JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. -- In every life there are watershed moments. Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry’s was more difficult than most.
Petry, 31, had already been shot in both legs while on a mission in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, in May 2008, when a grenade was thrown over a wall into the compound he was clearing.
When it landed just feet away from two of his squadmates from the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, he knew exactly what to do. Without hesitating, Petry picked up the grenade to toss it back. As he released it, it detonated, taking off his right hand.
The action saved two lives, of Sgt. Daniel Higgins and Pfc. Lucas Robinson, and earned him the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.
“I think you see heroic actions a lot in a combat zone, whether you want to or not,” Master Sgt. Steven Walter said at a press conference at 2-75 Ranger Battalion headquarters at Joint Base Lewis-McChord Thursday. “I think this one stood out.”
Walter and two other Ranger NCOs, Sgt. 1st Class Jerod Staidle and Master Sgt. Reese Teakell, described Petry as hardworking, selfless and happy-go-lucky. All three were part of the mission that day.
“I just remember thinking to myself I wasn’t surprised that he had done what he had done,” Staidle said.
The mission, a daylight raid seeking a targeted individual, involved initially clearing a series of buildings before moving on to another compound. Petry, seeing that members of an assault squad needed help as they moved to the targeted building, volunteered to guide them in.
As Petry and Robinson moved to clear the building’s outer courtyard, both were wounded by small arms fire from at least three enemy fighters. The Rangers took cover near a chicken coop, where Higgins joined them and began checking their wounds.
Grenades flew through the air from both sides before Sgt. James Roberts and Spc. Christopher Gathercole arrived to help. Walter, Staidle and Teakell could hear the fight over the radio. Following yet another explosion, the news arrived: Petry’s hand had been amputated by a grenade.
Staidle, his platoon sergeant, heard the announcement come in. Then Petry called directly to update him.
“All right, I’m on my way,” Staidle said.
Before he could arrive with a medic, Gathercole was fatally shot in the head. Around to the chicken coop, Staidle found Petry propped against a wall where he had applied a tourniquet to his arm above his missing hand.
The casualties, including Petry, were evacuated and close air support was called in to finish the job.
Petry could have moved around the corner of the chicken coop and saved himself, the NCOs pointed out at the conference. He was sitting close enough to the edge that it would have been easy.
Instead, he acted to save his fellow Rangers.
Afterward, even with his wounds, he continued reminding his squad members not to stand around. There was a job to do.
To the people who know him, none of this seems out of the ordinary.
“He will do the right thing and the hard thing regardless of if there’s an easier way out there,” Teakell said.
Now the married father of four works with wounded, injured and ill servicemembers as a liason officer for the United States Special Operations Command Care Coalition " Northwest Region. He’s taken up skeet shooting and pheasant hunting since losing his hand, and enjoys showing off his prosthetic’s many attachments. He jokes around as much as ever.
But Petry is also one of few people who knows exactly how he would react when confronted with an extreme situation. His years of training, experience, and most importantly, his character came into play at that critical moment.
“It’s the test,” Master Sgt. Reese Teakell said.
Petry will receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony on July 12. He has chosen not to speak to media until after that time. In 2010 he reenlisted in the Army indefinitely.
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