Camp Pendleton Marine Awarded Bronze Star While Deployed At Sea

Camp Pendleton Marine Awarded Bronze Star While Deployed At Sea
KPBS
By Beth Ford Roth
January 28, 2013

Cpl. Timothy R. Childers
USMC
Lieutenant Col. John Wiener, commanding officer, Combat Logistics Battalion 15, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, pins the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device on 1st Sgt. Bradley G. Simmons, Sergeant Major, CLB-15, 15th MEU, during his award ceremony aboard the USS Rushmore, Jan. 25.

Camp Pendleton Marine 1st Sgt. Bradley G. Simmons was awarded the Bronze Star January 25 on the flight deck of the San Diego-based USS Rushmore during the ship's deployment at sea.

Simmons is assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is currently deployed with the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group.

Simmons received the Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device for "heroic service" while serving in Sangin District, Afghanistan in 2011, according 15th MEU Public Affairs. Simmons served then as the first sergeant of Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 8, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), II Marine Expeditionary Force.
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Eleven soldiers from Fort Hood were honored

Nov 2, 2012
by kxan
Eleven soldiers from Fort Hood were honored Friday for their actions while serving Afghanistan. Nine of them were decorated for bravery under fire in the Adi Ghar Mountains of Southern Afghanistan.

The honored soldiers were

1st Lt. Steven D. Hail
Silver Star and Purple Heart

Staff Sgt. Adam Davila
Silver Star

Sgt. Christopher Ernst
Bronze Star Medal with Valor

Spc. Daniel J. Evenson
Bronze Star Medal with Valor

Staff Sgt. David T. Smothers
Army Commendation Medal with Valor

Sgt. Scott Simpson
Army Commendation Medal with Valor

Sgt. John S. Lowry
Army Commendation Medal with Valor

Spc. Conner S. Daley
Army Commendation Medal with Valor

Spc. Zacjary W. Trice
Army Commendation Medal with Valor

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Pechon
Purple Heart

Spc. Phillip A. Bergerson
Purple Heart

Army Col. David McKimmey, Bronze Star for Valor in Iraq

Wyoming soldier injured in Iraq earns Bronze Star for valor
JOAN BARRON
Casper Star-Tribune
October 13, 2012

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Army Col. David McKimmey didn't realize his leg had been broken until he tried to stand up.

He didn't find out until later that he had other fractures and burns to his face and hands.

He patted himself down, checking for bleeding. He found none.

McKimmey crawled to the burning Humvee and tried unsuccessfully to save another soldier inside.

He continued providing first aid to two other soldiers until the evacuation team arrived.

It was Sept. 5, 2007, on a road north of Balad, Iraq.

An improved explosive device buried in the road had exploded when McKimmey's Humvee, one of a three-vehicle convoy, drove over it.

Of the four men in the vehicle, only McKimmey and another soldier survived.

The crew was nearing the end of its 15-month deployment in Iraq.
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Honor restored for PTSD veteran with "other than honorable" discharge

Good news for veteran discharged without benefits
More than 20,000 men and women have left the Army and Marines in the last four years with other-than-honorable discharges, jeopardizing their benefits and leaving some of them struggling to find treatment for health problems.
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
September 8, 2012

STEVE RINGMAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Jarrid Starks was honored with the Bronze Star for Valor but received an other-than-honorable discharge after more than seven years in the military.

Jarrid Starks, a troubled Army veteran who received the Bronze Star for Valor but was dismissed from service with an other-than-honorable discharge, has been granted health-care benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Starks was featured in an Aug. 12 Seattle Times story that examined the plight of veterans whose other-than-honorable discharges have put their veteran's benefits at risk.

Starks had been told that it might take a year or more for the VA to undertake a review to see if he is eligible for benefits.

However, Starks, who requested the review in late May, received the VA decision on Aug. 31.

"I was really happy to get the news," said Starks, who was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and now lives in Salem, Ore. "They are already calling me and getting me set up with health-care appointments."

Starks, who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a twisted vertebra and a possible traumatic brain injury before leaving the service.
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Hero in war gets help after DUI manslaughter conviction in Florida

Marine with PTSD, brain trauma, pleads guilty to DUI manslaughter for Florida crash
TAMARA LUSH
Associated Press
First Posted: May 10, 2012

TAMPA, Fla. — A former Marine who suffered severe brain trauma in combat has pleaded guilty in a fatal drunken-driving accident in Florida that highlighted the military's diagnosis of cases like his.

