America's North Shore Journal

Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Cross, Pur­ple Heart

First Lt. Wal­ter Bryan Jack­son is the sev­enth Sol­dier to receive the Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Cross since 1975. He is flanked by Sec­re­tary of the Army Pete Geren and his for­mer com­man­der, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves. Photo by J.D. Leipold (ARNEWS)

Army News Service

Nov. 2, 2007: First Lt. Wal­ter B. Jack­son [Oak Har­bor, Wash­ing­ton] became the sev­enth Sol­dier since the Viet­nam War ended in 1975 to receive the Dis­tin­guished Ser­vice Cross for extra­or­di­nary hero­ism in action.

Sec­re­tary of the Army Pete Geren pre­sented the DSC, which is sec­ond in prece­dence to only the Medal of Honor for valor in bat­tle, at a cer­e­mony held in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes this afternoon.

A sec­ond lieu­tenant at the time of his heroic action on Sept. 27, 2006, Lt. Jack­son was cited for self­less courage under extreme enemy fire while serv­ing as a com­pany fire sup­port offi­cer with com­pany A, Task Force 1^st Bat­tal­ion, 36^th Infantry Reg­i­ment in Al Anbar Province, Iraq.

Lt. Jack­son was engaged in com­bat oper­a­tions with his unit against insur­gents and while he attempted to recover a dis­abled vehi­cle, his unit came under heavy machine gun fire, which resulted in sev­eral Sol­diers being wounded. As he applied first aid to a severely wounded com­rade, he too was shot in the thigh.

Lt. Jackson's cita­tion in part reads: "Upon regain­ing con­scious­ness after being shot, sec­ond lieu­tenant alter­nated between return­ing fire and admin­is­ter­ing first aid to the Sol­dier. Sec­ond Lt. Jack­son was hit again with machine gun fire as he helped carry his wounded com­rade to safety, but he never fal­tered in his aid. Although his own severe wounds required imme­di­ate evac­u­a­tion and sur­gi­cal care, 2^nd Lt. Jack­son refused med­ical assis­tance until his wounded com­rade could be treated. Sec­ond Lt. Jackson's self­less courage under extreme enemy fire was essen­tial to sav­ing another Soldier's life and is in keep­ing with the finest tra­di­tions of mil­i­tary service…"

Before the pre­sen­ta­tion, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves, for­mer Task Force com­man­der, recounted part of that Sep­tem­ber 2006 day when he arrived at the med­ical aid sta­tion to see his wounded Sol­diers and the first words to come from 2^nd Lt. Jack­son were of con­cern for the wounded cap­tain he'd rescued.

"All the lead­er­ship schools, classes and years of expe­ri­ence never really pre­pare you for that moment in time when you are stand­ing among heroes who have given their all, where their first con­cerns still remain with their fel­low Sol­diers," he said. "It rein­forces duty and com­mit­ment unlike any other experience."

After Sec­re­tary Geren made the award pre­sen­ta­tion, 1^st Lt. Jack­son spoke to the packed room, humbly thank­ing his fam­ily, his West Point class­mates and the Sol­diers he's served with in his short two-year career and say­ing sim­ply, "I believe I just had to do what I had to do in that sit­u­a­tion… I think many Sol­diers would have done the same thing."

1^st Lt. Jack­son has been recov­er­ing from his wounds at Wal­ter Reed Army Med­ical Cen­ter, hav­ing under­gone more than a dozen surg­eries. While recov­er­ing at WRAMC, he vol­un­teered as an intern with the Judge Advo­cate General's office. He is await­ing orders to take over a mul­ti­ple launch rocket sys­tem pla­toon in Korea with the 2^nd Infantry Divi­sion Fires Brigade.