European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 stars and stripes heroes june was passed out7 by Steve Mraz stars and stripes in spite of the danger in soldiers planned to pass out Candy to children on earlier in the 1st class Leon Richardson Section of Bradley fighting vehicles had been hit by about five Roadside bombs in a his Jonerik and his gunner were getting itchy from the danger but still wanted Richardson to toss some of the Candy from the Bradley to the cites on the morning of the soldiers put a bag of Candy in Richardson Hatch to throw to the they went out on patrol in the after second platoon ser Geant with the 1st armoured 2nd brigade combat 1st 6th infantry company lobbed All seemed around 2 the Bradley came name 1st class Leon Richardson unit 1st armoured Divi 2nd brigade com Bat 1st 6th infantry company a medal Silver Star earned in Iraq around a and Richardson saw some Guys take the soldiers the vehicle made a left but 200 feet later a Roadside bomb the blast flipped the tracked vehicle on its the Only thing i heard was somebody in my headphones said the 29yearold from san everything slowed Down to everything went everybody in the Bradley was passed i believe there was about six of us inside the everybody inside was knocked out for about a positioned in the got up first and went to the front of the he had cuts on his face and his legs were bleeding pretty All that remained of the front of the vehicle was a big Hole where the Drivers Hatch used to Richardson Richardson checked that the gunner got out and moved him to the Back of the vehicle to keep him from seeing what happened to the squad Leader in the Back of the Bradley yelled to Richardson that they were All but had taken some injun the medic had shrapnel in his Shoul the soldiers got out of the and Richardson without a weapon ran to another Bradley about 100 Yards behind his position to make sure they were calling in the the soldiers made a decision to move to a House about 200 Yards away to treat the Between the Bradley and the House was a Small dirt we started going around the dirt Richardson that when we got hit by Small arms one of my soldiers was hit in the the Bullet ripped through the soldiers scratching and some Bullet fragments entered the soldiers the group stopped and returned Richardson began performing first Aid on the wounded once he was sure the Soldier was Richardson and the soldiers made their Way to the he helped treat the four wounded soldiers once inside the As the medevac team it started taking Small arms we were trying to guide them to the House because they  find Richardson we were trying to keep our Heads the injured were and another squad of soldiers was dropped off to Richardson the soldiers left the House in search of the one squad went to the another went to the once they got in their we located one Richardson at the other they located two Guys that had weapons so we did capture some bad Richardson coordinated the Effort while still suffering from his i guess the medic said my wounds were pretty he the con Cussion they said was pretty i didst think it was that maybe it was just the adrenaline running through Richardson and a sergeant made the decision that they would recover moneys soldiers pulled Security and popped smoke to provide cover while Richardson performed the grim after providing cover for the team recovering the downed the two squads made their Way Back on foot to the Forward operating Fease in at around 8 or 9 Richardson was finally treated for his for his Richardson was awarded the Silver Star in you cant say enough about Loney Richardson he was the perfect i dont know anybody who disliked email Steve Mraz at  you never find the less they always find you name senior chief Petty officer Jason Taggart unit individual augment assigned to British forces medal Bronze Star with v earned december 2003 in Iraq by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes senior chief Petty officer Jason Taggart was More cop than Sailor during his first tour in after arriving in Iraq in april Taggart was assigned to the coalition military assistance training team As head of a personnel Security detachment for a British Over the teams missions expanded to include route Security and guarding iraqi Security forces gradual after one such graduation in december Taggarty Ford explorer was hit by a Roadside you never find the less they always find and As we were one of the a 155 my found said of Taggart suffered a separated shoulder and perforated eardrum but refused to be staying on the scene to help Clear the area and make sure there was no secondary when he was treated he was offered the Chance to go Home but turned it i didst want to let the team and i also knew that with me going someone would have to come and replace Taggart said by Bottom i wanted to finish out my tour and not let others now a chief warrant officer would continue serving in Iraq until the end of March earning a Bronze Star with v for leading five Security detach ments during his first deployment to Courtesy of Jason Taggart cw02 Jason Taggart at the Baghdad presidential Palace in september when Taggart volunteered to go to Iraq As an individual he was a submariner based in at he was working on communications for the coalition provisional author was then in charge of but then he Learned that a British Gener Al in the spa needed a Security detach ment and was looking for someone to run he Taggart had served As a Reserve police officer in for close to seven and had also volunteered for Security work in South Korea and Japan during previous Shore he i was pretty used to walking to beat with a he Taggart inquired about the position and was then put in charge of four British he said working with the British troops had its fun and it had its trying the British troops would tease him about what a submariner was doing in i told them we were dredging the Tigris River to try to get submarines up Taggart As a member of the Taggart was Able to get the supplies and intelligence that his team and while he had received Between two and three weeks of training before coming to he would rely mostly on his police training in his new he said one lesson from police work that he took to heart in Iraq nothing is Ever his instincts were on display in one incident in which his team was helping guard an event intended to try to get some former iraqi officers to come Back to the new iraqi Taggart said he noticed one vehicle that kept driving you can always see when people Are acting he after the fourth or fifth it was Clear that the occupants were potentially Taggart moved close to a building to the people inside got out of the car and began firing Taggart shot Back with his m4 hitting some of the he declined to give a lot of details about the saying he does not like to talk about Taggart said he would have rather used other Means to respond to the if they were but the vehicle was occupied by four and three of them did not make he Taggart is now on his third tour to the Middle East with naval expeditionary combat commands Mobile Security detachment based in he would not say specifically where he Only that he is in the 5th Fleet theater of operations conducting Antiterrorist Taggart said he was surprised when he Learned he had earned the Bronze Star with v for his first tour in and that the real heroes of this War Are the fallen most of these men and women have themselves just begun their life and in turn Given that up so that others May email Jeff Schogol at