Scott Sciple (SY-puhl) pleaded guilty Thursday in Tampa to DUI manslaughter and DUI with personal injury in a 2010 wreck that killed a 48-year-old father.

Sciple's family and lawyer blamed the crash on his injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. He earned three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for heroism.
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Marine Cpl. Kyle Thompson receives Bronze Star for heroism in Afghanistan

La Pine Marine gets Bronze Star for Afghan heroism

Written by
The Associated Press

LA PINE — A U.S. Marine corporal from La Pine who lost his left eye in an explosion while fighting in Afghanistan was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor last week.

Kyle Thompson, 25, of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., earned the medal for what the military deemed "courageous actions" during two firefights in which his patrol was ambushed and he led his troops to safety.

Both incidents occurred in Afghanistan's dangerous Helmand province, and each one happened before Thompson was injured by the improvised explosive device that ultimately ended his military career.

He received a Purple Heart after that injury. He also received a Purple Heart for an earlier incident involving an IED that struck his armored vehicle.
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Major Jamie P. Murphy awarded Bronze Star V

WWR Marine Receives Bronze Star

January 30, 2012
Marine Corps News
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Marines, sailors and family members gathered here to honor a Wounded Warrior Regiment staff member during an award ceremony at the regimental headquarters Jan. 27.

Major Jamie P. Murphy, the Wounded Warrior Regiment's future operations officer, was presented the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" device by his former commanding officer, Lieutenant Col. J.D. Harrill.

Murphy earned the Bronze Star for his heroic service in connection with combat operations against the enemy while serving in Marjah, Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Harrill, the former commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 1, 2nd Marine Division (Forward), traveled from Camp Lejeune, N.C. to present Murphy with his medal. With him, was Sgt. Maj. Richard Mathern, the former sergeant major of the unit.
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West Virginia Air National Guard female medic earns Bronze Star for Valor

W.Va. flight medic receives medal for bravery in Afghanistan
By Travis Crum
January 1, 2012

Courtesy photo
Staff Sgt. Nicole Hopkins, a flight medic from the West Virginia Air National Guard, was presented a Bronze Star with Valor last monthfor her bravery during rescue missions in Afghanistan. On July 17, 2010, Hopkins risked her life when she was lowered from an aircraft over a minefield to treat and evacuate injuries soldiers.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Nicole Hopkins, a flight medic from West Virginia, said she would never forget the day she left Afghanistan with severe injuries received during a dangerous mission in one of the war's deadliest months.

She vividly remembers looking out her flight's window during her return trip at another plane carrying coffins draped in American flags.

"What I thought most about during that flight home was the guy we picked up that day, Sgt. Matthew Weikert," Hopkins said. "He was flying back to the states the same time as me, only he wasn't flying home injured."

Hopkins, a 35-year-old staff sergeant with the West Virginia Air National Guard, was presented the Bronze Star with Valor last month for her bravery during missions to rescue injured soldiers in July 2010.
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Camp Pendleton Master Sgt. Jarvis receives Silver Star and Bronze V

Local Marine receives medals for valor


Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Issue 41, Volume 15.
Andrea Verdin
Staff Writer

A Camp Pendleton Marine and Fallbrook resident was awarded a Silver Star and a Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor for his efforts overseas during battle.

Master Sergeant David A. Jarvis, a 34-year-old Marine, was honored with the awards for multiple heroic acts in war.

Hes so humble, hardworking, quiet, and very well-mannered, said CWO3 Tina Jarvis, Davids wife. Hes all about his Marines, and takes care of those surrounding him. He is all around a model Marine.

Jarvis currently serves as the Battalion Training Chief for 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. The Fallbrook resident was born in Bremerton, Wash., and began basic training in 1995.

On Oct. 25, 2010, Jarvis was supporting Operation Eastern Endeavor in the upper Sangin River Valley of Afghanistan. According to the citation for Jarvis award, shortly after an element of Jarvis platoon was attacked with an improvised explosive device, Jarvis position came under heavy and accurate volleys of machine gun and RPG fire.

Jarvis immediately and knowingly exposed himself to enemy fire as he moved back and forth across the defensive perimeter to reposition Marines and direct fire.
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Camp Pendleton Marine, Silver Star and Bronze for bravery in Afghanistan Sangin

Camp Pendleton Marine lauded for bravery in Afghanistan
October 8, 2011

Two medals for bravery in Afghanistan were awarded this week to a Marine at Camp Pendleton -- a reminder of how intense the clash between U.S. forces and Taliban fighters has been in the insurgent stronghold of Helmand province.

