Steve Liewer / S&S
Nine soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment received Purple Hearts Tuesday at Forward Operating Base MacKenzie, Iraq, for injuries received this year during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Posted on 11/11/2004 6:01:31 AM PST by Former Military Chick
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MACKENZIE, Iraq — Staff Sgt. Paul Sponsel and Sgt. Charles Fray stood stiff and unsmiling as the general shook their hands and congratulated them for their courage.
The two men, from Troop A of the 1st Battalion, 4th Cavalry Regiment, had just received the Army Commendation Medal with Valor for their unwavering efforts under fire to save their platoon leader, 1st Lt. Andrew Houghton, after an ambush July 10.
Sponsel, 25, and Fray, 22, were among three dozen men from the 1/4 Cavalry whom Maj. Gen. John Batiste, the 1st Infantry Division commander, pinned with combat awards during a ceremony Tuesday at FOB MacKenzie, the unit’s headquarters northeast of Samarra.
Two OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter pilots from Troop E — Chief Warrant Officer 3 Almous Irby, 36, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Bushmaker, 32 — received Air Medals with Valor. Other soldiers received Purple Hearts, Combat Infantryman Badges, and Combat Medical Badges.
For Sponsel and Fray, the ceremony brought honor but no joy. Houghton, 25, succumbed to his injuries at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., a month after the attack, never regaining consciousness.
The soldiers took little comfort in knowing they saved Houghton long enough to die surrounded by family and friends instead of on a desolate Iraqi road.
The new medal carries only bad memories.
“It doesn’t change anything,” Sponsel said, after he and others described the actions that earned the award. “I could care less if I ever talk about it again.”
Houghton led two Bradley fighting vehicles from Troop A’s 3rd Platoon out of the gates at FOB MacKenzie about 1 a.m. July 10. Their mission: to drop off a six-man team for a mission in the town of Duluiyah, about eight miles away. It was Houghton’s first night out after returning from rest-and-recuperation leave with his family in Texas.
About an hour later, the Bradleys let the team out, then turned at an intersection back toward their base. Sponsel stood in the turret of the lead vehicle, while Houghton was in the hatch of the trailing vehicle alongside Fray, his gunner.
“We were talking about R&R,” recalled Spc. Adrian Stone, 27, of Lytle, Texas, Houghton’s driver that night. “He was talking about how much fun he had with his family, that he’d seen lots of friends he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“That’s when Sgt. Fray screamed ‘RPG!’”
Peering through his infrared night scope, Fray saw a rocket-propelled grenade race by so close he felt he could touch it. He didn’t see who fired it, only that it came from a nearby rooftop. The gunner instantly laid down a stream of high-explosive machine-gun fire against the enemy position.
It surprised him that Houghton didn’t immediately shout orders over the radio. When Fray looked over, he saw the officer had slumped in the turret, his chin tucked in the right side of his chest. Shining a flashlight into his face, he saw that a piece of shrapnel from the RPG had penetrated Houghton’s face around the left eye. He was bleeding badly.
Fray grabbed the radio mike from Houghton’s hand and reported that the platoon leader was “bleeding out.”
“I just knew we had to get out of there,” Fray said.
Sponsel, now in command, could hear the report. But his radio failed at that moment, making it impossible for him to give orders. His gunner, Pfc. Calvin Perry, shouted over the roar of the Bradleys’ engines for them to leave the city fast.
They raced four miles to a spot outside the city, where a medevac helicopter could pick up the injured lieutenant. Once stopped, they pulled him out through the back of the Bradley and laid him on the ground.
“That’s when I realized how messed up he was,” Sponsel said.
They placed bandages on his wound to slow the bleeding, and Perry inserted an intravenous line. Over the radio, Sponsel learned a medevac helicopter couldn’t get there for 20 minutes, longer than it would take them to get back to MacKenzie.
So they loaded Houghton back in the Bradley, where Sponsel stayed by his side as they raced back to base. But because of a communications breakdown, no one warned the MacKenzie medics.
“We put the ramp down, and I expected to see 10 or 15 medics there, but there was no one,” Sponsel said.
Minutes later, a helicopter arrived to take him to the hospital at Balad Air Base. Later he was flown to Germany, and to Washington.
For the rest of the night, 3rd Platoon waited restlessly.
“It was a surreal feeling, like it didn’t happen,” Fray said. “But we all had blood on us.”
The soldiers talked quietly among themselves, not sure what to do next.
“There was no sleeping. Just a lot of sitting and thinking,” Fray said.
“And lot of praying,” Stone added.
Capt. Andrew R. Houghton Houghton’s family put up to give progress reports. On Aug. 9, the officer, still comatose, died of a brain hemorrhage. His men still are mourning.
“He was an awesome guy,” Sponsel said. “Just because he was an officer and went to West Point, he didn’t put himself above everybody else.”
“He covered his guys’ backs numerous times,” Stone said. “They always came first.”
The loss of their leader, who was posthumously promoted to captain, left a wound no medal can heal.
