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First Lieutenant Brian Chontosh, U. S. Marine Corps: On March 25, 2003, as his Marines moved north towards Baghdad, Lt. Chontosh and his platoon are ambushed, with one of his Marines killed instantly. Riding in a Humvee, Chontosh ordered his driver to head towards the enemy as their gunner opened fire. Chontosh himself then jumped out of his vehicle, firing his rifle at the Iraqis. With his ammunition exhausted, Chontosh then used his pistol, then began using Iraqi rifles and an Iraqi grenade launcher to eliminate the threat. At the end of the battle, Chontosh had killed more than 20 enemy soldiers and saved his men. "I’ll never say I’m proud of what I had to do," he told his local Rochester, New York, newspaper in 2004. "It came down to love and hate. I loved my Marines and hated the guys who were trying to kill them." Chontosh received the Navy Cross on May 6, 2004.
Lance Corporal Joseph B. Perez, U.S. Marine Corps: On April 4, 2003, Cpl. Perez was the point man for a Marine platoon assigned to clear an area south of Baghdad when they were attacked. Out in front, Perez drew much of the fire but instead of retreating, he attacked the Iraqi positions, storming an enemy trench and firing his rifle at the Iraqis as they ran away. He fired a rocket at a machine gun bunker, destroying it and killing four Iraqi soldiers. As he fired away at the Iraqis, Perez was shot in the torso and shoulder, but continued to direct his squad despite his serious injuries. For his "outstanding display of decisive leadership [and] unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire," Perez was awarded the Navy Cross on May 6, 2004. His mother later told the Houston Chronicle that her son’s actions were typical. "He never wanted to be in the back. He always wanted to be the leader."
Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army: Sgt. Smith was leading an engineering group assigned to build a prison holding area near the Baghdad airport on April 4, 2003 when a large number of Iraqis attacked their position. According to his citation, Smith "quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers." He assigned himself the job of manning the exposed machine gun, pivoting so he could confront the attack that came from three different directions. His commanding officer, First Sergeant Tim Campbell, showed ABC News where Smith killed 50 enemy soldiers before he was fatally wounded at his post. "He wasn’t a person who said, ‘Go do this.’ He was a person who said, ‘Cover me while I go do this.’" Campbell added, "When you think in terms of how many soldiers he saved, and died doing it, it’s just phenomenal to me." For protecting more than 100 vulnerable soldiers, and ensuring the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers without regard for his own safety, President Bush presented Sgt. Smith’s widow and two children with the Congressional Medal of Honor on April 4, 2005, the second anniversary of his sacrifice. The President told Birgit Smith: "We count ourselves blessed to have soldiers like Sergeant Smith, who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of freedom and protect the American people."
Sergeant Scott C. Montoya, U. S. Marine Corps: On April 8, 2003, the day before Baghdad fell to Allied troops, Sgt. Montoya ran into a firefight and carried to safety a wounded Marine. According to an account in the January 22, 2005 Orange County Register, "As he ran toward the fallen Marine in a hail of gunfire, all he could think about was a passage from the New Testament: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’" Montoya then exposed himself to enemy gunfire four more times to retrieve four more wounded Marines. Awarded the Navy Cross January 23, 2005, the citation praised Montoya’s "outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty."
Corporal Marco A. Martinez, U. S. Marine Corps: On April 12, 2003, a platoon of 42 Marines was ambushed in al Tarmiyah, Iraq, and Cpl. Martinez found himself in charge of his squad after his leader was wounded. With enemy fire coming from a nearby building, Martinez first launched a captured rocket-propelled grenade into the building, then stormed the building single-handedly, killing four Iraqis. Presented with the Navy Cross on May 3, 2004, Martinez was featured in the book Home of the Brave. He told the authors: "I was glad we were in this firefight because to me, the more enemy you eliminate the easier it gets farther down the road....I had such deep hatred for the cowards that did what they did [September 11th] that you could say it was a joyous occasion for me because I was able to do my job and eliminate the enemy."
