But they got the acclaim of their fellow Marines.”.
Martinez, Sikes and Tardif were recognized for their actions during an April 12, 2003, ambush of 1st Platoon, Golf Company, 2/5, at the town of Tarmiya, about 20 miles north of Baghdad.
The platoon was moving north to take on Iraqi Fedayeen fighters in Tikrit when it was ambushed.
Martinez’s squad leader was wounded in the attack and Martinez, then a corporal, took over and led an assault through a tree line where the ambush began, according to his award citation.
While the squad received heavy fire from a nearby building, Martinez launched a captured enemy rocket-propelled grenade into the building, silencing the fire long enough for a wounded Marine to be evacuated from the area.
Martinez then “single-handedly” assaulted the building and killed four enemy soldiers using his rifle and a grenade, the citation said.
Silver stars
Sikes, pinned down by heavy small-arms and RPG fire in the opening moments of the ambush, rallied two squads for a counter attack, then charged alone across 70 meters of fire-swept ground to close in and destroy an enemy strongpoint, his citation states. He then climbed to the roof of a three-story building and sent 60mm mortar rounds onto nearby Iraqi positions.
Tardif, who also was pinned down by Iraqi fire, charged across a road under intense small-arms and RPG fire, and was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade during the close-quarters battle that followed. Despite being wounded, Tardif refused to be evacuated and led his squad in an assault on an enemy-held compound, his citation said. After securing the compound, Tardif collapsed from his wounds.
Bohr was honored posthumously for his actions in a separate firefight while serving as the company gunnery sergeant for Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.
He had volunteered to accompany the company’s armored convoy in a soft-skinned Humvee during a seizing of a presidential palace in Baghdad to ensure the convoy was resupplied quickly, his citation said.
While moving through the narrow streets of Baghdad, the convoy came under intense fire and Bohr was killed while trying to get a medical evacuation vehicle to a wounded Marine.