A Marine veteran who earned the Navy Cross for actions in Iraq but later refused it, filed a complaint with the federal government alleging treatment by a ranger at a national park in California could result in the loss of his leg, which was damaged when he stepped on an IED. Dominic Esquibel, who served with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, was awarded the nation’s second highest valor award for braving enemy machine gunfire three times to save two fellow Marines during Operation Phantom Fury. Esquibel declined the Navy Cross. Seven years later, he stepped on an explosive device in Afghanistan, which tore…
Browsing: Navy Cross
We recently learned that Gunnery Sgt. Richard A. Jibson would become the latest Marine to receive the Navy Cross for heroism in Afghanistan. The Secretary of the Navy will present the award during a ceremony tomorrow at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Andrew Owensby, a sailor who worked Jibson to save the life of a wounded comrade during a five-hour fire fight in Mazr Abad Janubi, Afghanistan, will receive the Bronze Star for the same action. Their jaw-dropping medal citations and summaries of action which give minute-by-minute breakdowns of their actions…
A Navy Cross recipient’s call to a Florida police department led to a change in policy: Effective immediately, cops in Sanford will no longer wear Defense Department ribbons on their uniforms. Capt. James McAuliffe with the police department in Sanford, Fla., told Marine Corps Times on Wednesday that they immediately suspended their current awards system and will no longer use Defense Department ribbons when honoring their police officers. The change came as a result of a phone call made by Jeremiah Workman, a former Marine who earned the nation’s second highest valor award for heroics in Iraq. Workman was watching the…
A Marine who earned the nation’s second-highest military valor award for heroics in Iraq is questioning why a police officer who took the stand during George Zimmerman’s trial was wearing ribbons she did not earn, including one reserved primarily for World War II veterans. Like many Americans, Jeremiah Workman was watching Zimmerman’s trial play out on TV Monday. It’s a trial that has been long-awaited since Zimmerman, a Hispanic, was charged with second-degree murder in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a black 17-year-old. The case brought the debate on racism in the U.S. to the forefront in the…
Nationals Park was regaled in Marine imagery Wednesday night as part of the Military Branch Day program meant to honor each of the nation’s services in turn. The Wednesday event, sponsored by the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, included a Marine-themed pre-game show featuring the Quantico band, scholarship awards and an opening pitch by Lt. Gen. Willie Williams, director of Marine Corps Staff at Headquarters Marine Corps. Among those recognized with scholarship eligibility for his children was former Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Workman, who awarded the Navy Cross for actions during Operation Phantom Fury in 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. With other members…
Marine veterans from the first major battle of Operation Iraqi Freedom will meet up later this month to mark its tenth anniversary. Up to 1,000 of the original 7,100 Marines and sailors who fought in the battle of Nasiriyah are expected to meet up in Quantico, Va. March 23 to reminisce and remember fallen brothers-in-arms. Nasiriyah, fought from March 23-29, 2003, was a costly engagement between Ba’athist Iraqi forces and Marines as U.S. forces forged northward to depose the dictator Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. Casualties included 17 Marines and 11 U.S. soldiers, but American forces, led by the 2nd Marine…
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – Officer candidates will now be training and running on trails named for some of the hardest battles fought by Marines during the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Col. Kris Stillings, commanding officer at Officer Candidates School, led a ceremony today here at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va. He stood with officer candidates lined up in formation at the newly named intersection of Fallujah and Kunar trails. Sangin Trail, the third to be named, runs slightly to the north. “These trails, just like the other trails we have here … these names mean something,”…
Cpl. Christopher Farias received a Father’s Day surprise after he threw out the first pitch at the Dodgers game on Sunday — his dad was behind the catcher’s mask. Farias thought he was throwing out the first pitch as “veteran of the game,” but there was a bigger plan in action. According to his dad, this was the first Father’s Day in eight years that the 11th Marines Field Artillery School instructor wasn’t called away on duty. So he hid behind the catcher’s gear and got behind the plate to catch his son’s ceremonial first pitch. Farias, based in Dodger-territory at Camp…
In more than 10 years of war, the Navy Cross has been awarded to 31 Marines and seven sailors. Ten Navy Crosses were awarded posthumously. On Friday, two California-based Marines — Cpl. Christopher Farias and Sgt. Cliff Wooldridge — were present and accounted for as they received the Navy Cross, the nation’s second highest award for valor. Their stories will live on and join those of scores of legendary Marines. At Camp Pendleton, Farias received his award at a morning ceremony for his ferocious will to fight and direct the counterattack of an ambush in Kajaki, Afghanistan, on Oct. 5,…
By the end of this week, this picture had circulated widely, and all I could think of was Chuck Schantag, a retired Marine infantryman whose mission was to expose people like this. This “Marine-SEAL-EOD master gunnery sergeant,” a man of fantasy who has not yet been identified by name, has been called plenty of names by those who’ve sen the picture. Troops, supporters of troops and probably even some hippies are incensed. He’s wearing almost every ribbon in the inventory including World War II, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan, plus a Navy Cross, a SEAL trident, the EOD “crab,” an aiguillette,…
