Lebell

Read especially towards the end.

All I can say is, wow!

http://www.wroctv.com/news/story.asp?id=13410&r=l
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Local Marine Awarded Navy Cross


5/4/2004 11:00 PM
(Rachel Barnhart, WROC-TV8)

A 1991 Churville-Chili High School graduate has been awarded the Navy Cross for his service in Iraq. 1st Lt. Brian Chontosh of the First Marine Expeditionary Force based in Camp Pendleton, California is credited with saving his platoon during a fierce firefight last year.

Lt. Chontosh will receive the award from the Secretary of the Navy Thursday at a ceremony in California.

The Navy Cross is awarded to members of the Marines and Navy who exhibit extraordinary heroism during combat. It is second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor. According to the Navy's historical website, only two Navy Crosses were given out in the Persian Gulf War. Several have been given out so far during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Lt. Chontosh received a citation letter describing his "complete disregard for his safety" and "unlimited courage," in a battle in which he killed more than 20 enemy soldiers in a "ferocious" and "audacious" attack.

His parents, Rick and Robin Chontosh of Churchville, flew to San Diego Tuesday to attend the ceremony.

"We're very excited and very proud, obviously very proud of all the young men and women over there and everybody over there," Rick Chontosh said.

"I'm overwhelmed," Robin Chontosh said.

Both parents say their son has not told them what he did to deserve the Navy Cross. They say he does not like to talk about his time in Iraq. "He's humble," his mother added.

Lt. Chontosh, 30, is married and expecting his first child. He tells his parents he may have to return to Iraq.

The citation letter reads like a war novel. It described what happened on March 25, 2003, five days into the war, as U.S. troops were closing in on Baghdad.

While traveling north on Highway 1, his platoon came under an ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and automatic weapons fire. Lt. Chontosh realized he was caught in a "kill zone."

Here are excerpts from the letter:

"He had his driver move the vehicle through a breach along his flank, where he was immediately taken under fire from an entrenched machine gun. Without hesitation, 1st Lt. Chontosh ordered the driver to advance directly at the enemy position, enabling his .50 caliber machine gunner to silence the enemy.

"He then directed his driver into the enemy trench, where he exited his vehicle and began to clear the trench with an M1A2 service rifle and a 9 millimeter pistol. His ammunition depleted, 1st Lt. Chontosh, with complete disregard for his safety, twice picked up discarded enemy rifles and continued his ferocious attack.

"When a Marine following him found an enemy rocket propelled grenade launcher, 1st Lt. Chontosh used it to destroy yet another group of enemy soldiers. When his audacious attack ended, he had cleared over 200 meters of the enemy trench, killing more than 20 enemy soldiers and wounding several others.

"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."

__________________
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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Cynthetiq

holy cow... it sounds like he Rambo'd them all.

well deserved!!!

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WarWagon

Bad-fuckin-ass.

moonstrucksoul

amazing story,
.

while i am glad that his courage worked out for our soldiers, wonder how his superiors would have reacted if the driver or the gunner had gotten killed. there seems to be a thin line, and one false move can get others killed.

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ironman

That's some story to make his children proud and to be told to his grandchildren.
Way to go!

__________________
If I agreed with you we´d both be wrong

ChrisJericho

owned.

__________________
"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows us that faith proves nothing." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Drider_it

well that is the way a battle goes.. your on a strict line.. either your a hero or a loser.. the winners write history heh..

but damn.. a swash of hot lead in trench.. both ways thats a small kill zone..

Semper Fi damn

__________________
It means only one thing, and everything: Cut. Once committed to fight, Cut. Everything else is secondary. Cut. That is your duty, your purpose, your hunger. There is no rule more important, no commitment that overrides that one. Cut. The lines are a portrayal of the dance. Cut from the void, not from bewilderment. Cut the enemy as quickly and directly as possible. Cut with certainty. Cut decisively, resoultely. Cut into his strength. Flow through the gaps in his guard. Cut him. Cut him down utterly. Don't allow him a breath. Crush him. Cut him without mercy to the depth of his spirit. It is the balance to life: death. It is the dance with death. It is the law a war wizard lives by, or he dies.

sailor

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. Hardcore pwnage.

__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato

Ace_O_Spades

wow... makes me realize some of what we see in movies isnt actually TOTAL fiction

__________________
Feh.

JStrider

dang... that had to take guts

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-=JStrider=-

~Clatto Verata Nicto

clavus

So what. I do that stuff all the time in video games...oh, wait. That was REAL?!

He's the Marine's version of Audie Murphy. Strong work! Somebody buy that man a drink!


er...for those of you who do not know who Audie Murphy was, and for those of you who feel better thinking about wars that were more simple to understand -

http://www.grunts.net/legends/audiemurphy.html

__________________
Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.

Fire

that was incredible- sounds like he siezed the inititave- and realized that once he had it he could not let it go unless he wanted to end up dead.... so he went balls to the wall, and became a hero.

__________________
Thought the harder, Heart the bolder,
Mood the more as our might lessens

Pragma

Damn, it's acts like that which make me want to be a Marine - which should happen within the next year or two. That's a hell of a charge.

__________________
Eat antimatter, Posleen-boy!

Asuka{eve}

PWND