Soldier's Medal Awarded For Rescuing Girl

US Army Online ^ | March 4, 2002 | Karen Bradshaw

[Mustard]

Soldier's Medal awarded for rescuing girl

by Karen Bradshaw

FORT GILLEM, Ga. (Army News Service, March 4, 2002) -- The Soldier's Medal was awarded to a field artillery soldier at Fort Stewart, Ga., last month for rushing into his neighbor's burning house and rescuing their young girl.

Sgt. 1st Class Gary Ballew was only days away from leaving his assignment at Fort Bragg, N.C., when the fire occurred last year. His household goods had been picked up and the Ballew family was "camping" out until their departure. His new assignment was to be the 2nd Battalion, 306th Regiment, 87th Division (Training Support), a First U.S. Army unit that trains Army National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers.

That night Ballew was working on his college course when he heard screams outside.

"I opened my door and saw an orange glow coming from my neighbor's house across the street and I raced over," Ballew said. "The woman was crying that her little girl was trapped inside the house."

In the meantime, Ballew's wife, Christina, who was in the bedroom when she heard the front door slam, looked out and saw her husband going into the burning house. She grabbed the phone and dialed 911.

"At that moment, I was very afraid for my husband," she said.

Ballew quickly dropped to all fours and tried to low-crawl into the house through the front door, but the heat and fire pushed him back. He could hear the child crying and knew he had to get in to save her.

"I just reacted, there was no time to think. I kept focusing on the child's voice and entered the garage following her moans," he said.

Feeling around in the darkness and smoke he found the little girl, grabbed her up and carried her to the lawn. She was conscious, but Ballew knew she was seriously injured. He began to administer first aid until the paramedics arrived. Little 5-year-old Kenya had been burned over 80 percent of her body.

"It all happened in a matter of two or three minutes and I know my father's instinct kicked in," Ballew later explained. "I would have wanted someone to do the same for my daughters."

Christina, his wife said, "Our two girls were very anxious after the excitement and drama of the fire and commotion of the fire trucks. Later we all sat on the bed, hugging each other and Gary and I told them how much we loved them. We discussed the lessons we had learned about fire. We have always made it a point to have family fire drills in each new home we live in."

"Finally we settled down and went to bed," Christina said, "but were awakened by a knock on the door. It was Fire Chief John House who stopped by to tell us that Gary had saved the little girl's life. That was a special moment we will never forget."

(Editor's note: Karen Bradshaw is a member of the First U.S. Army public affairs office.)

[Mustard]

Heroism at home.

[scholar]

In the midst of all the evil we read about everyday this is a wonderful story.

I wonder if there is follow-up re the little girl. I know there are more sophisticated burn treatments these days, but 80% of the body is horribly severe.

[Britton J Wingfield]

It doesn't say what degree the burns are, either. Hopefully they are just large, not severe.

[riley1992]

Wonderful story. I hope that little girl recovers. Thanks for posting this.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Depends on the degree of the burns. 80% is still horribly burned and will require years of treatment and therapy.

[scholar]

The degree of burn is definitely a factor in her recovery. If they were only 1st deg. she would undoubtedly be in pain but her recovery would certainly be would be more assured.

[scholar]

Once had a nurse tell about a burn patient she had. The girl had 2nd deg burns over 50% of her body. Apparently the loss of lymph fluid is a major problem and has to be closely monitored. The only place they could find veins for blood tests was in her toes! The poor thing cried every time she saw someone coming with a needle.

[scholar]

Should add that that was a long time ago. Hopefully, better procedures have been developed since then.

[Prodigal Son]

Some say the Soldier's Medal is the hardest of all medals to get- even more difficult than the Medal of Honor. Having neither, I wouldn't know, but running into a burning building seems to be the basic criterion for the Soldier's Medal.

[PleaseNoMore]

My daughter sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns to 17% of her body. I can only imagine the extent of the coverage on this little girl's body. The wonderful thing is that with the advancement of treatment healing processes are often sped up ( of course this does depend on the severity of the burn injury ). Look up Transcyte. It was used on my daughter and is WONDERFUL! What was to be a month in the UNC Burn Unit turned out to be only 6 or so days!

Prayers for this little girl and lots of gratitude to this soldier!

[Mustard]

Click Here For Soldier's Medal Info

[Lauratealeaf]

My cousin sustained third degree burns over ninety percent of her body when she was five. I will never forget the scene in the hospital. They didn't expect her to live so let us all in. I was only five years old too but the glimpse that I had of her injuries has remained vivid in my memory. She lived because my Uncle who was a Veteran of World War ll had many military friends and they all turned out to give blood. My cuz was in the hospital for two years but lived and grew up to marry and have two children. That was at least forty years ago and her medical care was excellent.

[scholar]

Prayers for this little girl and lots of gratitude to this soldier!

AMEN! So glad your daughter recovered!

[scholar]

My cuz was in the hospital for two years but lived and grew up to marry

Another good news, heartwarming story--maybe we're on a roll here today.

[Lauratealeaf]

Thanks scholar. I watched the ceremony at Ramstein Air Base today and that was so sad. Needed to read something at least a little bit uplifting. Then, it made me think of my cousin and her experience. It really had an impact on our whole family. I guess I was part of my cousin's recovery in a way. I went to see her in the hospital every Saturday and we played dolls. (after she started to recover a little.) Her brother and sisters came to live with us so that her parents could devote all of their time to her recovery. They stayed for two years so naturally we all became even closer than we were to begin with. Another thing that I remembered was that the actor that played Zorro on the old television series went to visit my cousin when she was in the hospital. My family always had a lot of respect for him because of that.

[JAWs]

The most famous Soldier's Medal incident was when WO1 Hugh Thompson rescued civilians at My Lai.
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