Captain Brent Morel, U.S. Marine Corps: Captain Morel was leading a 15-vehicle convoy near Fallujah on April 7, 2004 when his Marines were attacked with grenades, mortars and machine guns by a larger group of insurgents. After a machine gunner had his hands blown off by an insurgent RPG, Captain Morel ordered his Marines to dismount and he personally led a charge into the enemy position. He and his men killed 10 insurgents before Morel himself was fatally wounded, the only Marine to lose his life in that incident. "Brent never asked anyone to do anything he wouldn’t do himself," his father was quoted as saying. "He was the first in line. He didn’t lead from the back." Morel’s family received his Navy Cross at a ceremony on May 21, 2005.
Sergeant Willie L. Copeland III, U.S. Marine Corps: In the same battle that felled Marine Captain Brent Morel, Sgt. Copeland and his men followed Morel’s daring assault on the enemy’s positions, and Copeland assumed the leadership role after his captain was shot. Sgt. Copeland signaled to the other Marines to stay in covered positions while he administered first aid to Morel and stayed with the fatally injured man until an armored Humvee arrived. When he was awarded the Navy Cross on April 21, 2005, he said he was only doing his job. "Nothing’s natural about running into bullets," he was quoted by the Orange County Register. "It’s more important for me to make sure my men are okay."
Master Sergeant Donald R. Hollenbaugh, U.S. Army: On April 26, 2004, the Special Forces soldier was with a group of about three dozen Marines on the outskirts of Fallujah. They had taken over two houses in front of American lines when they were attacked by more than 300 enemy fighters. The attack killed one Marine and wounded 25 others, leaving few American defenders. At one point, according to an account in the Fayetteville Observer, "Hollenbaugh was the only man standing. ‘I was just running from hole to hole putting a few rounds here and there to make them feel like they were dealing with more than one guy,’ he said." According to his citation, "Hollenbaugh personally eliminated multiple enemy-controlled weapon positions," preventing the enemy from overrunning the American troops. Vice President Cheney presented Hollenbaugh with the Distinguished Service Cross on June 10, 2005.
Sergeant Anthony L. Viggiani, U.S. Marine Corps: Leading an assault against an enemy-held ridge in eastern Afghanistan, Sgt. Viggiani’s Marines came under heavy fire. Half of his team were pinned down; two of the Marines were wounded and needed to be evacuated. So Viggiani charged the cave, only to be met by enemy fire. He then went back to retrieve a fragmentation grenade and again exposed himself to enemy fire to deploy the grenade, killing three of the Afghan enemy. That allowed Viggiani and his men to continue to advance, killing a total of 14 enemy fighters, although Sgt. Viggiani was wounded in the leg. For his "outstanding display of decisive leadership [and] unlimited courage in the face of enemy fire," Viggiani was awarded the Navy Cross on February 24, 2006. "I just knew I had to keep a promise I made to my boys," Viggiani said later. "I had promised to bring them all back home."
First Sergeant Bradley A. Kasal, U. S. Marine Corps: During the fight to re-take Fallujah on Nov. 13, 2004, Sgt. Kasal led a group of Marines in assaulting a building where other Marines were pinned down in a fierce firefight with insurgents. Kasal killed one insurgent before another shot him and a fellow Marine, severely wounding them both. Kasal was shot again as he dragged his wounded comrade to a position out of the line of fire, and began to render first aid. An insurgent then tossed a grenade about four feet from the two men, and Kasal placed himself over his comrade to shield him from the blast. Shot a total of seven times and suffering more than 40 shrapnel wounds, Sgt. Kasal was photographed holding his pistol as he was helped out of the building by two fellow Marines. Kasal was presented with the Navy Cross on May 1, 2006, but he told the Marine Corps Times in 2005 that "as far as protecting another Marine, that’s what Marines do. There’s nothing heroic about that."
