Posted on 11/05/2004 9:43:48 AM PST by KurtAZ
Rochester, N.Y. Marine, receives Navy Cross Submitted by: MCB Camp Pendleton Story Identification #: 200456162723 Story by Cpl. Jeremy Vought
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (May 6, 2004) -- Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh received the Navy Cross Medal from the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Gen. Michael W. Hagee, during an awards ceremony Thursday at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
Three other Marines received medals for valor at the same ceremony.
Chontosh, 29, from Rochester, N.Y. , received the naval service's second highest award for extraordinary heroism while serving as Combined Anti-Armor Platoon Commander, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom March 25, 2003. The Medal of Honor is the highest military award.
While leading his platoon north on Highway 1 toward Ad Diwaniyah, Chontosh's platoon moved into a coordinated ambush of mortars, rocket propelled grenades and automatic weapons fire. With coalitions tanks blocking the road ahead, he realized his platoon was caught in a kill zone.
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, Chontosh ordered the driver to advanced 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 M16A2 service rifle and 9 millimeter pistol. His ammunition depleted, 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, 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.
"They are the reflection of the Marine Corps type who's service to the Marine Corps and country is held above their own safety and lives," said Gen. Hagee, commenting on the four Marines who received medals during the ceremony. "I'm proud to be here awarding the second highest and third highest awards for bravery to these great Marines."
"These four Marines are a reflection of every Marine and sailor in this great battalion," said Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sgt. Maj. John L. Estrada.
"I was just doing my job, I did the same thing every other Marine would have done, it was just a passion and love for my Marines, the experience put a lot into perspective," said Chontosh.
In effect since April 1917, and established by an Act of Congress on Feb. 4, 1919, the Navy Cross may be awarded to any person who, while serving with the Navy or Marine Corps, distinguishes himself/herself in action by extraordinary heroism not justifying an award of the Medal of Honor.
The action must take place under one of three circumstances: while engaged in action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or, while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict in which the United States is not a belligerent party. To earn a Navy Cross the act to be commended must be performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk and must be performed in such a manner as to render the individual highly conspicuous among others of equal grade, rate, experience, or position of responsibility.
More than 6,000 Navy Crosses have been awarded since World War I.
Too old for WWII, he went with the War Production Board in Atlanta, in charge of troubleshooting to the 7 states to solve production plant problems.
I went from Melbourne to the Marine Corps - and during the Korean War, he went with the beginning of Harris International (Port Malabar/Palm Bay), then Radiation, Inc. at the Melbourne Airport. (a Navy flying training base in WWII)
He headed research teams, and developed 'The Fish' (Navy radar sonar device) and the black boxes used on aircraft.
I later returned to Florida (had Navy and Air Force years in several states until 1969) - retail management years in Melbourne and Ft. Pierce and in NC; from there to Ohio and down to Panama City; back to NC and SC - had 19 years in the medical field.
You cannot even begin to imagine the Florida of my childhood! In Coral Gables before WWII, we used to go to Miami Beach for 'Sunday Drives in the Country' - only about a dozen developed blocks on the beach side (swam right there over the causeway)(more homes on the Bay side) and it was sand dunes and palmettos beyond, and north of Miami as well, with dairy farms and cattle and orange groves.
Getting his hair cut in a high rise building in downtown Miami, Daddy saw a German submarine surface in Biscayne Bay - not a rarity! They often tried to beach saboteurs up and down the coast. We lived with air raid blackout drills and collecting scrap metal and paper for the war effort - had ration books for essential goods (coffee, butter, sugar, shoes - 4 pairs per YEAR per person, hard with kids - etc.)
And everyone did it cheerfully and the nation WAS ONE IN ACCORD, fighting all over the globe.
Even at school, we lined up on Fridays to purchase war stamps for 10 cents to paste in our War Bond Books. I was 7 1/2 when Pearl Harbor happened, and encourage all parents to be open and frank about war/8/11 situations. I became a pro at digging foxholes in the vacant lots in Coral Gables along with the little boys..:))
Although I excelled in school with all kinds of awards (DAR History;Bausch-Lomb Science) and medals and represented Florida in the National Spelling Bee in 1947 when I was 13), I decided to forego the college from which my mother had graduated, then all women (ugh)...went into the Corps to have time to decide what I wanted to do...was 18 in May; went straight from graduation to PI in June - was a Right Guide in Boot Camp - in August down the street to the classroom as an instructor, based on my school achievements, recommendations and observation in training.
And then there was my mother's side going back to the 1600's in South Carolina - Revolutionary War and 'The War of Aggression' types ...:))
Yes - my blood does flow in ribbons of red, white and blue...
Haste makes waste - 8/11 is of course 9/11!!
This Airman wishs you Marines a Happy Birthday and God Bless you all. May our Brothers that will go into Fallujah have all their fire on target and all of them come back. God Bless them all. They are the Best of the best!
Hubby and I went to a Marine Corps ball last night in D.C. We had a great time. The pictures and reports we got from the front lines where hart warming. Happy Birthday Marines!
