Tucson GI gets medal for heroism

Arizona Daily Star ^ | 08/17/04 | Carol Ann Alaimo

[SandRat]

Reflected in a photo of Pfc. Christopher Fernandez, his wife, Maritza, kisses the couple's son, Nathaniel.

Family proud of new dad who risked his life in Iraq

The road from Tucson to Baghdad has been a tough one for teenage soldier Christopher Fernandez and his family.

 

The Army has declared him a hero. But the honor barely eases the hearts of loved ones praying for his safety.

 

Fernandez, a 19-year-old newlywed and new dad, received one of the nation's highest honors for combat bravery Friday when a two-star general pinned a Silver Star on his chest.

 

The private first class earned the honor for putting himself in danger to save others when his unit was ambushed in Baghdad in May, the Army said Monday.

 

The Silver Star is the country's third-highest award for valor on the battlefield.

 

"I'm so proud of my husband. I love him so much," said Fernandez's wife, Maritza Fernandez, also 19, on Monday.

 

"But there's part of me that wishes he would run and hide when the shooting starts," she added, cradling the couple's 2-month-old son, Nathaniel, who was born while his father was at war.

 

The couple were married in August of last year and have spent much of the past year apart between basic training and deployment.

 

"It hasn't been easy for us," Maritza Fernandez said. "But I try to be brave because he's so brave."

 

The Army said that courage was evident on May 5, when insurgents staged a nighttime attack on Christopher Fernandez's patrol unit from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division.

 

First a homemade bomb hit one of the soldiers' Humvees. Then the enemy opened fire, spraying them with waves of bullets as soldiers tried to evacuate the dead and wounded.

 

Two Army machine gunners were shooting back, but it wasn't enough to repel the enemy fire. That's when Fernandez spied another M-240B machine gun sitting inside the bombed-out Humvee.

 

He made a dash for it, retrieved the extra gun and provided enough added cover fire for the soldiers to finish their recovery and get out of the area.

 

The Army said the condition of the extra machine gun made Fernandez's actions even more heroic.

 

The gun he fetched normally has hand guards covering its barrel so the gunner's hands won't be burned during use.

 

But the hand guards on this gun had blown off during the Humvee explosion.

 

"That didn't matter to Fernandez, though; he kept firing even though his hands were burning," the Army's Web site said.

 

Two soldiers were killed and five wounded in the attack. Maritza Fernandez said her husband has recovered.

 

Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the 1st Cavalry Division's commanding general, flew to Baghdad to pin on the Silver Star.

 

"Pfc. Christopher Fernandez is a hero. He represents the best of us," Chiarelli told the Army News Service.

 

Christopher Fernandez called the award "a great honor," according to Army News.

 

The description of her husband's actions sent chills through Maritza Fernandez back in Tucson.

 

But it was a hopeful sign, she said, that he seemed to know what to do when danger struck.

 

"He didn't freeze up, and he kept on doing what he had to do," she said.

 

Christopher Fernandez moved from Arkansas to Tucson with his family five years ago. He attended Pueblo High Magnet School briefly, then earned an equivalency diploma and joined the Army in a bid to better himself, his wife said.

 

He was sent to Iraq in March and could be there until September 2005, his wife said.

 

When the Army allowed him to come home for two weeks in July to see his new baby, Maritza Fernandez said her husband seemed changed by war.

 

He was more serious, less jovial, she said. He'd acquired a nervous habit of constantly drumming his fingers and was always on guard, noticing every coming and going from the family home and every person who glanced his way.

 

"He tells me sometimes that it's scary. It's scary to think you might not come home," Maritza Fernandez said.

 

"I just pray to God every day, because if anyone can bring him home alive, it's the Lord."

 

[SandRat]

Hero PING

[Archangelsk]

Way to go soldier!

[ken5050]

Every time you see one of these nice articles in the local hometown paper, take the time to send a thank you e-mail to the reporter.....just a low key message of appreciation. You'll most always get a nice note back...I've sent out 6, to all parts of the country..told the reporters I read the story on the internet, ..and thanked them..then I gently suggested to them that it's a nice idea, to always include the text of the actual citation..

[hflynn]

The Silver Star is the country's third-highest award for valor on the battlefield.

They always get this wrong. The Silver Star is the third highest military award designated solely for heroism in combat. The Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star Citation, the Distinguished Service Medal is awarded for both combat valor and non-combat services of exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a position of great responsibility and is of higher precedence than the Silver Star.

[Tax-chick]

What a sweet story! I'll be praying that the young man makes it home to raise his son!

(And a great idea about contacting the newspaper ... thanks, Ken!)

[SittinYonder]

>I just pray to God every day, because if anyone can bring him home alive, it's the Lord.<

And these kids are 19? Gives you a little hope for the future, doesn't it?

[onyx]

Thank you for this ping.
Teary eyed.

