Posted on 09/15/2009 7:11:28 AM PDT by Islander7
PASS CHRISTIAN — Gail Nicholson chokes back tears talking about how close to death her stepson came while serving in Iraq.
“I can’t think about it without even crying,” she said. “The specifics are a little bit more than I can accept without getting upset.”
Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Nicholson, a 1992 graduate of Pass Christian High, received the Bronze Star on Saturday in Jackson for saving as many as 20 troops on Feb. 16, 2005.
On that day in Iraq, the Mississippi National Guardsman volunteered to walk in front of patrol units and search for explosive devices. He and two others in the 155th Brigade Combat Team swept the area about 100 yards ahead of the four Humvees.
As Nicholson guided the vehicles through a maze of craters in the road, an insurgent set off an improvised explosive device that blew an 8-foot by 5-foot hole into the ground.
“They are confident he saved many lives, as many as 20 men for his actions,” said his father, Chet Nicholson of Pass Christian.
The younger Nicholson kept his wife and parents in the dark of the dangers he faced in Iraq.
It was only after he was safely home that they learned some of the details; however, this particular incident wasn’t mentioned until Maj. Bryan Olier nominated Nicholson for the Bronze Star and it became public.
“His squad was hit with 14 IEDs in a 12-month period,” Chet Nicholson said. “Jesse had seven Humvees knocked out from under him with IED explosions.”
The Nicholsons and other family “from far and wide” made the trip to the Mississippi National Guard headquarters in Jackson to witness the ceremony, Gail Nicholson said.
Nicholson, 36, was joined by his wife, Jennifer, and children Wyatt, 2; Kinsey, 4; and Kylie, 6, as Lt. Col. Greg Michel pinned him with the medal.
The ceremony moved Gail Nicholson to tears. “There are so many parents standing there to get a folded flag instead of a Bronze Star,” Gail Nicholson said.
“My hat is off to him. I told him they didn’t need to give him a medal to know that he is exceptional,” Chet Nicholson said.
“He is the man that I always hope to be and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Jesse Nicholson remains humble about the award, and would rather not be in the limelight Olier’s nomination created.
“He thought what I did was something special,” Nicholson said. “I don’t think of it that way. We had a mission before us and whatever we had to do to make it to the next day, we did.
“People are out there doing brave and humble things every single day, 24 hours a day,” he said. “There are still very brave and strong Americans over there fighting for us.”
The Pass Christian native joined the U.S. Army full-time in 1992 after graduating from high school. Three years later, he enrolled at the University of Southern Mississippi and switched to the National Guard. He graduated from USM in 2001, the same year he was deployed to Bosnia. In 2002, he became a full-time National Guard staffer.
He was deployed to Iraq in December 2004 while a resident of Long Beach and stayed a year.
Nicholson, who lives in Brandon, is on the guard’s full-time staff, where he helps maintain training areas at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg and Camp McCain in Grenada.
He has received other designations and awards during his military service, but the Bronze Star ranks highest.
Good Ole Boy Hero...ping!
I wonder if my unit commander feels like an ass now for awarding himself the silver star during Desert Storm (for doing not a whole lot; our unit was at a Main encampment, not a forward, and went into Iraq a total of once, and then not until after combat operations were over). Medal awards when we got back to our barracks correlated suspiciously with rank and time in the unit, with E-7s and one E-6 getting Bronze stars, the rest of the E-6s getting ArComs, most of the E-5s got AAMs, and the unit pariahs got a certificate of commendation or nothing.
Every time I read something like this I compare it to John Kerry getting the Silver Star for shooting a kid in the back.
VII Corps (and then V Corps) reviewed A LOT of the ODS medals and rejected most of the aggregious ones.
I’m surprised a Silver Star, which is approved at Corps level (IIRC) would have made it past the MGs.
A commander can’t award it to himself and any LTC recommending it better have his shit together.
We were directly attached to HQ VII Corps, and our unit was very close to Franks, and had a lot of contact with him, so IIRC we had at least one LTC or higher who basically walked it through. Our CMDR was a CW2 who was looking at being busted back to E-6 if he didn’t make promotion, and the star was the only way he was going to get that, because he couldn’t really do his job.
WooHoo! H'burg is my hometown, and my nephew Matt is an Instructor for tank and heavy eqpt. maintenance at Shelby!
Wow.
How could a dirtbag like that get support from his LTC or HQ company commander?
Was he in the HHC or staff?
He was the commander of the band. I don’t really know what he did to convince the higher-ups that he deserved it, but somehow the whole package went through, and as I noted, the end distribution correlated awfully strongly with rank and popularity in the unit.
The Silver Star is an award for valor.
Unless this guy was involved in direct combat, I just don’t see how he could get it. He doesn’t appear to merit even the minimum established requirements.
I’ve seen a boatload of Bronze Stars, without the “V” (valor) device, for people who did their job exceptionally well, even without direct action against the enemy. Even some who got it as a favor by senior officers.
The only possible angle I can see is that the band is considered a high-value target in an active theater. We did make one trip into Iraq after major combat operations were over, but it may still have been an active zone, and therefore technically by going, he somehow “led” in a dangerous situation and therefore technically qualified for the silver star. Other than that, it may just have been a favor.
I’ve seen submissions for the Silver Star and you wouldn’t believe the baseline requirements. VALOR is a required component, not just performance of a specific role.
Insanity.
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