Fought Insurgents, Secured Perimeter Around Downed Black Hawk

They risked their own lives to try to save their fallen comrades... and last week, three US helicopter crews were honored for their bravery, for responding to the scene of the downing of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter north of Baghdad earlier this year.

As ANN reported, the transport helo was felled by enemy fire January 20, the first of what would be a string of helicopter crashes over a two-month period. The downing claimed 12 US soldiers, including the military's senior medical official in Iraq and two other senior officers.

Reuters reports the three Black Hawk crews honored June 4 responded to the scene, in an attempt to rescue any survivors of the downing. The helicopters' crews deployed the troops they had been transporting to set up a perimeter around the crash site, fighting off insurgent forces until Apache attack helicopters could take over that job.

Chief Warrant Officer Jerry Sartin received the Silver Star for leading the effort, while three others received the Distinguished Flying Cross. The rest of the airmen received Air Medals.

"It was just another one of the 8,600 combat missions this brigade has flown, but it was a day that has changed all our lives forever," Major-General James Simmons told members of the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade.

Chief Warrant Officer Thomas Schroeder was one of the pilots who received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions that day.

"We saw the aircraft flying erratically and smoking," Schroeder said. "After a while it crashed. My first instinct was disbelief. You see them flying around all the time. They are not supposed to crash."

Along with a second helicopter, Schroeder's gunners opened fire on the insurgents who shot down the Black Hawk, and were attempting to flee in a truck. One of the gunmen fired a rocket propelled grenade at them, narrowly missing the second helo.

A gunner onboard Schroeder's Black Hawk dispatched that shooter, along with two others. A fourth was wounded; crewman said he was later found to have been shot 15 times.

"The Black Hawk is not designed to be an attack aircraft," Sartin said. "We were doing what we had to do to get rid of the enemy."

"We would trade the awards to get our soldiers back," added Chief Warrant Office Max Timmons, the pilot of the third helicopter. "They were very close friends."

FMI: www.army.mil