Bryant Caldwell:
CLASS OF 1983
Rahway High SchoolClass of 1983
Rahway, NJ
Bryant's Story
Col. William F. Grimsley, 1st Bde. commander,
pins the Soldier¿s Medal on Sgt.
1st Class Bryant Caldwell at the 3/69
Armor motor pool Jan. 15.
3/69 NCO earns
Soldier¿s Medal
Under sunny Georgia skies, a Soldier from
3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment was awarded
with the Soldier¿s Medal Jan. 15 for his bravery
rescuing Soldiers who were injured in an
attack on their vehicle in Baghdad, Iraq.
The afternoon of May 26, while serving as the
S4 noncommissioned officer in charge for 3/69,
Sgt. 1st Class Bryant Caldwell witnessed an
enemy bomb attack on a scout Humvee from 2nd
Battalion 7th Infantry Regiment which left the
vehicle burning and the crew inside. Caldwell
rushed to the vehicle to rescue the scouts, despite
the possibility of subsequent attacks, and began
to remove the Soldiers from the accident scene
as others called for medical evacuation.
As Caldwell reached safety with the second
injured crewman, the fire in the Humvee reached
the ammunition cache, igniting secondary explosions. With the Humvee totally
engulfed in flames, Caldwell
returned to the vehicle to rescue the
fina...Expand for more
l crewman. As he approached
the stricken vehicle, ammunition
exploded, sending fire and shrapnel
in all directions and hitting him in
the chest. With multiple puncture
wounds and burns, Caldwell continued
on to the vehicle to retrieve
the remaining scout. The badly
wounded and exhausted Caldwell
carried the Soldier to safety.
¿I got hit by something, but to
this day I have no idea what it was.
If I had to do it over again, I
would,¿ Caldwell said. ¿I just didn¿t
want anymore Soldiers to die
out there. I was doing what I
would have done for anybody.¿
Once all of the crewmen were
removed from the vehicle,
Caldwell administered first aid to
the wounded crew until overcome
by his own wounds. Caldwell¿s
actions saved the lives of two of the
scouts at the risk of his own.
Col. William F. Grimsley, 1st
Brigade Commander, pinned the
Soldier¿s Medal on Caldwell
before the entire battalion at the
3/69 motor pool.
¿He¿s a tremendous hero, rushing
in again and again with things
burning and exploding all around
him and Soldiers dying,¿ Grimsley
said. ¿It was just an unbelievable
act.¿
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