Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.
This week Bruce told us about Lance Cpl. Mina Salama. We had a bad connection for about a minute but then he came in clear and told us another amazing story. This summary is from Stars and Stripes,
“They told me there were people inside,” said Salama, 22, a Jersey City, N.J., native.
That was all he needed to hear. He immediately headed for a small gap in the rubble.
…In a deposition, Sgt. Shane R. Bertrand called it “one of the bravest and most unselfish acts I have witnessed in three combat deployments.”
Once they pulled the Iraqi man out, Salama continued talking with bystanders to see if additional aid was needed. From them, he learned of a young girl injured in a nearby building and coordinated medical evacuation for her as well.
For his actions, Salama, currently deployed to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit on Okinawa, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal.
According to the Navy, the medal is awarded to servicemembers who risk their lives to save others in actions not involving actual conflict with an enemy. President John F. Kennedy was awarded the medal for his World War II actions in saving crewmembers of his Navy patrol boat — PT-109 — after a Japanese destroyer sliced through it in the Solomon Islands.
Though others call Salama heroic, the Marine says otherwise:
“I’m not a hero. I was just doing what I had to do.”
The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 8-10pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.