Master Sgt. David Jarvis received a Silver Star for courage and leadership during a firefight in Sangin on Oct. 25, 2010, and a Bronze Star with a Combat V for valor for a series of similar actions from June to November of the same year.

Jarvis, 34, from Bremerton, Wash., was serving with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion and is now a training officer. Before deploying to Afghanistan, he had served two tours in Iraq.
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Thousands raised for injured Marine

MILITARY: Thousands raised for injured Marine

By City News Service | Posted: Saturday, August 6, 2011

EL CAJON - More than $14,000 was raised today at a fundraiser held for the 34-year-old Marine injured in a hit and run crash in Rancho Bernardo, an event organizer said.

More than 700 people attended the event for Gunnery Sgt. Dave Smith, who remained hospitalized in critical condition following the July 31 crash, according to the event's coordinator Tina Hook.

Among them were several riders from the Legion Riders of 146 Oceanside Elks Lodge, who attended the event together.

``People have given tremendously today,'' Hook said of the event held at the El Cajon Harley Davidson dealership.

Smith is a 17-year veteran who deployed four times and survived a roadside bomb blast. He was awarded a Bronze Star for valor.
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Thousands raised for injured Marine

Decorated Vietnam veteran's valor is saluted

Vietnam veteran's valor is saluted

by Phil Keren & Ellin Walsh
FALLS NEWS-PRESS EDITOR, REPORTER

Cuyahoga Falls officials on July 22 recognized a decorated Vietnam veteran by renaming a portion of Front Street in his honor.

Bernard V Slider Jr., "J.R." to his friends, died Oct. 7, 2003, after a battle with cancer. He was 53.

About 20 people -- including Mr. Slider's brothers Don and Ken, and his father, Bernard V. Slider Sr. -- attended a brief ceremony in sweltering heat at the corner of Front Street and Grant Avenue across from American Legion Post 281.

Mayor Don Robart designated the day (July 22) as "Sgt. J.R. Slider Day" in Cuyahoga Falls. Donald and Ken Slider then unveiled the sign at Front Street and Grant Avenue which bears the name "Sgt. J.R. Slider Silver Memorial Way."

"It's beautiful," said Ken Slider moments after the ceremony concluded. A catalyst in getting the city to designate the stretch of street in his brother's honor, Don Slider says J.R. "was the most highly decorated Vietnam veteran in Summit County." The idea of honoring J.R. this way has been in the works for three years. "His dedication to our country set him apart," Ken Slider says, adding, "if your life had to be in somebody else's hands, you'd want it to be J.R.'s."

Sgt. Slider served in the U.S. Army -- Company E, 2nd Battalion (Airborne) 502nd Infantry as a radio-telephone operator during Vietnam. He received two Purple Heart medals, the Silver Star for gallantry in action, eight air medals, the Brave Eagle coin for valor and two Bronze Stars.
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Vietnam veteran valor is saluted

Family of 100% disabled Vietnam vet reeling from death and expenses

Family reeling from veteran's death, funeral expenses
Hattiesburg native who received Bronze Star in Vietnam was disabled
11:17 PM, Jul. 2, 2011

Richard "Dickey" Randolph (right) and his friend Nelvil Hollingsworth from Hattiesburg, had an impromptu reunion in South Vietnam while they were serving there in the early 1970s. The family is struggling after Randolph's recent death. / Special to The Clarion-Ledger

Written by
Gary Pettus

Hattiesburg native Richard "Dickey" Randolph didn't ask much from his country - a house near the ocean, a place to fish and the company of his family.

But his country had asked much of him, drafting him into the Army 40 years ago and encouraging him to go to Vietnam, where he was rewarded with a Bronze Star, shrapnel scars and wounds that wouldn't heal.

He was 100 percent disabled, plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder, because he had taken care of his country, said Nancy Randolph of Pace, Fla., his wife of some 25 years; so when he died, she assumed his country would take care of him.
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Family reeling from veteran death

Marine to receive Bronze Star for valor

Marine to receive Bronze Star

June 26, 2011 4:31 AM
DAILY NEWS STAFF
A Camp Lejeune Marine will receive a Bronze Star with Combat “V” at a June 29 ceremony aboard Camp Lejeune, officials with 2nd Marine Division announced recently.