"You earned the title 'Marine' upon graduation from recruit training. It wasn't willed to you; it isn't a gift; it isn't a government subsidy. Few can claim the title; no one may ever take it away. It is yours forever." - Master Sergeant Thomas Bartlett, USMC
"The Marine Corps has just been called by the New York Times, 'The elite of this country.' I think the Times is wrong. I think it is the elite of the world." - Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, U.S. Navy
"I am convinced that there is no smarter, handier, or more adaptable body of troops in the world." - Prime Minister of Great Britain Sir Winston Churchill
"The Marines fought almost solely on esprit de corps. It was inconceivable to most Marines that they should let another Marine down, or that they could be responsible for dimming the bright reputation of their Corps." - war correspondent Robert Sherrod at Tarawa
"I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world." - General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Army
"The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight." - Major General Frank Lowe, U.S. Army
"I can never see a United States Marine without experiencing a feeling of reverence." - General Lewis Johnson, U.S. Army
"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle." - General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
"The 1st Marine Division is the most efficient and courageous combat unit I have ever seen or heard of." - Major General Frank E. Lowe, U.S. Army
"The more Marines I have around, the better I like it." - General Mark Clark, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
"You cannot exaggerate about the Marines. They are convinced, to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth - and the amusing thing about it is that they really are." - Father Kevin Keaney, USNR, Chaplain, 1st Marine Division
"Goddamn it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!" - Captain Henry P. "Jim" Crowe, USMC, Guadacanal, 1943
"I have only two survivors out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." - First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, USMC, Soissons, 1918; later Commandant, USMC
"Come on, you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?" - Sergeant Major Dan Daly, USMC, Belleau Wood
"Retreat, Hell! We just got here." - Captain Lloyd Williams, USMC, to the French at Battle of Belleau Wood
"Don't forget that you're the First Marines! Not all the Communists in Hell can overrun you!" - Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, USMC, with his forces outnumbered twenty to one and under human wave assaults by hordes of Chinese at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea
"Casualties many; percentage of dead not known; combat efficiency: we are winning." - Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC, in the darkest hour at Tarawa, 1943
"They're on our right, they're on our left, they're in front of us, they're behind us; they can't get away from us this time." - Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, USMC, at the Chosin Reservoir
"Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary." - General A.M. Gray, Commandant, USMC
"For the Marine Corps there is no peace." - Sergeant Edwin N. Demby, USMC; later Secretary of the Navy
"When an Army captain asked him for the direction of the line of retreat, Colonel Puller called his Marine artillerymen, gave them the Army position, and ordered, 'If they start to pull back from that line, even one foot, I want you to open fire on them.' Turning to the captain, he replied 'Does that answer your question? We're here to fight, not run.'" - account of Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, USMC, in Korea
"Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army instead." - orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War
"Remember, whatever you write, this was no retreat. All that happened was that we found more Chinese behind us than in front of us, so we about-faced and attacked." - Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, USMC, speaking to reporters after the battle of the Chosin Reservoir, Korean War
"Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines!" - Captured North Korean officer
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference, and our Marines don't have that problem." - President Ronald Reagan
"I can't say enough about the two Marine divisions. If I use words like 'brilliant,' it would really be an under description of the absolutely superb job that they did." - General Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S. Army, Commander, U.S. Central Command
"It's a funny thing, but, as years go by, I think you appreciate more and more what a great thing it is to be a United States Marine...I am a U.S. Marine and I'll be one till I die." - Ted Williams, Baseball Hall of Famer
Outstanding quotes.
Oh...and an OFFICIAL Happy Birthday Marines!
The Commandant of the Marine Corps'
2004 Birthday Message
Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, the Second Continental Congress established a Corps of Marines to fight for a democratic people's independence. Since then countless Marines have raised their hand and sworn to defend our Nation's freedoms and preserve its liberties. This year's anniversary again finds Marines engaged throughout the globe for the same noble purposes. The bravery, heroism and selflessness of all Marines—wherever they are serving—have added significantly to our rich legacy and measured up to the high standards that have come to epitomize all who wear the eagle, globe and anchor.
The current battlefields of the global war on terror are linked to the storied campaigns of our past by an unbroken tradition of proud and loyal service. At New Providence, Chapultepec, Belleau Wood, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, the Chosin Reservoir, Con Thien, Kuwait and now in places like Fallujah, Marines have consistently demonstrated a dedication to duty, a commitment to warfighting excellence, and a devotion to each other that has instilled a fierce determination to overcome seemingly impossible challenges. Our warrior ethos is and will continue to be the Corps' hallmark.
The fortitude and sacrifices of Marines and their families have been vital in protecting our Nation from those who would do us harm. Whether preparing and sustaining our agile force or engaged in battle, the esprit de corps, tireless energy, calm courage and inspired leadership of Marines continue to make a monumental difference in this world. Your unselfish dedication and significant accomplishments—demonstrated repeatedly over this past year in numerous places such as the Anbar province of Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, Haiti and in the crucial job here at home supporting our deployed forces—are deeply respected and valued by your fellow Americans.
Marines, as we celebrate with friends and families the founding of our beloved Corps, you should take pride in our long history of distinguished service to this great Nation and its citizens. I ask you to remember especially the sacrifices of our fallen and wounded comrades. Finally, rededicate yourselves to taking care of one another and ensuring we remain the finest warfighting organization in the world.
Happy Birthday, Marines. Semper Fidelis, and Keep Attacking!
M. W. Hagee
General, U.S. Marine Corps
We honor all that serve in the USMC.
I have a USMC brass ashtray [made in 1953 for its 178th Birthday] that my Father brought back from his tour of duty in Korea at that time. I would love to post a picture of it, but can't figure out how to do it. Oh well.
Semper Fi.
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