Stone knows; he received his Army Commendation Medal a few weeks ago.
“I went and stuck it in my drawer. Every time I look at it, I think of Lt. Houghton dying,” Stone said. “I just want to get this over with and go home.”
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They are heroes, one and all ...
Other soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment also received combat awards for service in Iraq. They include:
Combat Infantryman Badge
Troop A
Staff Sgt. Shawn Norman, 33, Phoenix;
Staff Sgt. Colin Pettibone, 35, Roswell, N.M.;
Sgt. Howard Hawkins, 22, Melbourne, Fla.;
Sgt. Timothy Speight, 27, Caruthersville, Mo.;
Spc. Ernie Morales, 21, Kingsport, Tenn.;
Spc. Steven Perkins, 20, Steele, Ala.;
Pfc. Phillip Wroblewski, 21, Schriever, La.
Troop B
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Neiding, 36, Jacksonville, Fla.;
Spc. Michael Bellizzi, 28, Barrington, N.H.;
Spc. Jayson Carter, 21, Alliance, Neb.;
Spc. Brian Hart, 24, Crestline, Calif.;
Spc. Patrick Mattingly, 22, Roanoke, Va.;
Spc. Ariel Quezada, 26, Phoenix;
Spc. Brandon Weatherford, 23, Lebanon, Tenn.
Combat Medical Badge
Sgt. Hernandez Colon, 30, Boston
Sgt. William Rigby, 27, Midland, Ga.
Purple Hearts
Troop A
Staff Sgt. Metoyer Jordan, 28, New Orleans;
Sgt. Michael Sampsell, 29, Seville, Ohio;
Spc. Donald Alden, 28, Nacogdoches, Texas;
Spc. Derrick Lawson, 21, Spring Lake, N.C.;
Spc. Steven Bishop, 32, Auburn, N.Y.;
Spc. Graeme Field, 20, Dania, Fla.;
Spc. Larry Underwood, 29, Fort Smith, Ark.
Troop B
1st Lt. Gilbert Comley, 24, Murrietta, Calif.;
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Curless, 39, Langley, Wash.;
Sgt. 1st Class Charles Neiding;
Spc. George Hoffmeister, 21, Clay Center, Neb.;
Pfc. Anthony Wong, 19, Philadelphia.
Witchdoctor Troop
Sgt. Javier Weingart, 27, Sonara, Texas.
9th Engineer Battalion
Spc. Robert Stout, 21, Utila, Ohio;
Spc. Edgar Solis, 21, Oceanside, Calif.: Troop A, 1/4 Cavalry; Army Commendation Medal with Valor: On June 29, enemy guerrillas attacked the 1/4 Cavalry Squadron supply convoy to Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad with small-arms fire. Solis was cut off from his Bradley fighting vehicle and under fire but nevertheless got up and stopped civilian traffic on the road.
While still under fire, Solis signaled the source of fire to DeJesus and then returned fire himself. This allowed DeJesus’ gunner to mark the enemy position for the rest of the convoy.
Staff Sgt. Paul Sponsel, 25, Nokomis, Fla.; Troop A, 1/4 Cavalry; Army Commendation Medal with Valor: On July 10, “Anvil 31” — a Bradley fighting vehicle carrying the platoon commander, 1st Lt. Andrew Houghton — took close-range enemy fire in Duluiyah. Houghton was critically wounded in the ambush. Sponsel assumed control of Anvil 31 as well as his own Bradley.
He helped take Houghton out of his Bradley, treated him, then prepared him for transport to the unit’s headquarters at Forward Operating Base MacKenzie.
Instead of riding in his own Bradley, Sponsel gave control to his driver so he could ride with Houghton and give him medical treatment and comfort. Once at MacKenzie, Sponsel continued to help treat him and lift him into the medical evacuation helicopter.
Houghton died one month later from his serious wounds.
Sgt. Charles Fray, 22, Yreka, Calif.; Troop A, 1/4 Cavalry; Army Commendation Medal with Valor: Fray also was involved in the ambush that mortally wounded Houghton. Fray, Anvil 31’s gunner, immediately returned gunfire, suppressing the ambush and allowing his Bradley and the other in the two-vehicle convoy to escape. Fray led his Bradley to safety, then helped in removing Houghton from his vehicle.
His quick action and leadership is credited with helping Houghton survive the attack so he could be evacuated to a hospital, though the officer died of his wounds a month later.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Almous Irby, 36, Neptune, N.J., Troop E, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, 2 Air Medals with Valor: On June 24, in Baqouba, Irby maneuvered his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter to engage and destroy enemy forces.
He hit three enemy vehicles with .50-caliber machine-gun fire and a direct hit with rockets against insurgents, killing four. He brought his aircraft home without damage despite enemy fire, while avoiding both collateral damage and noncombatant casualties.
In another incident, on April 10 in Baqouba, Irby led a team of Kiowa Warrior helicopters against hostile forces at close range. He flew directly into enemy fire to battle the insurgents in spite of limited fuel and low power margins.
