Vines awards Paratroopers for valor, injuries during ceremony in Iraq

Photo By Sgt. Maj. Alejandro Licea | Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, commander, Fort Bragg, N.C., and the 18th Airborne Corps; presented Spc. Justin Saint-Jacques, medic, Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, with the Purple Heart, Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor, and the Combat Medic Badge, during an awards ceremony Oct. 22, 2006, at the 82nd Airborne Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team's forward headquarters at Contingency Operations Base Speicher near Tikrit, Iraq. Saint-Jacques received all three awards for actions and wounds he suffered during an insurgent attack on his unit's convoy Oct. 2, 2006, in Tikrit.  

TIKRIT, IRAQ

10.22.2006

Courtesy Story

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

by Staff Sgt. Michael Carden
3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Div. PAO

CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS BASE SPEICHER, Iraq (Oct. 22, 2006) – Commander of the 18th Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, N.C., Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, recognized two "exceptional warriors" during an awards ceremony Oct. 22, 2006, at COB Speicher, Iraq.

Sgt. Aaron George, infantryman, and Spc. Justin Saint-Jacques, medic, both with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, were awarded the Purple Heart for injuries received during an attack on their mounted patrol Oct. 2, 2006, in the Market Street district of Tikrit, Iraq.

Saint-Jacques, a native of San Antonio, Texas, was also awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor as well as the Combat Medic Badge.

"I love to promote Soldiers," Vines said to a foyer-filled group of Paratroopers at the 3rd Brigade Combat Team headquarters, "but more than that, I love awarding exceptional warriors for distinguishing themselves in combat."

Saint-Jacques and George's vehicle was stopped at an intersection pulling security for other vehicles in the patrol when the passenger side was struck by what they called an anti-tank missile, said George, who received burns to his right leg and lacerations to his face and hands.

Amid a second missile strike and a ruptured, bleeding eardrum, Saint-Jacques knew he had to get the wounded out of the vehicle. He treated them as best he could inside the vehicle, but the cramped space inside the up-armored humvee was much too inapt for medical care, he said.

The front, passenger-side door was jammed because of the explosion, making it difficult for Saint-Jacques, or Doc, as he's known by his unit, to tend to the wounded. He dismounted the vehicle, and then pulled his platoon sergeant out of the passenger seat through the front, driver-side door for treatment, George recalled.

"Doc was great," said George, a native of Milwaukee, Wis. "Even with his own injuries, he really came through for all of us."


"It was really intense," Saint-Jacques said. "It was strange that I couldn't hear anything, and so much was going on."

The attack left four of the five Paratroopers with injuries.

The platoon sergeant in the front-passenger seat, Sgt. 1st Class Tony Wisyanski, is undergoing treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for a fractured skull, punctured lung, shrapnel fragments in his liver, and hearing loss in his right ear.

Spc. William Hart, the turret gunner, is recovering from leg lacerations at Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg.

George and Saint-Jacques, along with Pfc. Dominic Carrera, the driver during the attack, are all returned to duty with the rest of their company and conducting operations in Tikrit.

Vines recognized the 505th PIR as the most decorated regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division, and that it's evident in the actions of George, Saint-Jacques, and the others involved in the attack.

Vines referenced a poster, which is well-known throughout the 82nd community, pictured of World War II Paratrooper, Pfc. Vernon Haught, with the quote, "I am the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as those bastards are going."

Vines, former commander of the 82nd, said that statement is lived by no less now than it was in WWII.

He asked the Paratroopers to never lose site of the meaning in that quote and what it stands for today in the Global War on Terrorism.

"I am the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as those terrorists are going," he told the troopers. "It's going to take Soldiers like you to defeat terrorism, here, in Iraq."

• Date Taken: 10.22.2006
• Date Posted: 10.23.2006 10:11
• Story ID: 8110
• Location: TIKRIT, IQ