European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                              Page 12 stars and stripes Mideast e d i Tion h eroes june 2007 w doing what i had to do d by Cindy Fisher stars and stripes ays the smell a terrible mixture of decaying human waste and dried blood still Clung to his uniform and More than a year the memories crawling through rub ble and Gore in the dark Ness still cling to his Mina Salama said hell never forget on that Day in then Lance with battalion Landing team Marine expeditionary was the arabic translator for a resupply Convoy when a radio Call came in saying marines might be trapped in a collapsed building in nearby the Convoy immediately diverted to the Thomas the senior officer at the said it was unbelief name Lance Mina Salama unit battalion Landing team 2nd 1st Marine 13th Marine expeditionary unit medal Navy and Marine corps medal earned in Able that the Mountain of rubble they found was once a two Story the a suspected insurgent Safe had been bombed the Day Salama As Salama approached about 25 iraqis loitering in front of the rubble to find out what was happen they told me there were people said Sala a Jersey that was All he needed to he immediately headed for a Small Gap in the i  fit inside the Hole with All my gear i had to take All my All my protective gear Salama Parmiter remembers grabbing Salama by the Collar to Stop he told there Are people still alive in so i let him Parmiter insurgents Salama didst he just went Parmiter adding that the average sized Marine  have Salama who weighs less than 145 crawled in on his dig Ging a path with his though Daylight it was pitch Black amid the he wormed his Way deeper into the dark by the thin Stream of a in the he said he was engulfed by horrible i could smell it on me for Days Salama soon found two dead then he found in he and two other marines pulled out five the worst was a baby Salama said in a voice tight with he haltingly she was she was less than 3 years old and she was what kept him going was a voice i i just wanted to be sure that there was nobody else left in he the voice echoed through the making it difficult to but he kept going and finally found an iraqi Man buried in2 feet of rubble about 15 feet from the he and the other two All wedged in the cramped space on their used sledgehammers to Pound at debris debris supporting the rubble uhe told there Are people still alive in so let him 99 Thomas Parmiter above them to Rescue the in a Shane Bertrand called it one of the bravest and most unselfish acts i have witnessed in three combat once they pulled the iraqi Man Salama continued talking with bystanders to see if additional Aid was from he Learned of a Young girl injured in a nearby build ing and coordinated medi Cal evacuation for her As for his currently deployed to the 31st Marine expedition Ary unit on received the Navy and Marine corps according to the the medal is awarded to service members who risk their lives to save others in actions not involving actual conflict with an president John Kennedy was awarded the medal for his world War ii actions in saving Crew members of his Navy patrol boat pt109 after a japanese destroyer sliced through it in the Solomon though others Call Salama the Marine says otherwise in not a i was just doing what i had to email Cindy Fisher at  after i threw that first it got pretty quiet Tommy Pitman unit Echo 51st Long Range surveil Lance medal Silver Star earned in Abu Iraq by Lisa Burgess stars and stripes the Silver Star and purple heart army Tommy Rieman Wear Are for helping his patrol survive an ambush in a very bad Iraq neighbourhood called Abu insurgents attacked the eight members of Echo 51st Long Range sur just a few Miles outside the Gates of the Abu Gharib Rie Man that the los team had been anticipating a routine mis Rieman told stripes in an interview at the where he works in the army personnel it was going to be 12 or 14 Boring hours of sitting very quietly in a Well concealed keeping eyes on a suspected insurgents front door and collecting information on who was coming and because he knew the area better than the teams official Rieman was guiding the group on its Way to the place where they would hide the he was in the Drivers seat of his hum holding his flashlight in one hand and using it to peer at the map awkwardly unfolded in his other when the air around him three rocket propelled grenades criss crossed the convoys two just barely missed the but one struck a Soldier Manning the gun in the Back of the third Bruce literally cutting his right leg out from beneath beneath Riemann or near it it was too confusing for him to a bomb two More went off at the same Rieman was briefly deafened by the noise of the which seemed to Courtesy of Tommy Rieman army Tommy Rieman was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in the town of Abu in december come from everywhere at troops later found 10 Dugin positions along the Riemann Robert Macallie cried out that he had been shot in the Rieman was shot where his Vest didst offer Protection in the Chest under his right and across he also took shrapnel in his stomach and but neither Rieman nor his gunner paid attention to their Rieman leaned Back against the trying to shield As much of his legs As possible with his and began firing Back with his tossing some grenades for Good the gunner started hitting the trigger on the machine gun in the roof Turret ring for All he was the tiny Convoy sped out of the kill zone and stopped in a Clearing about 2 Miles Down the Road to Deal with the Rieman staggered out of his blood running Down his ignoring cries from other soldiers to sit he started to make his Way Back to the truck to see How Robinson was not Well he was bleeding out from the gaping Hole where his leg had been and in danger of immediate air evacuation was Rieman started setting up a defensive perimeter so the choppers could the group of stunned and bleeding soldiers began taking a huge volume of fire from the cover of some Palm troops scouting the area later estimated that at least 50 insurgents were positioned there for the second round of the As the Hail of bullets began Rie Man saw i want i was during the original he i  believe they had actually gone up against us in the first the enemy was keeping the Ameri cans from helping their dying of no you will he whether in his head or he Doest but by this the americans had expended almost All of their they were prepared for they we rent prepared for a but there was one weapon Rieman haunt expended yet he still had Well Over a dozen 40 my looped neatly in their Little holders on his combat Vest and sagging the Bottoms of his cargo i was screaming at As he ripped those grenades from his Vest and his pock ets and stuffed them into the m23 Gre Nade yanking Back the trigger and firing one after another at the Palm until the barrel on the gun was what was he Yelling i dont like to Rieman it was curse bad were they Yelling Back after i threw that first it got pretty the firing from the Palm Grove had the medical evacuation chop pers were Able to Bruce Robinson ended up losing his left As Well As his but he sur thanks in part to some amazing surgery performed by air Force doctors in flight from Iraq to Lan Stuhl in Germa Rieman now that he has a wife and a Young Rieman decided to leave Active duty and work with americas an outreach and recruiting As a full time con but in the the army is top much under his skin to take off the in Early Rieman decided to join the National even though he knows that Means Hes Likely to head Back to Iraq once his guaranteed stabilization period that Rieman in Good with email Lisa Burgess at