Photo By Cpl. Matt Myers | Sgt. Steven L. Christian comforts Ki – Jung Youn as he cries inside a Pohang...... read more read more
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CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – A bus full of U.S. Marines comes to a sudden stop. Four of the Marines quickly run out of the bus toward a white van that is lying on its side and smoking on a local highway. They see a man trapped inside and with no regard for their personal safety – enter into the wreckage - saving his life.
Sgt. Steven L. Christian, Staff Sgt. Derrick Keene, Staff Sgt. Matthew G. Latonis, and Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Peak were driving along a major highway March 14, near Pohang, South Korea, when they spotted Ki – Jung Youn in a wrecked vehicle and took immediate life-saving action.
“I saw him in the car. He was bleeding and still gripping the steering wheel,” said Christian, an imagery analyst with 3rd Intelligence Battalion, III Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force. “Myself and Staff Sgt. Keene were wondering if the vehicle would catch on fire, so we knew we needed to move him quickly. I reached in and checked his vitals to see if he was alive and conscience and he was barely breathing, so I pulled him from the vehicle carefully so as to not exacerbate any of his existing injuries and started assessing and treating his wounds.”
Keene and Peak assisted Christian by holding the door open and helping remove Youn from the vehicle. As the three Marines took Youn away from the vehicle to safety, Latonis and another local Korean directed traffic away from the wreck.
“There’s no doubt at all that this wasn’t a coincidence – it was fate,” said Christian, from Brooklyn, New York. “We were rolling 15 minutes late from Seoul, a minute sooner or later and we could have missed him.”
When Youn was rushed to the hospital he had suffered multiple lacerations to his upper body, a broken nose, broken teeth, and a broken back. Doctors at the hospital would later say that if the Marines hadn’t shown up and performed first aid he would not have survived.
“That night I was driving fast and the road was slippery,” said Youn, a local farmer. “I lost conscience during the accident and when I woke up I heard English and thought that I must have died and gone to Heaven. But then I saw Christian and knew I was alive, and he was my savior.”
The Marines visited Ki – Jung Youn in his hospital room March 22, just eight days after his accident. They exchanged gifts during the visit and talked about what happened that night. For most of the visit, Youn held onto Christian’s arm, which is a Korean way of showing affection.
“That was such an intense night for all of us involved,” said Peak from Cleveland, Ohio, a utilities chief with 7th Communication Battalion, III MEF Headquarters Group, III MEF.
“We couldn’t stop thinking about him and hoping that he would be okay once the ambulance rushed him to the hospital.”
Youn is scheduled to leave the hospital in four weeks. Christian credits his Marine Corps training including the Combat Lifesaver Course with giving him the skills to save a life.
| Date Taken: | 03.22.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.13.2015 02:03 |
| Story ID: | 159801 |
| Location: | POHANG , 27, KR |
| Hometown: | SEOUL, 11, KR |
| Hometown: | BROOKLYN, NY, US |
| Hometown: | CLEVELAND, OH, US |
| Hometown: | SULLIVAN, IN, US |
| Web Views: | 872 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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