"I had the privilege to actually witness a Medal of Honor moment," Ware adds. "To protect the platoon and members of his squad, David Bellavia had to go back in to a darkened nightmare of a house where he knew there was at least five or six jihadis waiting," says Michael Ware, an Australian journalist who embedded with Bellavia's squad in Fallujuah. But when he noticed an insurgent inside with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, he went back in to prevent it from being used. We were stuck there and I had to ask David to help me out, and he did that - he put himself in the line of that fire and laid down a base of fire, overwhelmed the enemy long enough for me to get myself and the members of my squad out."īellavia too left the house. "I just want to tell you that were it not for David Bellavia, I wouldn't be sitting here today," says now-retired Sgt. I wanted to be that leader that I promised I would be."īecause his own gun had been disabled by an enemy bullet, Bellavia grabbed a heavier weapon - an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon gun, which he fired at the insurgents, giving cover to his troops as they escaped to the street. "A light switch went off," Bellavia said. He heard their screams as they were hit by bullets and shattered glass. Inside the tenth house, they were met by a blast of machine gun fire from two insurgents hiding under the stairwell.īellavia's troops were trapped inside the house and in mortal peril. The first nine houses they entered produced only stashed weapons. It was a second attempt by U.S., British and Iraqi forces to seize control of the city of 360,000 that was an insurgent stronghold.īellavia and his squad had been searching an abandoned block of houses for a half-dozen or more insurgents believed to be hiding out in the area. The battle in which Bellavia's actions won him the military's top decoration was part of Operation Phantom Fury, popularly known as the Second Battle of Fallujah. He is also the first living Iraq war veteran to receive the prestigious medal five others who also fought there were awarded theirs posthumously. "I'm glad that it was and I think it demonstrates, at least in this case, the system works."īellavia's award upgrade to the Medal of Honor is the fifth of its kind to be made under a three-year Pentagon review of valor awards involving post-9/11 conflicts. "I'm not sure why or how or what the reasoning was that it was looked at again," Walter says of the decision to boost Bellavia's battle award to the Medal of Honor. Doug Walter, says it was he who pushed since 2005 for the upgrade of Bellavia's Silver Star. "Honestly," he adds, "I always considered my award just being able to come home."īellavia's company commander, Army Col. "You focus on your family, you focus on work, and, you know, my life was 100 percent perfect without a valor award of any type." "Fifteen years goes by and you move on with your life, you put the war behind you," says the 43-year-old resident of western New York state. The medal was a turn of events Bellavia says he had no role in bringing about. "Alone in the dark, David killed four insurgents and seriously wounded the fifth," Trump declared, "saving his soldiers and facing down the enemies of civilization." Many that receive this (Purple Heart) aren’t alive or have significant wounds and have had to leave the Marine Corps.Before draping the medal around Bellavia's neck, President Trump praised him for defying almost certain death to free squad members trapped by enemy fire. So, to get singled out and shown this honor, it’s great, but it’s not something I earned alone. “This is something that is shared by many and made possible by everybody that was there. Not for yourself, but for everybody else, for the countless men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our nation and for the ones who will do so in the future.” “As you wear that award, wear it with pride. “It takes special men and women to do the kinds of things Marines do,” Ellison said in the press release. The two immediately started work on getting the Marine his medal, but needed an eyewitness in order to complete the proper forms, the release said.īy chance, Leishman’s old platoon commander also was stationed on Camp Courtney, assigned to III Marine Expeditionary Force, allowing the paperwork to be submitted and the Purple Heart to be awarded at long last.
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