Gunnery Sgt. Chad Miller, a Marine with 10th Marine Regiment, is scheduled to receive the award at a 9 a.m. ceremony held at the 10th Marine Regiment Landing Zone.
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Marine to receive Bronze Star

2 Green Berets Get Silver Star, 12 Get Bronze With ‘V’

2 Green Berets Get Silver Star, 12 Get Bronze With ‘V’
June 14, 2011
Stars and Stripes|by John Vandiver

STUTTGART, Germany -- Two U.S Army Green Berets were recognized with Silver Stars during a ceremony on Monday in Stuttgart, where 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group troops were honored for heroic actions on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

During the ceremony at Patch Barracks, which included a special videotaped message from the commander of the Afghanistan mission, Gen. David Petraeus, 12 other servicemembers received Bronze Stars with the “V” device for valor. Two additional Soldiers received the Army Commendation Medal with “V” device.

Master Sgt. William J. Dickinson was awarded the Silver Star for leading a special operations team that thwarted an attack on Bagram Air Base on May 19, 2010, when insurgents dressed as American Soldiers stormed the base.

Staff Sergeant Adam B. Dorner was awarded the Silver Star for leading a team of Green Berets and Afghan National Security Forces in response to an ambush in Logar province in 2010. Dorner ran more than 150 meters through open terrain to reach his unit’s mortar system to return fire on the enemy at “grave personal risk.”

Bronze Star with “V” device

** Capt. Craig Bighouse

** Sgt. 1st Class Michael Murray

** Sgt. 1st Class McKenna Miller

** Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Reshel

** Staff Sgt. Sabriel Ashley

** Staff Sgt. Robert Murray

** Staff Sgt. Patrick Roberts

** Staff Sgt. Richard Telck

** Staff Sgt. Robert Malcher

** Air Force Staff Sgt. David Ibsen

** Air Force Staff Sgt. Theodore Hofkneckt

** Pfc. William Langley

Army Commendation Medal with “V” device

** Staff Sgt. Ricky Streeter

** Staff Sgt. Sean Pridemore

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2 Green Berets Get Silver Star 12 Get Bronze With V

Camp Lejeune Marine receives second Bronze Star for Valor

Marine Receives Second Bronze Star With Combat Valor

By WCTI Staff

CAMP LEJEUNE -- The Operations Officer for 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, received his second Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 8, 2011.

The award was presented to Capt. Matthew J. Martin for actions while in command of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, during the battalion's deployment to Afghanistan from May to November 2009.

While deployed to Iraq in 2003, Martin served as a company executive officer with Company A, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division. Martin and his Marines fought for four days to secure the bridges outside of An Nasiriyah. Although he and his Marines were outnumbered and took heavy casualties, Martin directed tank and mortar fire toward enemy strongholds and successfully held off the insurgents. Martin received his first Bronze Star for heroic actions during this battle.

While being awarded the countries fourth highest medal is a rare achievement, eight years after Martin received his first Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device, he was presented with his second.

As the commanding officer of Company G, 2/8, Martin and his Marines were tasked with patrolling, on foot, more than 11 miles to secure a city in Helmond Province, Afghanistan.

Over the three days it took to conduct the movement, he and his Marines fought the enemy and encountered multiple IED's in 130 degree heat.
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Marine Receives Second Bronze Star With Combat Valor

Two Bronze Stars with V awarded to Camp Pendleton Marines

Two Bronze Stars with V awarded

By Gidget Fuentes - gfuentes@militarytimes.com
Posted : Friday Jul 16, 2010 17:25:17 EDT

A platoon sergeant and a squad leader at Camp Pendleton, Calif., are each receiving the Bronze Star with “V” device for decisive actions while under fire in Afghanistan last year.

Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Biello and Sgt. Timothy G. Eannarino were scheduled to receive the medals today during a July 16 ceremony at the Camp San Mateo headquarters of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. Biello, a platoon sergeant with 1/5’s Charlie Company, and Eannarino, first squad leader with Bravo Company’s second platoon, deployed last year as part of Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan.
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Two Bronze Stars with V awarded

Vietnam veteran gets Bronze Star

Vietnam veteran gets Bronze Star
After 40 years, veteran honored for heroism

BY STANLEY DUNLAP
SDUNLAP@JACKSONSUN.COM
• May 26, 2010
Until recently Lori Smith's father didn't go in-depth whenever talking about his time in the military.

