Posted on 12/31/2006 6:29:49 AM PST by Flavius
Marine Sgt. Jeremiah Workman struggles at times with the memories behind the dark-blue and white ribbon he now wears on the chest of his uniform.
Marine Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, of Richwood, receives the Navy Cross Medal from Brig. Gen. Richard T. Tryon
The ribbon exemplifies honor and bravery, but it also reminds the 23-year-old of three fallen friends who didn’t make it home from Iraq.
Workman, a native of Richwood, Ohio, was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during a battle in Fallujah in 2004. The medal, bestowed on 14 Marines since 2001, is second in prestige only to the Medal of Honor.
Workman, who returned from Iraq in 2005 and is now stationed at the Quantico Marine base in Virginia, downplays life as a military celebrity.
"I’ve never met a Marine that goes to war for a medal," Workman said. "I got awarded a Navy Cross, in my mind, for doing my job and for doing what any other Marine would do."
Workman was awarded the Navy Cross and a Purple Heart for his efforts while serving as a squad leader of the Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company, 3 rd Battalion, 5 th Marine Regiment based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
He was fighting as part of a mission code-named Operation Phantom Fury.
On Dec. 23, 2004, as Marines pulled wreckage from the streets of Fallujah and removed weapons left behind from a battle, the unit encountered insurgents hiding inside a twostory home, Workman said.
There were Marines trapped inside. Workman led the attack to rescue the Marines, rallying others to provide cover fire. He managed to pull some of the trapped Marines outside to safety.
During the three-hour attack, small-arms fire peppered the area around him. Grenades exploded near Workman, injuring him. Shrapnel dug into his arms and legs.
He thought he would die.
"I’ve never had that feeling of helplessness, but it motivated us to keep going," Workman said. "It was pretty ugly in there. These guys were prepared that day to battle to the death."
In the end, 40 Iraqi insurgents and three U.S. Marines were dead.
Twenty of those insurgents died under Workman’s fire.
"There’s a lot of extra baggage that comes along with this," Workman said of his medal. "Not sleeping at night. Every time you look at the medal, you see three dead Marines."
He wears the ribbon with pride — for them.
"I don’t like taking the credit," Workman said. "Somebody was there and witnessed me doing it. There’s a lot of other Marines that do things like this and don’t get recognized because nobody saw it."
This month, the U.S. Department of Defense highlighted Workman as a hero in the war on terrorism as part of a national push to publicize the military’s ongoing work in the Middle East.
"People were always asking, ‘Why don’t we hear about the heroes in the war?’ " said Matt Latimer, a Pentagon spokesman.
"It’s just trying to let people who are interested know about some of the heroic things that our men and women in uniform are doing every day."
The medal might one day end up on display inside the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, where Workman now works. He is married and his wife is expecting a baby in February.
But for now, his mother, Lisa Johnston, of Marion, keeps it safely tucked away on her bedroom nightstand next to the family Bible. Workman wears the ribbon on his uniform as a symbol of the medal he earned.
"When he told me that he was getting it, I said, ‘I want it, Jeremiah.’ And he said, ‘Aw, Mom, what do you want that for?’ I said, ‘The same reason any mother would want it.’ And nobody will ever get it until I’m gone," Johnston said.
The pride she feels for her son is hard to describe, she said, her voice quavering with emotion.
Workman joined the Marines in 2000, two days after his 17 th birthday, to fight for his country. Sept. 11 th happened a year later, while he was in boot camp.
"I always knew he was going to do something great in his life, but I never knew what it was," Johnston said.
dwilson@dispatch.com
'atta boy.
Thank you, Marine Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, for your heroism and for your service. May God heal all your wounds, and bless you.
Ping
A True Marine is revered on this thread.
That is okay Sgt.
Without people like you and your fellow Marines this Country wouldn't be worth the paper it is written on. As far as I am concerned you accepted it for all of them.
Job well done and God bless you.
Bookmarking for dh.
"There’s a lot of extra baggage that comes along with this," Workman said of his medal. "Not sleeping at night. Every time you look at the medal, you see three dead Marines."
He wears the ribbon with pride — for them. <<
A fine young man, America is lucky he is a Marine.
There are more Marines who fought, and some died, in the battle for Fallajuah, that have yet to be recognized for their bravery and heroism. But as Chester Nimitz once said "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."
Now we know, Mrs. Johnston, now we know.
Well done Marine Sgt. Jeremiah Workman.
Thank you for your valiant service to our country.
This Man enlisted two days after he turned 17! The Marines build men...but they start with some pretty amazing "stuff."
Workman, exemplifying the old adage "no man left behind," repeatedly exposed himself to a hail of enemy fire to retrieve isolated Marines trapped inside an insurgent-infested building.
Ignoring heavy enemy fire and a storm of grenades raining down on his position, Workman fearlessly laid down enough cover fire to allow the trapped Marines to escape.
After seeing the first group of wounded Marines safely to a neighboring yard, Workman rallied additional Marines to his side and provided more cover fire for an attack into the building to rescue other Marines still trapped. He continued to fire even after receiving numerous shrapnel wounds to his arms and legs after a grenade exploded in front of him, stated his citation.
Workman's efforts did not stop after the second rescue attack. Ignoring his wounds, Workman once again united his team for a final assault strike into the building to retrieve remaining Marines and to clear the building of insurgents.
"Basically, we got ambushed," said Workman. "There were insurgents on the second floor in a bedroom. We fought our way up the stairs. There were grenades going off around us [and] small arms fire everywhere."
During the course of the fight, Workman was responsible for the elimination of more than 20 insurgents.
Yup...an amazing man.
:-)
Handsome, too!
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