Minnesota soldier receives Silver Star

West Central Tribune ^ | September 23, 2007 | ap

[mdittmar]

Minnesota National Guard soldier who led a fierce firefight south of Baghdad to defend a convoy of 20 trucks and their civilian drivers was awarded Saturday with a Silver Star, the nation's fourth-highest military decoration.

"He's a hero, no question about it," Gov. Tim Pawlenty said of Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg before a crowd of about 1,000 National Guard soldiers and their families in a ceremony at St. Paul RiverCentre.

Malmberg, a St. Paul native, is the first Minnesota National Guard member since World War II to receive the medal, which is awarded for gallantry in combat.

During the firefight, Malmberg jumped out of his armored vehicle three times to fire a rocket and hurl grenades at the enemy that outnumbered his squad by more than two to one. His actions allowed the convoy to escape without a single soldier or truck driver being killed or wounded, and no vehicles were lost.

Malmberg attributed his honor to the U.S. Army's superior weapons and tactics, and to the courage of the 15 soldiers under his command.

"I remember when I was a little kid my dad telling me 'It's not the size of the dog in the the fight, but it's the size of the fight in the dog,' That day, we had a lot of fight in us," he said.

Malmberg, 27, is a Stillwater high school graduate and a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is majoring in law enforcement and will graduate with honors in December, after which he hopes to become a St. Paul police officer like his father and uncle were.

[protest1]

A hero.

[stephenjohnbanker]

A true American hero!!

[stm]

Good on him. I am glad it was not a posthumous award.

[Little Bill]

Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg before a crowd of about 1,000 National Guard soldier.

I remember a SGT from the 196th Light Infantry who received a Silver Star while we were in Chelsea Naval Hospital in 1968, I think he came from Danvers, Mass. All us Army guys and all the Marines grunts we knew or were related to, which was a bunch, used to have coffee at the PX, or what ever the squids called it. We wore what ever uniform we had, which was generally a jungle hat, a jungle fatigue jacket, boots, Levies covered the lower half. My cousin Paul, USMC, came in and introduced, a name I forget, and said this guy just got the Silver Star, he was a regular, among us, enlisted scum ,the SS was not given away, except for John F'n Kerry, you had to actually do something.

Total present at the ceremony, one, plus Honor guards, notification, five minuets, duration five minuets.

[PGalt]

America’s finest BUMP!

Thank you Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg!

[mdittmar]

I don’t get your point,sorry.

[Little Bill]

Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg before a crowd of about 1,000 National Guard soldiers and their families in a ceremony at St. Paul RiverCentre.

Did you ever get hauled into your bosses office? He said you had done a hell of a job, now screw. SP/5 Dwight Birdwell, C/3/4th Cav, found his Citation for the SS, on his bunk, after having kicked it down from the Blue Max, this is the point.

[debm29palms]

That’s awesome!

Thank God there are brave men like SSgt. Chad Malmberg.

[mdittmar]

I was 7 years old then.

Not finding much on Dwight Birdwell?

[concentric circles]

Staff Sgt. Chad Malmberg with a group of Iraqi children.

From another AP story: "...Malmberg was a convoy commander, leading semis loaded with food, fuel and supplies from southwestern Iraq near Kuwait to locations throughout Iraq. As it happened, the flatbed semis he was leading across the Iraqi desert near Baghdad the night of Jan. 27 were empty."

"The insurgents began their attack from about 500 yards away, then approached to within 20 yards."

"After hearing about similar tactics used elsewhere, Malmberg said, he realized the insurgents were attempting to surround and capture a gun truck with three soldiers inside. So he left his armored vehicle, threw some hand grenades and fired a shoulder-mounted rocket at them."

"It was just surreal. You didn't have time to think about being afraid," he said.

"The thing he's most proud of, he said, is that none of his troops was injured..."

These are the Red Bulls who were famously photographed with the sign that said, "Halp us Jon Carry. We r stuk hear n irak."

[Little Bill]

You didn’t look all that hard, as far as I know he only got one Silver Star. All the hype is mostly Bull S=== A HUNDRED MILES OF BAD ROAD: Armored Cavalry in Vietnam. - 3/4 Cav, 25th Infantry Division. Tanks and APC ACAVs charge headlong into a gut-wrenching account of the battle at Tan Son Nhut Air Base during Tet 1968.

A HUNDRED MILES OF BAD ROAD by Dwight Birdwell (a true Native American warrior) and Vietnam War historian/author Keith William Nolan. Wounded 3 times and the recipient of 2 Silver Stars, Birdwell fought the war from the cupola of a 3/4 Cav M-48 Patton tank. His gut-wrenching account of the battle at Tan Son Nhut Air Base durint Tet 1968 is a heart stopper. “...Tanks were big-ass targets, and going up and down the highway was like being in a shooting gallery...Serving on a tank was like being on death row...” 218 pages.

The “3/4 Cav” of the 25th Infantry Division, Vietnam 1967-68.

[sgtyork]

There haven’t been many articles like this posted, I suspect there haven’t been many published. Its good to see this one honoring a good guy.