[csvset]

" Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, congratulates Pfc. Christopher Fernandez for winning the Silver Star Medal. Chiarelli awarded Fernandez the Army’s fifth highest medal at the division's 5th Brigade Combat Team headquarters Aug. 13 at Camp Ferrin-Huggins in Baghdad.
Spc. Bill Putnam

Actions earn 1st Cav Soldier Silver Medal

By Cpl. Bill Putnam
August 16, 2004

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 16, 2004) -- Pfc. Christopher Fernandez, of Battery A, 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, was awarded a Silver Star Medal for valor by the 1st Calvary Division commanding general Aug. 13.

The Silver Star is the Army’s fifth highest medal for valor and the third highest during combat.

Fernandez said his family was proud, that they had even told members of his church back home about his award, but he didn’t know if they understood that the Silver Star was a big deal.

“It’s a great honor,” said Fernandez, a Multiple Launch Rocket System crewman. “I never thought it would happen.”

Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, 1st Calvary Division commanding general, said Fernandez embodied the Army values of selfless service and courage.

“Pfc. Christopher Fernandez is a hero,” Chiarelli said. “He represents the best of us. He embodies the Army Values and the Warrior Ethos.”

Fernandez was awarded the Silver Star for his actions on the night of May 5, when his unit came under attack. Fernandez, a Tucson, Ariz. native, was on a patrol through Baghdad’s Saidiyah neighborhood when insurgents ambushed his unit.

An improvised explosive device hit the patrol’s rear vehicle. Immediately following the explosion, the patrol was barraged with small-arms fire. The patrol’s crew-served weapons, an M-240B machine gun and a .50 caliber machine gun, immediately returned fire.

The IED explosion killed two U.S. Soldiers, wounded five others and rendered their vehicle inoperable.

Fernandez returned fire with his weapon, an M-249 squad automatic weapon. He reloaded his weapon at least once during the short engagement, said Capt. Thomas Pugsley, Battery A’s commander.

“There was a tremendous volume of fire coming at them,” Pugsley said.

In all the chaos, Fernandez saw the stricken vehicle’s M-240B machine gun was unused. Fernandez knew that another weapon would suppress the enemy’s fire long enough to evacuate the wounded and leave the area. He left his vehicle, ran to the disabled humvee, and recovered the weapon and its ammunition.

Fernandez then opened fire on the enemy.

What made all of that spectacular was the recovered weapon’s condition, said Pugsley. The handguards covering the machine-gun’s barrel, so the gunner’s hands won’t burn, were blown off in the explosion. That didn’t matter to Fernandez though; he kept firing even though his hands were burning.

Almost 10 minutes later, the wounded were loaded onto the Fernandez’s vehicle, and the ambush site was abandoned.

Pugsley said two other Soldiers were recommended for Bronze Stars with Valor devices for their actions that night. One received it; the other received an Army Commendation with V device, he said.

But to 1st Lt. Ryan Swindell, Fernandez’s platoon leader, and Pugsley, Fernandez’s actions during those hectic minutes warranted a Silver Star.

“He bought those Soldiers time,” Pugsley said.

(Editor’s note: Cpl. Bill Putnam is a member of the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

[ken5050]

Over the years, I've developed an occasional, though long term e-mail correspondence with several reporters and columnists around the country..simply becuase I send them a short note tllign them how much I enjoyed a particular piece. One once told me that 99.6% of ALL correspondene to newspaper folks is criticism..and most of it is unprintable..so getting an innocuous little "attaboy" is a rarity for many of them, and quite enjoyable..

[No Longer Free State]

Red Team Bump

[SuziQ]

"I just pray to God every day, because if anyone can bring him home alive, it's the Lord."

We ALL need to keep this young hero in our prayers so that he can get home to his wife and baby.

Listening to the description of how he earned his Silver Star kinda makes Jean alQuery's Vietnam exploits pale in comparison.

[StarCMC]

Thank you SandRat for the post and the ping...

Thank you, soldier, for being a hero we can all be proud of! God bless you and your fmaily and bring you home safe!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thank you, Pfc Christopher Fernandez, for doing what had to be done to protect your fellow soldiers.

[Chieftain]

This soldier is a true American hero! His actions speaks VOLUMES about his character and brotherhood of fighting men.

This Marine renders the highest regards and utmost respect to PFC Christopher Fernandez!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Good news, bump!

  

 

1st Cavalry Division’s first Silver Star Medal for valor in combat during this deployment:

                                                                  

 Private 1st Class Christopher Fernandez

 

 ~*~

 

“He represents the best of us.." - Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli

              

 

SILVER STAR MEDAL GOES TO 1ST CAVALRY DIVISION SOLDIER

[blackie]

Big Bump for a Hero!

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[BushisTheMan]

Wow, this soldier did a very good thing! A real hero.

Regarding the first story, I wrote and thanked the writer but did mention that the finger drumming, and how war had changed him was a little melodramatic and over the top.

This story is much better -- no anti-war melodrama by the writer.