American Valor Quarterly Issue 4 - Autumn 2008 | Page 24

Valor in Anbar
An Excerpt From Veterans Chronicles
Veterans Chronicles, the American Veterans Center’s weekly radio
series, features the stories of America’s greatest military heroes, in
their own words. The program is hosted by Gene Pell, former
NBC Pentagon Correspondent and Moscow Bureau Chief, as
well as Director for Voice of America and President of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

fellow Soldiers were seriously wounded. Instinctively, Jackson
immediately went to provide aid before being shot himself.
Despite his wounds, he continued to alternate between fighting
off the enemy and tending to his fellow Soldier. It was not until
the others were treated and evacuated that Jackson allowed himself
to receive aid.

Each week, Gene talks to distinguished service members from
World War II all the way through Operation Iraqi Freedom,
allowing them to share their insights on the great and tragic
moments in American military history. Veterans Chronicles airs
nationwide on the Radio America network, downloaded via
podcast, and heard online at www.americanveteranscenter.org.

Captain Jackson would spend a year recovering from his wounds
in Walter Reed Army Medical Center before returning to duty
overseas in Korea. In this issue, we are proud to share his story
of valor.

In this issue of American Valor Quarterly, we feature the story of
U.S. Army Captain Walter Bryan Jackson, recipient of the
Distinguished Service Cross - second only to the Medal of Honor
- for valor in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Captain Jackson graduated from the United States Military
Academy at West Point in 2005. On September 26, 2006 as a
young second lieutenant, Jackson and his fellow Soldiers of
Company A, Task Force 1-36 came under attack from insurgents
in the al-Anbar province of Iraq - what was then the deadliest
region of the country. In the ensuing action, two of Jackson’s

Captain Walter Bryan Jackson: At the time we were responding
to a mortar attack against one of our combat outposts, and I
was with my company commander, Captain Eric Stainbrook, as
his support officer. We were rounding up a couple of detainees
who we thought were responsible for attacking that base, and as
we were about to pull away from the house where we found
them, one of our Humvees became stuck in the mud. So we
dismounted from the vehicles and were pulling security while
other Soldiers atte \Y