The addition of the Army Materiel Command plaque recognizing Army civilian Purple Heart recipients in the new Army Security Assistance Command headquarters building has a very special meaning for the command and one of its employees.
The plaque is dedicated to AMC civilian employees who were killed or wounded in service of their country, includes 40 names, all employees of the Office of the Program Manager, Saudi Arabian National Guard who were victims of the 1995 terrorist bombing attack of their office building in Riyadh.
Gregg Turner, a division chief in the EUCOM/AFRICOM regional directorate, had joined USASAC's OPM-SANG as a lieutenant colonel in 1992. He retired in 1995 and remained with OPM-SANG as a civilian employee.
"It was a very special place to work," Turner said. "It was more like family because we all knew each other."
Turner remembers the day of the bombing being like any other, when around noon the glass windows were blown out by a jet of black wind.
"I remember thinking a bomb had exploded," he said. Turner was apparently knocked unconscious, and when he came to, he found he was bleeding from his neck and ear. "I crawled across some desks and made my way out on the third floor. Others had left, not realizing I was still in the office, but two majors found me in the hallway and helped me get out of the building," he said.
When he reached the street, a Saudi in an SUV offered to take Turner and others to the hospital. On arrival at the emergency room, he declined immediate attention, asking that the more severely injured be treated first.
"There were around 200 people in our building and many were seriously injured," Turner said.
When Turner finally saw a doctor around 6 p.m. that evening and went into surgery to remove the glass shard that had caused his head wound, the physician discovered the glass was embedded against his carotid artery.
"Just a fraction closer and I'd have never made it," he said. He spent more than five hours in surgery before it was successfully removed and a plastic surgeon reconstructed his ear.
Turner returned to duty in temporary facilities, as did most of the others without critical injuries. Five of his co-workers died from the attack " a sixth passing on the first anniversary of the bombing.
"That made it a particularly hard day," he said. But Turner never considered not returning to his job in Riyadh, even returning to the bombed out building to retrieve some personal items and the briefing he was working on and still keeps, which was splattered with blood.
"I'm glad I went back because it gave me closure," he said. "There were two desks that had been blown together and blocking the door. I know I had to have climbed over those desks to get out but I didn't really remember doing it."
Turner remained at the relocated OPM SANG facility until December 1996, only returning to the OPM-SANG Washington Field Office at USASAC's headquarters in Virginia because U.S. dependents were evacuated following a second bombing at the AL Khobar Towers in June 1996.
"After 23 years in the Army, I didn't want to be separated from my family anymore. But it was hard to leave because after the bombing it brought the PM-SANG family even closer together," Turner said.
His commitment to the Army and USASAC's foreign military sales mission were also reaffirmed. Turner includes the George Orwell quote, "We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us wrong," with his email signature. He said it reflects his gratitude for an Army of Soldiers willing to risk everything to protect their fellow countrymen.
Turner also believes the security assistance USASAC provides to other countries is essential to the U.S. and the Army.
"Our job is to improve the readiness of partner nations so more of our Soldiers can come home," he said.
The AMC Purple Heart recipients' plaque was dedicated in 1996 at the AMC headquarters and was moved to the new USASAC headquarters at Redstone Arsenal when the command completed its Base Realignment and Closure relocation in June.
Turner is the only employee listed on the plaque who remains at USASAC.
"I had always hoped USASAC would get to display the plaque," he said.
Now Turner, USASAC personnel and visitors who see the plaque in the USASAC lobby each day are reminded of the sacrifices made by AMC civilians for freedom.
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