Patriots’ Corner Update
06/05/04
I did not write the article below and I did not receive the name of the writer, but I would be happy to give proper credit if anyone can supply that piece of information. These true stories need to be told whenever we find them, though, so in that spirit, I am placing it where it belongs on this website. DebV
Meet
a modern day Patriot:
Brian Chontosh, First lieutenant in the United States
Marine Corps, presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery
the United States can bestow.
Husband and about-to-be father and a
genuine hero.
That's
a big deal.
But
you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's
hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather
about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.
The
odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the
American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving
virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.
Oh,
sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see
those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name
basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about
improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab
public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
We
get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.
But
we don't hear about the heroes.
The
incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents
would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.
The
ones we completely ignore.
Like
Brian Chontosh.
It
was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader
rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.
When
all hell broke loose.
Ambush
city.
The
young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket
propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or
die and it was up to him.
So
he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to
safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under
direct enemy machine gun fire.
It
was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.
And
Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee
directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the
guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.
Within
moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still
advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi
trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went
and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228
years of Marine Corps pride.
And
he ran down the trench.
With
its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.
And
he killed them all.
He
fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta
until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with
that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and
fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At
one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending
attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When
he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his
platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
But
that's probably not how he would tell it.
He would
probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of
trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.
"By
his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face
of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected
great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps
and the United States Naval Service."
That's
what the citation says.
And
that's what nobody will hear.
That's
what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are
dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are
heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to
inform, or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed
us lies.
But
I guess it doesn't matter.
We're
going to turn out all right.
As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.
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