Every soldier there was a hero

June 11, 2015

Stars and Stripes

When 2nd Lt. James McCormick heard the calls for help over the radio from troops caught in an ambush, he scrambled in hopes of getting into the fight.

Just days earlier, McCormick had been shot three times in an ambush a few miles from his base, a logistical staging zone near Baghdad International Airport. It was April 2004 and the war was still in its early stages. The Iraqi capital was turning more violent by the day.

“I told my guys in the other Humvee, ‘Let’s mount up and go get them,’ ” said McCormick, who was attached to the 1487th Transportation Company and was responsible for convoy security. “I thought, a couple guys are better than no guys.”

At the gate, however, McCormick and his team were turned back by guards and told to remain on post. As it turned out, only moments later there would be plenty of fighting to do right where he was. For his actions that day — April 11, 2004 — McCormick would be recognized with a Silver Star for his leadership during the defense of his compound, repeatedly putting himself in the line of fire.

McCormick’s “exceptional gallantry, courage and leadership saved hundreds of lives, protected critical military assets, and inflicted heavy causalities on the enemy,” his Silver Star commendation reads.

The order that McCormick received to stay on post rather than respond to the ambush only a few miles away saved the base from being overrun by insurgents.

Read entire article at Stars and Stripes.