In April—40 years after saving his company commander from a hand grenade—Brownsville resident Danny Presley received a Bronze Star for his efforts in the Vietnam War.

"We knew he was a hero but getting to see and hear the things he did in the Army is neat," Smith said Tuesday.

Last fall, Presley began scouring the Internet after reading a Vietnam veteran's magazine when he found his name listed under decorated soldiers.

That led Presley to find out he had been awarded the Bronze Star as well as other medals, citations and badges for his service in the U.S. Army. Since 1969 the only medal Presley realized he had was a Purple Heart that came after being injured by a grenade around a month after saving his commander's life.

While in a hospital Presley's captain told him about nominating him for the award but soon after Presley forgot while recovering from his injuries.

"I never thought anything about it until I saw this," he said pointing to papers from the website.

The Bronze Star citation notes that on Aug. 28, 1969 Presley spotted three enemy soldiers who were hiding and was able to warn his company commander and comrades.
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Vietnam veteran gets Bronze Star

Marine shields team from harm, earns Bronze Star

John Gastaldo
Velzeboer, part of an explosive-ordnance-disposal team, drove a trailer full of grenades away from the fiery aftermath of a bombing.

Marine shields team from harm, earns Bronze Star
By Jeanette Steele, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.


After the blast, Staff Sgt. Dustin Velzeboer looked around and realized he was the only person still standing.

His gunnery sergeant lay in pieces, literally, on the ground. Two other members of the bomb unit were dead, and so was the sergeant assigned to them for security.

Velzeboer, a 27-year-old Marine with a baby on the way at home, saw no other choice: He couldn’t move his guys away from the danger. He had to move the danger away from them.

The tall, blond Marine jumped into the team’s truck, which was hooked to a trailer packed with 45 Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades. The grenades were sure to detonate in the fiery aftermath of the roadside bomb blast.

With one hand — his other was shredded by shrapnel — Velzeboer drove the truck away from his men. These thoughts ran through his mind: “Get the rig off the road; we need the road to leave.” “I hope there are no more bombs where I’m driving.” “I need to tell my wife I love her.”

There were no speeches. But afterward, Velzeboer — not much for grandstanding himself — talked about the life of an explosive-ordnance-disposal Marine, one of the most dangerous and in-demand jobs in the military.

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Marine shields team from harm, earns Bronze Star

Clayton M. Rankin Colorado Army National Guard, Bronze Star with Valor

Clayton M. Rankin Colorado Army National Guard, Bronze Star with Valor

Northern Kuwait

By Kris Antonelli © Stephens Media LLC 2009 www.americanvalor.net

Clay Rankin, a police officer in suburban Denver, knew what it was like to kill even before he was sent to the Middle East in the first Gulf War. He and a fellow officer fatally shot a man who had taken a pharmacy clerk hostage in 1990.

But a year later, the military police officer returned to his job as a civilian police officer with the Northglenn, Colo., Police Department with grim scenes of burning oil fields and charred bodies stuck in his mind. Old haunts, familiar streets and routine police work were distorted by the memories of war. He had nightmares, anxiety and flashbacks. He un-holstered his gun during routine traffic stops. One night, while sitting in his cruiser in a parking lot and completing paperwork, he heard a noise behind him.


“I opened the door, rolled out on my stomach and took my gun out,” Rankin said. “It was a just a kid walking across the parking lot.”

The department’s psychologist diagnosed him with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Rankin didn’t believe it. His symptoms had to be a reaction to the toxin gases he was exposed to during his tour.

“I just chalked it all up — the nightmares, the flashbacks, my over-reactions — to the change, because you never come back the same,” he said.

Although the police chief tried to find an assignment that would take Rankin off the street, it was not possible in a small agency such as Northglenn’s. He had no choice but to retire.

Finally, in 1995, his marriage and family life strained by his recurring symptoms, he went to a veterans administration hospital looking specifically for PTSD treatment. In therapy, he learned techniques to manage his symptoms. His health and personal life improved. He started a private investigation business, which became successful.

But at the start of the second Gulf War, Rankin’s passion for law enforcement led him to join the National Guard as a military police officer. He believed he was well enough to handle redeploying with his old unit to Iraq. He landed at Camp Udairi, in northern Kuwait at the Iraqi border, just as the ground war began. Standing in line at the PX in March, Rankin waited to get supplies needed to push north when a terrorist in a white pick-up truck plowed through the line.
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Clayton M. Rankin Colorado Army National Guard, Bronze Star with Valor