America meet Sergeant Gregory Williams of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/5th Infantry, 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. SGT Williams was recently awarded the Distinguish Service Cross, the Army’s second highest award for valor, for his actions under fire in Baghdad last year.
Although injured himself, Sgt. Williams pulled his lieutenant from a smoldering Stryker, provided suppressive fire with a 50-caliber weapon and enabled first aid to be given to Soldiers burned by the IED blast. He was a squad leader in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/5th Infantry, 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division.
“When I want to talk about the quality of the force, I talk about Sgt. Williams,” said Gen. George Casey, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, who presented him the award. “(Soldiers like Sgt. Williams) are the heart and soul of the Army.”
During a mounted night patrol Oct. 30, 2006, in Baghdad’s Huriyah neighborhood, Sgt. Williams’ Stryker was struck by shaped charges that sent a stream of molten fire through the hull of the vehicle.
“It was like someone took a can opener and peeled it (the Stryker) open,” Sgt. Williams said.
As the Stryker and its occupants caught fire, enemy forces unleashed an ambush of rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 rounds. While the vehicle was still in motion, the Soldiers dismounted from the back ramp, found cover and returned fire.
Sgt. Williams, a Valley Spring, Calif. native, was unconscious for a few seconds after the blast, recovered and put the flames out on himself and other Soldiers around him before grabbing a first aid bag to treat his comrades.
But Sgt. Williams realized that the Soldiers were in greater need of suppressive fire, so he expended 120 rounds - four magazines - of ammunition from his M4 carbine upon the enemy.
After helping provide suppressive fire, he saw his platoon leader, 1st. Lt. Aaron Willard, from York Springs, Penn., inside the smoldering Stryker. Lt. Willard’s legs were burned and lacerated from shrapnel, and he had just finished his third magazine engaging the enemy when he began to pass out from blood loss.
“My ears started ringing and I started to see a white light in front of my eyes,” Lt. Willard said. “Sgt. Williams grabbed me and threw me towards the back of the vehicle.”
And when asked about it…
“I think it was a great honor to receive this award, I’m very proud to receive it,” Sgt. Williams said. “But I was just doing my job and what I was trained to do.”
Sgt. Williams believes that everyone in his squad would have done the same thing that day, and credits them as heroes in their own right.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m damn proud of SGT Williams and his Soldiers. Sgt Hook out.
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This post is filed under: Heroes & Iraq & The Soldier