Irby’s aggressive actions negated the need for a nearby ground unit to engage the enemy. His team is credited with killing four guerrillas and injuring numerous others, without injury or damage to any aircraft, and without U.S. casualties.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Marc Macaspac, 36, Oakland, Calif.; Troop E, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry; Air Medal with Valor: On April 10 in Baqouba, Macaspac was part of a team of OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters that destroyed armed insurgents at close range, killing four and injuring many others.
Macaspac was the first on the team to spot the enemy troops as they ran for cover and fired at them while continuing to help pilot the aircraft. He did this while under enemy fire and with aircraft weapons systems malfunctioning.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Bushmaker, 32, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.; Troop E, 1st Squadron, 4th U.S. Cavalry, Air Medal with Valor: On April 10 in Baqouba, Bushmaker piloted an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter as part of a team that attacked and destroyed hostile insurgents. Four of the enemy were killed, and many others injured.
Bushmaker shot at the guerrillas, continuing to help pilot the aircraft while under enemy fire and with the aircraft’s weapons systems malfunctioning.
Did members of your unit receive awards for Valor or other combat awards during 2003-4 in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom? Stars and Stripes would like to tell your story. Contact Steve Liewer at: liewers@mail.estripes.osd.mil
Steve Liewer / S&S
Nine soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division's 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment received Purple Hearts Tuesday at Forward Operating Base MacKenzie, Iraq, for injuries received this year during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Steve Liewer / S&S
From left, Spc. Adrian Stone, 27; Sgt. Charles Fray, 22; and Staff Sgt. Paul Sponsel, 25, received Army Commendation Medals — Fray’s and Sponsel’s with Valor — for their efforts to save the life of their platoon leader, 1st Lt. Andrew Houghton, after an ambush on their Bradley fighting vehicles in Duliuyah, Iraq, on July 10. Houghton died of his injuries a month later.
Terry Boyd / S&S
The only time you'll see Spc. Adrian Danczyk without his Kevlar is between missions. Danczyk became a believer in the life-saving value of battle helmets after he was hit in the head by a 7.62 mm round during a firefight near Fallujah, Iraq.
Steve Liewer / S&S
Fray and Sponsel got tattoos on their arms: crosses adorned with the initials of two lost comrades, Houghton and Pfc. Nicholas Blodgett.
Steve Liewer / S&S
Maj. Gen. John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, pins an Army Commendation Medal with valor on the pocket of Staff Sgt. Paul Sponsel, 25, of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment.
Steve Liewer / S&S
Maj. Gen. John Batiste, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, pins an Army Commendation Medal with valor on the pocket of Staff Sgt. Paul Sponsel, 25, of the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment.
T.D. Flack / S&S
Tech. Sgt. Henry Williams, center, sings the national anthem prior to Saturday’s baseball clinic.
U.S. Army photo/ S&S
Capt. Andy Houghton, who was injured in a rocket attack in Iraq. He died nearly a month later in a hospital in Washington, D.C.
If you do please share with friends and loved ones.
If you have a moment please check this wonderful blog of one of our true patriots and the fight he gave before going with the Angels. News about Andy Houghton
It is what today is all about! God Bless!
God Bless our veterans. Soemtimes I wish the men would be more careful talking to the media, the media are always looking for quotes that show our troops are about to rebel or something --- how terrible life is in the military, 'it ain't worth it' stuff.
such strong young facesz. Pray for them all.
I hope in time these young men can look at the medals for what they are meant to represent, not as a reminder of their loss or with regrets for not being able to work miracles. It may not console them now that they were "only" able to get him home in time to die with his loved ones around him, but I hope when they finally see their fallen captain's family and see their tears of gratitude, their heartache will ease a little.
They did what they could and behaved like true heroes, with love and courage. God bless them. God bless the Houghton family.
In the event you would like a site that does have good news check out the following:
The Iraq-America Freedom Alliance
I posted the following this morning:
Patriotic Country - Celebrating American Music for American Heroes, Benefiting the USO *awesome*
Thank you for the great information on these outstanding soldiers...There are 1000's more that you don't hear about either that do these great things for their comrades on a daily basis. God Bless them all.
Ping
A true leader--in the finest traditions of our Army.
The service, held at Andy's high school, the magnificent Strake Jesuit, was profoundly moving in both word and song.
Our West Point alumni community was well-represented.
The event concluded with our rendition of the wonderful hymn, "Mansions of the Lord," which I was honored to conduct.
All of y'all will benefit by visiting the Andy Houghton website.
Happy Veterans' Day in Paradise, Andy!
And yet, there's an entire nation that should never forget it.....or the man who was killed.
Thank you for a truly awesome post.
Andy Houghton is buried at West Point which is very close to my home. I've been wanting to go up there and pay my respects, and I think I will today.
His family put up a website and there all kinds of photo's of Andy with his family and fellow soldiers. You should all check it out....make sure you have tissue ready though. AndyHoughton.org
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