Courtesy Photo | TAJI, Iraq -- Sgt. Cory J. Scott, of 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd...... read more read more
Spc. Matthew Wester
3/1 AD PAO
TAJI, Iraq -- A routine mission turned into a moment of courage for one Task Force Baghdad Soldier last April. In the blink of an eye, a non-commissioned officer was forced to make several quick decisions, even as enemy bullets were raining down on him.
Sgt. Cory J. Scott, a squad leader with A Company, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, was recently awarded a Bronze Star Medal with a "V" Device for valor for his actions on April 3 during a mission south of Baghdad.
Scott and nine other Soldiers were on a mission to conduct a census of a rural area. They completed the survey, but an enemy ambush was waiting for them when their convoy rolled out of the neighborhood.
"We heard some noise like some people screaming out, and they started firing (rocket-propelled grenades) at us," said Scott, a Reynolds, Ga., native. "My guys immediately started firing toward the enemy. By this time, I was looking around, trying to assess the situation."
His squad spread out, sought cover near a concrete canal and took up firing positions.
"My A and B Team leaders were on the right side hugging the canal, and all of a sudden, they disappeared. Then, the third rifleman disappeared," he said.
The Soldiers were out of sight because they had fallen down the steep sides of the canal and were struggling to stay afloat in the swift current.
Scott quickly organized an attempt to get them out of the water.
He removed his belt and told two other Soldiers to remove their belts as well. Scott tied the belts together and made a makeshift rope.
He threw the lifeline into the canal, but the first of the Soldiers in the canal couldn't hold on and was pulled underwater by the current.
"He grabbed the belt and it just slipped out of his hands," Scott said. "He went under."
The other two Soldiers couldn't get a grip on the belts either, so Scott improvised again by breaking a long antenna off a radio and dangling it near the troops.
Scott said the enemy noticed the squad's efforts to rescue their buddies and focused small-arms fire on the sides of the canal. Now, he had to contend with not only the raging canal water, but also more bullets and grenades.
"The rounds were landing about five to six feet from me. Then they tried to shoot the guys in the water," he said.
Shrugging off the AK-47 fire, Scott fished out two of the three stranded Soldiers. Spc. William D. Richardson, the Soldier who went underwater, was lost in the current and died.
Sgt. Dustin Garner, one of the Soldiers Scott pulled out of the canal, said he would have drowned if Scott did not think on his feet and use the antenna to help him out of the water.
Garner, a Fort Riley, Kan., resident and team leader for 2nd Plt., thinks Scott's actions were worthy of the Bronze Star. "He does deserve it," Garner said. "If he hadn't been on his toes thinking, or been concerned about where we were, he might not have noticed us out there in the canal."
Although he was the recipient of the Bronze Star, Scott said the medal was a reminder of his whole squad's efforts to save their comrades.
"If we didn't work as a team, then we would have had a lot more casualties," he said. "Everybody went beyond the call of duty that day."
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2005 20:13 |
| Story ID: | 3044 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 317 |
| Downloads: | 53 |
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