American Valor Quarterly Issue 4 - Autumn 2008 | Page 25

I had been returning fire toward the position where I thought the
insurgents were shooting from when I was hit. I slouched over
and lost consciousness, from what I have been told. When I came
to, I began returning fire again. However, I was unable to reload
the magazine because of the loss of blood and I guess the shock
of the injury, so I went back to providing first aid to First Sergeant
Sapp. I looked over and saw Sergeant First Class Mark Newlin,
one of the other Soldiers who had been towing the Humvee out
of the mud; he was directing the gunners inside the Bradley fighting
vehicles and ordering the Soldiers from inside the vehicles to
come over to assist me and evacuate the commander and the
first sergeant due to the severity of their wounds.
They moved over and picked up the
commander, who had an injury to his left
leg – the femoral artery had been hit, so he
was bleeding profusely. As they loaded him
in the vehicle, Lieutenant Diem Vo, a platoon
leader on the ground, noticed his
commander’s weapon still out in the open,
so he ran over to retrieve it and was hit in
the arm by machine gun fire. He was able
to move and was ambulatory, so he got
back in the vehicle. Sergeant First Class
Newlin came back a second time under fire
to assist me in picking up First Sergeant
Sapp.
At that point, nobody knew that I was
injured. I knew I was hurt, but I also knew
I still had to help evacuate First Sergeant
Sapp. So I stood up and helped carry him
back to the Bradley vehicle, which was about
thirty feet away.

A combat lifesaver came over and started to stabilize me, which
was the first time somebody actually treated any of my injuries. I
don’t remember, but I am told by Sergeant Newlin that I looked
at him and asked, “Are you a medic?” He said no, and I guess I
told him, “I don’t want a combat lifesaver, I want a medic!”
because at that point, I knew everybody had been taken care of
so now I wanted somebody who was trained and qualified, not
somebody who just knew some first aid. It was kind of a funny,
surreal moment that I do not remember one bit.
What I was really proud of was that even after all that had
happened – which was only about an hour into an eight-hour
battle that ensued that day – Sergeant Newlin and Lieutenant Vo
got back into their vehicles and drove back
out to the battlefield. Even after we had
been evacuated, they went back to keep
fighting the enemy despite seeing what had
happened to us. I was really proud to see
them keep on fighting.
When it was all said and done, they had
rounded up fifteen insurgents from a
mosque that the enemy was trying to use as
a safe haven. They thought they were safe
from us there, since they know we will not
shoot at a mosque, but we had sent in the
Iraqi Quick Reaction Force to take them
out. For their actions that day, Sergeant
Newlin and Lieutenant Vo were both
awarded the Silver Star.
Gene Pell: What happened to Sergeant
Sapp, the first sergeant?

Captain Walter Bryan Jackson,
United States Army.

Captain Jackson: The captain and first
sergeant both recovered from their injuries.
They both are actually still undergoing surgeries to this day. I am
Captain Jackson: Exactly. The entire time we were under fire the most fortunate of the three of us, actually, but they survived
from two different machine gun positions. We did not know that day and are doing well.
where they were at, but returned fire in their general direction. So
we picked up First Sergeant Sapp – there were four of us – Gene Pell: And you were at Walter Reed for how long?
myself, Sergeant Newlon, our medic, and another Soldier. We
started moving him and, I don’t recall this, but I am told that I Captain Jackson: I was there for an entire year.
was hit a third time from enemy fire as we made our way toward
the Humvee. But we kept pushing on and got in the back of the Gene Pell: There was a lot of controversy in the press about
vehicle. They laid First Sergeant Sapp down, and I grabbed his Walter Reed and the treatment and care that patients were being
hand to comfort him.
offered. What was your experience?
Gene Pell: But you were still under fire?

Captain Jackson: I was there both before and after that
Washington Post article had come out. But when I initially arrived
there, I had a great experience with the doctors and staff – I was
treated like a rock star. It could not have been better as an inpatient.
The problems came when I was discharged as an outpatient.

AMERICAN VALOR QUARTERLY - Autumn 2008 - 25

Courtesy of Walter Bryan Jackson

The medic looked me over and noticed that I was injured, but I
told him to not worry about it and to help to stabilize First
Sergeant Sapp. Once we were all loaded in, we pushed out to the
field hospital, which took about five minutes or so. They
offloaded us and laid us all down on the beds, and th