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The Army veteran is credited with saving his entire squad that day after being pinned down by enemy fire coming from a block of houses.
"He quickly exchanged an M16 rifle for an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon, entered the house where his squad was trapped, and engaged insurgents, providing cover fire so that he and his fellow soldiers could exit safely," said a White House statement announcing his award.
When an armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle could not fire directly into the house, Bellavia re-entered the house armed only with an M16, and attacked insurgents who had been firing rocket-propelled grenades.
"He proceeded to kill one insurgent and wound another, who then ran to another part of the house," said a White House statement announcing his award. "Then-Staff Sergeant Bellavia was soon engaged by another insurgent rushing down the stairs when the previously wounded insurgent reemerged to engage him as well." Bellavia was able to return fire and killed both attackers.
"He then took enemy fire from an insurgent who had appeared from a closet across the room. He pursued him up the stairs and killed him," said the statement.
Bellavia then to the roof "where he engaged and wounded a fifth insurgent, who fell from the roof of the building."
Battle for Fallujah: David Bellavia
Published on Apr 15, 2009
SSG David Bellavia describes his experience in the November 2004 battle for Fallujah, Iraq. David said they were up against a "global all-star team" of Islamic terrorists.
This video contains scenes from an interview as shown on the Military Channel.
David has written a book called "House to House." Here is a link to his web site: DavidBellavia.com
Thanks for the link. I had a feeling he would say he's not the only one that deserved it.
Quote:
"One guy gets attention, but none of that's possible without the work of, you know, 25 guys that nobody talks about," he said. "And in this fight, in this circumstance, it was just a group of guys that were out-gunned, and we -- we fought our way through it together."
"This award is our award, and they're, we all consider it something that we did together," he added.
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