European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 stars and stripes heroes june 2007 the Best picture i have of hell by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes Lance Todd Corbin got word that a platoon of his fellow marines were heavily engaged in so he and the rest of the Quick reaction Force took off in three humvee and one seven ton what they didst know is that they were walking into a Well prepared trap Laid by a reservist with the 3rd name Lance Todd Corbin unit 3rd 25th marines medal Navy Cross earned May in Iraq 25th said he noticed that a car was following the Urf team As it left the Gate on that May in another ominous no one was on the streets when the team got to the native when one of the tanks escorting the team came across a the teams platoon sergeant decided to turn around and find another Way to get to the besieged As they were turning a White Van came out of an Alley that Corbin had not who was in the truck at the said he watched As the Driver reached Between the seats and pulled the it was just like i was watching he the blast disabled three humvee and knocked Many of the dismounted marines to the of 16 Only seven were Unin the insurgents immediately opened up with machine guns and Rock a propelled Gre the fact that insurgents already had their mortars zeroed in showed Corbin that they had prepared the kill zone for the Corbin and knowing the marines rules of the insurgents had taken position in a Corbin told his vehicle commander to report that they had been and he ran Over to the humvee to pick up his wounded he he first picked up his platoon commander and carried him 30 to 40 Yards to Safe All the while being shot All i wanted to do was get him off the ground and get him out of harms after putting his platoon commander in the Back of the Corbin went Back to help carry More of the wounded to he said its a mystery How he managed to avoid getting killed in the Hail of gun by gods he its kind of a weird feeling when you see the ground jumping in front of you and you dont get when he got Back to the he saw a Marine try to help a mortally wounded corps Corbin tried to get the corpsman to respond to asking the corps Man to but the Man died right in front of he just Laid Back and took his final Corbin then ran Back to the truck and grabbed a and then he and another Marine helped move another wounded Marine to for the next 45 minutes to an Corbin crisscrossed the kill zone until he had picked up All of the wounded and fallen troops and loaded them into the Back of the All the time shooting while on the Allim thinking i want to get my buddies out of he said he still remembers vividly seeing one of the humvee engulfed in flames and hearing the shrieks of the hits kind of a weird feeling when you see the ground jumping in front of you and you dont get Lance Todd Corbin wounded and the the Best picture i have of hell is that but the marines fought their Way through firing at muzzle flashes until the shooting on the other end when Corbin had every wounded service member in the Back of the he took the even though the vehicle had three Flat tires and had been shot through the Corbin drove the truck Over somehow managing to get it Back to base on a Wing and a he while Corbin realized that his body Armor had stopped two he later Learned from other marines who interrogated the insurgents that they had planned a perfect ambush for the his marines were Able to get through it Only by violence of now a Corbin said it was bittersweet when he Learned he would receive the Navy Cross for his actions in saying he lost a lot of Good peo ple mat if i could give Back my Navy Cross and bring my friends i without a because that too big a Price to pay for a piece of he email Jeff Schogol at  it was surreal that i even was hit name cwo2 Christian Beck unit company 2nd 1st aviation medal Bronze Star with purple heart earned Northwest of Iraq by Leo Shane Iii stars and stripes at the chief warrant officer 2 Christian Beck had More press ing things to worry about than the Bullet Hole in his he was worried about the after ripping through the round Tore into the dashboard of Becks knocking out the primary navigation so Beck had to level out the Mede vac Black Hawk and try to figure out How far away it was from crashing into the at while keeping his Crew and wounded patient and Becks Boot was filling up with i didst want to just give because i didst want to crash and he it was surreal that i even was so i just continued to Fly until my Copilot could take Over the an Lightyear Soldier currently stationed at fort Riley in earned a Bronze Star with v for his levelheaded thinking and level flying that the attack occurred during Becks second deployment to until he his Crews had flown Over insurgents and received some Small arms but never anything that actually hit his Heli after picking up a wounded iraqi sol Dier from inside the sunni Becks Black Hawk and another medical photos Courtesy of cw2 Christian Beck chief warrant officer 2 Christian Beck stands in front of his Black Hawk helicopter on an Airstrip outside in december helicopter headed Back toward their Bagh dad within moments after it took tracer rounds came whizzing toward the followed by More enemy army investigators later discovered that a single Bullet was the Only round to hit the but it nearly killed not just the Pilot but the four other troops on Beck said when he tried to Bank the aircraft out of the line of it struck the floor just right below his right you could smell the Fulfur and burning he you could feel it hit the and i obviously Felt it hit a Pilot since said he immediately told the Crew he had been but he needed to pull the helicopter out of its Sharp Bank before his Copilot could take his right leg was but he managed to level out quickly and hand Over the i just started using the radio Box to Tell him i was he i knew the extent of my injuries better than anyone but i had to keep a level of everybody was pretty concerned that i Beck goes through a preflight Check in his Black Hawk outside want going to make after about 15 minutes of reassurances from their Pilot and 15 minutes of intense pain for the helicopter was safely Back on the medics rushed to treat Becks wound and to tend to the other wounded patient he suffered no Lon term while Beck needed eight surgeries to regain strength in his but he and he served a third tour in Iraq As a Pilot after about a year of re Habil my Only real fear during the attack was that i  be Able to Fly he i knew the most important thing was to stay Calm and maintain control of the i could Seal the Fate of All of the lives on email Leo Shane at