September 7, 2005

BY MATTHEW LAKIN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

Two Bristol soldiers helped pull a wounded comrade to safety Monday after a car bomb tore apart their Humvee in Baghdad, Army officials said.

It’s the first time soldiers of Troop F, 2nd Squadron, of the 278th Regimental Combat Team have been injured since the troop arrived in the Iraqi capital nine months ago.

"It was bound to happen and it finally did," Capt. Wiley Hammer, the troop’s commanding officer, wrote in an e-mail. "It was our worst day, and yet it was one of our finest."

The bombing sent two soldiers to a military hospital with cuts and severe burns.

Spc. Jamie Smith, a Rogersville soldier attached to the Bristol troop, suffered the most serious injuries – cuts and second-degree burns to his head, neck and arms, Hammer said. He arrived Tuesday at a military hospital in Germany.

First Lt. Jeffrey Loaring-Clark of Dallas suffered burns to his face and hands. He could arrive in Germany today for treatment, the captain said.

Two Bristol soldiers – Sgt. Chris Cartwright, 25, and Sgt. Leon Brimm, 30 – made it out with ringing ears and minor burns. They helped get the wounded Smith out, then stayed to carry radios, maps and other equipment from the burning truck as ammunition caught fire and exploded around them, according to Hammer.

"Every soldier we have here with us in Troop F would have done the same," Cartwright’s father, 1st Sgt. John Cartwright, wrote in an e-mail. "All our troopers do great things every day."

The bombing came just one week after word that the soldiers could return home by Thanksgiving. Families said the timing couldn’t have made them more tense.

"We always knew this could happen," said Terri McCormick, leader of the troop’s family readiness group. "A lot of us are just thankful it wasn’t worse."

The bombing happened at around 9:30 a.m. (1:30 a.m. EDT) while soldiers from Troop F escorted a military convoy near Baghdad’s Green Zone, the heavily guarded seat of the occupation. Chris Cartwright was driving the Humvee at about 50 mph when a car loaded with an estimated 75 pounds of explosives erupted in flames just 5 feet away, Hammer said.

The explosion blew the doors off the truck, knocked Cartwright halfway out of the driver’s seat and sent Brimm and an Iraqi interpreter flying from the back seat.

"The guys behind them said a hell of a fireball went up," said Brimm’s father, Bill. "Those boys were lucky to get out alive."

Smith, who was standing in the gunner’s hatch, caught the worst of the blast, which burned off his moustache and eyebrows and knocked his helmet more than 100 yards away, the captain said.

"His helmet saved his life," Hammer wrote.

Cartwright, still hanging half out of the Humvee, pulled himself back inside and sped out of the kill zone.

Other Troop F soldiers, along with soldiers from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, ran to the scene to help. Cartwright and the lieutenant, who was riding in the front passenger seat, took charge. With help from Brimm, they made sure Smith got out safely.

"They would not leave the site," Hammer wrote.

Cartwright and Brimm stayed to empty the vehicle and salvage the equipment.

Cartwright arrived later at the hospital, where he sat by Smith’s bed to assure him everything would be all right.

"Yesterday I saw valor," Hammer wrote. "I saw men doing what needed to be done, even while they were physically suffering, to save each other and to save equipment. They did what they were trained to do, but more deeply, they did what brothers in arms do. They acted as American soldiers should."

The men called home within a few hours to let their families know they were safe. Bill Brimm heard from his son at around 7:30 a.m.

"The first thing he said was, ‘I’m OK,’ " the father said.

Chris Cartwright’s father, who has another son serving in Iraq, knew the story a little sooner. But he wasn’t any less proud.

"As far as praise, all of these guys deserve it every day," 1st Sgt. Cartwright wrote. "I can’t say I’m not real proud of both my sons, but I feel like I have a bunch of sons over here."

U.S. troops secure the area as a military vehicle burns on the road in Baghdad, Monday, Sept.5, 2005. Four civilians died in a car bomb attack on a military convoy. (The Associated Press)

Story Copyright to BRISTOL HERALD COURIER