American Valor Quarterly Issue 5 - Winter 2008/09 | Page 12

Captain W. Bryan Jackson, USA
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Previous Recipients: 2006 - Sgt. Timothy Connors; 2007 - Sgt. Jeremiah Workman
Al Anbar Province, Iraq. September 27, 2006.
Then-2nd Lt. Walter Bryan Jackson and his unit were attempting to recover a disabled vehicle along the road in what
was then the deadliest province in the country. Jackson was the Fire Support Officer for Company A, Task Force 1st
Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment. Formerly serving in Germany, he had met with his unit en route to Iraq in
January of the same year.
As his unit worked on the disabled vehicle, they came under severe machine gun fire from insurgent forces. The
firing was centered on the middle of the road, which lay between Jackson and the commander. The commander
and first sergeant were hit almost immediately. Seeing this, Jackson quickly crossed the road to the first sergeant’s
side and applied a pressure bandage to the wound. Within a minute of reaching the sergeant’s side, Jackson
himself was hit in the thigh and hand. He slumped over, losing consciousness for about a minute.
When he came to, Jackson began laying down suppressive fire in the general direction of the enemy. He then
continued to administer first aid on the sergeant. After a few minutes, Jackson tried to reload the magazine of his rifle; but due to his injuries
he was losing strength and was unable to load the weapon. So he turned his attention back to first aid, trying his best to keep the sergeant’s
bleeding from becoming worse.
Meanwhile a few soldiers ran across the road to bring the injured commander to one of the Bradleys. A sniper hit another one of the soldiers
as he bent down to pick up the commander’s weapon. The soldiers returned to help Jackson carry the sergeant to the Bradley, unaware that
Jackson himself was seriously wounded. Despite the severe pain, Jackson stood up and helped carry the sergeant to the Bradley. On the way,
Jackson was hit again in the leg. He and his comrades climbed into the Bradley and were evacuated.