'Dreadnaught' earns Bronze Star for valiant effort

By Amanda Kim Stairrett, 1st Inf. Div. Public AffairsApril 11, 2012

Spc. Alexander Herro receives Bronze Star with V device
Spc. Alexander Herron smiles after he is pinned with a Bronze Star Medal with V Device on Monday, March 26, 2912m at Fort Riley, Kan. He was one of three Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantr... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT RILEY, Kan. (April 10, 2012) -- Bullets were coming in from everywhere. Twelve o'clock. Nine to 3 o'clock. Multiple shooters, 12 or more, hid behind huts, trees, houses, walls -- whatever they could use to block the view of the four American Soldiers on the roof.

Spc. Alex Herron, a 21-year-old sniper and the son of a Virginia Army National Guard noncommissioned officer, and his spotter, 22-year-old Spc. Wesley Farron, were two of those Soldiers on that rooftop, Oct. 10, 2011, in the village of Jogram, Afghanistan.

The two small-town boys turned infantrymen were assigned to the Sniper Section, Scout Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division.

The day started out rainy. The guys on the roof didn't have much cover. They and others in the unit they were attached to at the time, 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, were in the process of filling sandbags to build up a barrier.

Herron and Farron were scanning the area. Another Soldier manned his M240B. The rain stopped. It was about 20 minutes past noon. That's when "rounds started opening up on us," Herron said recently at Fort Riley.

The Soldiers stayed low and waited for a short burst of rounds. When it finally came, Farron popped up and laid cover fire for Herron. Herron rolled over and looked through his sniper rifle for the hidden shooters.

Farron needed to reload his M203 grenade launcher a few minutes later, Herron said. Just after he opened and shut the tube, he took a round just above his left side plate. The bullet eventually exited and embedded itself in his plate carrier, but not before it bounced around, effecting his liver, kidney, lung, bile duct, diaphragm, esophagus and two ribs.

It felt like Mark McGuire hit him with a baseball, Farron said March 26 at Fort Riley. He fell back and shouted to his friend he'd been hit. He tried not to fpanic because he might bleed more, he said.

Farron was shaking, Herron said, and he jumped on top to shield him from the incoming bullets. He unclipped his friend's side plates just in time to see red pooling up on his side. Herron pulled up Farron's shirt to get a better look at the wound. He cut up Farron's T-shirt for bandages, according to information from the Army.

It was time to get off the roof. They worked together, avoiding fire to push and drag Farron to the edge of the building. Herron lifted Farron over the edge of the 10-to-12-foot roof and lowered him to two noncommissioned officers on the ground.

Herron got off the roof, too. The platoon medic handed him an occlusive dressing, wiped blood away and sealed the wound, he said. One of the sergeants told Herron to go on -- they could take care of Farron.

"Tell my wife and my son I love them," Farron said.

"Shut up, you're gonna be fine," he was told.

Herron fired from the ground for five minutes or so until another sergeant said he would spot for him back on the roof. The first two shooters they found were 800 meters out. Twelve o'clock.

The official Army narrative read this action "disrupted the enemy attacks and allowed the medical evacuation helicopters to land safely."

The firefight continued for an hour and a half, Herron said.

The shooters were firing from multiple locations, and they kept moving.

"I was just sending rounds into dark holes where I thought it was coming from," he said.

The training kicked in, Herron said. More than anything, he was mad his friend got shot. The anger got him through the fight.

"Oh yeah, it helped a lot," he said.

What he described as grabbing weapons and directing fires for everyone else, the Army described this way:

"While the helicopters were taking off, additional insurgents were attempting to maneuver to fighting positions in an effort to engage the helicopters. Herron then directed the machine gunners located near him to fire upon the insurgents, effectively suppressing the enemy's attempts."

The Army said Herron's bravely saved his partner's life and "dealt a decisive blow to the enemy's efforts that day."

For his actions, Herron was presented with the Bronze Star with a valor device during a March 26 ceremony at Fort Riley. The ceremony, hosted by the 2nd Bn., 34th Armor Regt., also honored 1st Sgt. Timothy Delarosa, who was presented with the same medal, and Sgt. Michael E. Dow, who received an Army Commendation Medal with a valor device.

Delarosa contributed to a counter attack and the safety of his company's patrol base June 18, 2011, in the Zaray District of Afghanistan's Kandahar Province. Dow provided lifesaving care to a Soldier injured by a rocket-propelled grenade, Oct. 29, 2011, at Strongpoint Ghariban, Afghanistan.

Herron said he was thankful for the recognition, but doesn't feel like he is the only one that did his part that day. If it wasn't for the noncommissioned officers on the ground and the medic, none of that would have been possible, he said.

"I'm proud of it, but at the same time, I wish some other guys would've gotten stuff also," he said of the honor. "Like, I kinda take it as a bittersweet kind of deal."

Farron was initially evacuated to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, then to Germany, and finally to San Antonio. He spent 10 days in a coma. He's endured 12 surgeries, so far, with more on the way. He lost 50 pounds. He made sure he was at Fort Riley when his friends came home, though, and he said he wants to stay in the Army.

Herron said Farron would've done the same for him. He was just doing his job.

It takes a crazy person to do what they do, Farron jokingly said about he and Herron and the other infantrymen.

They still talk about that day. It is a little unreal. There was no way they were going to get hit, Herron thought. They were invincible. Herron said it was the scariest and worst moment of his life. He never wants it again, he said.

"He deserves it," Farron said of Herron's award for valor. "Somebody who deserves an award got it."

Related Links:

Army.mil: Human Interest News

Army.mil: Valor

Army.mil: Army Values

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