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Marine Receives Navy Cross for Heroism in Iraq
http://www.wtv-zone.com/Mary/THISWILLMAKEYOUPROUD.HTML ^ | June 2005 | Bob Lonsberry

Posted on 11/14/2005 1:47:52 PM PST by thefactor

Meet Brian Chontosh.

Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.

And a genuine hero.

The secretary of the Navy said so yesterday.

At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

That's a big deal.

But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.

The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.

Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.

We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.

But we don't hear about the heroes.

The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.

The ones we completely ignore.

Like Brian Chontosh.

It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.

When all hell broke loose.

Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.

Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.

And he ran down the trench.

With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.

And he killed them all.

He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.

At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.

When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.

But that's probably not how he would tell it.

He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

That's what the citation says.

And that's what nobody will hear.

That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress ? to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.

But I guess it doesn't matter.

We're going to turn out all right.

As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: award; captain; chontosh; cross; hero; iraq; marine; medal; navy; navycross; oif
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if this has been posted already, i apologize. if it has not been posted, shame on us.

this account has been confirmed through snopes:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/chontosh.asp

1 posted on 11/14/2005 1:47:55 PM PST by thefactor
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To: thefactor
Been posted many times, but I never get tired of reading it. Thanks...

Semper Fi

NYleatherneck
2 posted on 11/14/2005 1:50:14 PM PST by NYleatherneck
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To: thefactor
if this has been posted already

It needs to be again.

3 posted on 11/14/2005 1:50:46 PM PST by Tijeras_Slim (Now that taglines are cool, I refuse to have one.)
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To: Tijeras_Slim

YES!!!!! Her name is gone from thread topics!!!!


4 posted on 11/14/2005 1:51:28 PM PST by massgopguy (massgopguy)
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To: thefactor

New GI Joe model.


5 posted on 11/14/2005 1:52:58 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: NYleatherneck

if i have to read how great of an american george carlin is 50 times, then maybe we should all read this again. i did do a search and found nothing. i must have missed it previous times. thanks!


6 posted on 11/14/2005 1:54:49 PM PST by thefactor
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To: thefactor
Yea know. A few days back in an article on General George S. Patton, the issue was raised about Marine General Chesty Puller being perhaps a bit to agressive.

Now if this proud Marine Lt was not so aggressive, would not we had lost more good Marines? Case closed. I smartly stand at attention and salute this Marine and his men for their acts of bravery and abiding by the Marine code of combat.

7 posted on 11/14/2005 1:55:18 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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To: thefactor

ping


8 posted on 11/14/2005 1:56:11 PM PST by ocr1
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To: Marine_Uncle

CNNs new headline "REPORT AND DERIDE"


9 posted on 11/14/2005 1:57:36 PM PST by princess leah
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To: thefactor

Photos

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/ae82f18a8e1b160b852568ba007e7e5e/9b597d6426aca09d85256e8c00711480/%24FILE/Chontosh.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/image1.nsf/lookup/20045616358%3Fopendocument&h=2100&w=1396&sz=1902&tbnid=WdGsCYkY4C4J:&tbnh=150&tbnw=99&hl=en&start=2&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2BChontosh%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26newwindow%3D1%26sa%3DG


10 posted on 11/14/2005 1:57:39 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT (Sane, and have the papers to prove it!)
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To: thefactor

Brian Chontosh learned well that Marines under attack live and win by directing a storm of fire at those firing at them. Over match the opposition fire power and the bad guys flinch and bail.


11 posted on 11/14/2005 1:57:51 PM PST by RicocheT
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To: thefactor

been posted before; proud bump for our military, just the same.


12 posted on 11/14/2005 2:01:09 PM PST by nicmarlo
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To: princess leah
"CNNs new headline "REPORT AND DERIDE"

Truly the old KGB boys and gals must look on in total envy as they watch American L/MSM totally outdo Pravda. At least in the Soviet Bloc, many just went along with the lies because they wanted to stay alive. In America and EU, well it is a different story taint it.

13 posted on 11/14/2005 2:03:23 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned)
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To: thefactor

14 posted on 11/14/2005 2:25:04 PM PST by new yorker 77 (FAKE POLLS DO NOT TRANSLATE INTO REAL VOTERS!)
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To: thefactor

I am awed.


15 posted on 11/14/2005 2:29:32 PM PST by manic4organic (We won. Get over it.)
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To: manic4organic

a modern day sgt. york story. a regular guy who was never looking to be a hero. but when confronted with a situation, stepped up and did what he was trained to do. actually, he went above and beyond. i bet a lot of kids of the men under his command will be named after this guy.


16 posted on 11/14/2005 2:40:09 PM PST by thefactor
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To: thefactor

Awsome, simply awsome.


17 posted on 11/14/2005 2:54:42 PM PST by Enterprise (The modern Democrat Party - a toxic stew of mental illness, cultism, and organized crime.)
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To: thefactor
Damn! Damn! and more damn!! What a fine example of a United States Marine!!!
18 posted on 11/14/2005 3:05:07 PM PST by misharu (How to fight the ACLU: G.O.D.gear: www.cafepress.com/usrepublicgear)
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To: thefactor

This gets a Navy Cross? So what on earth do you have to do to win the Medal of Honor??!?


19 posted on 11/14/2005 3:06:04 PM PST by Brit_Guy
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To: Marine_Uncle
I read it and had images of Sgt. York. What York TOO agressive?
20 posted on 11/14/2005 3:13:52 PM PST by misharu (How to fight the ACLU: G.O.D.gear: www.cafepress.com/usrepublicgear)
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