Pfc. Justin Casillas and Pfc. Aaron Fairbairn – the rest of the story
July 4 2009 was quite a day in the Twitterverse, that portion of the Internet community that uses Twitter. A Twitter user announced that his son had been killed in Afganistan. Messages of support came in. Others questioned if the death had actually happened. Still others took the father to task for his announcement on Twitter or for the type of business he ran on the Internet. All in all, hundreds if not thousands of people learned about Aaron Fairbairn.
No one heard about Justin Casillas.
Pfc. Justin Casillas
And that is a shame.
On Independence Day, his camp came under direct assault. Soldiers filmed part of the fighting, including footage of Casillas firing a mortar as part of a two-person team.
There’s no film of what happened next, when shrapnel from enemy ordnance severed a leg artery of Casillas’ gunmate, Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn, 20, of Aberdeen, Wash. Casillas, trained in first aid, knew that Fairbairn, a close friend from boot camp, needed immediate treatment.
“Pfc. Casillas, without hesitation, actually pushed his . . . platoon sergeant and mortar crew chief aside,” said 1st Lt. Mike Bassi, in an interview filmed by troops.
Casillas “ran into incoming fire three different times: one to get a fire mission in order for us to return fire effectively on the enemy. The second time to retrieve Pfc. Fairbairn, who was injured in the mortar pit, and the third time to take him” for medical treatment, the lieutenant said.
But as Casillas carried his taller, wounded friend through enemy fire, a mortar round landed 5 feet away, killing them both.
by Howard Blume
Los Angeles Times
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The ceremony honoring a fallen Colusa County hero was sacred, simple and heartbreaking.
The family of Army Pfc. Justin A. Casillas received a Silver Star on Monday for his heroic actions in battle on the Fourth of July, 2009.
“The Silver Star … is a celebration of Justin’s gallantry,” Capt. Bryce Kawaguchi, Casillas’ commanding officer, said during the ceremony, describing Casillas as a man that “all soldiers should seek to emulate.”
Lt. Col. Peter G. Minalga called Casillas “fearless” and described him as “the best kind of soldier.”
Casillas’ mother, Donna Casillas, and sisters, Victoria and Ashleigh, accepted the military honor together at Arbuckle Memorial Park in front of the American flag pole that bears Casillas’ name.
Casillas died in battle at the age of 19, just a year after graduating from Pierce High School in Arbuckle.
“Words cannot describe the pride we feel today,” Minalga remarked, “or the heartache of the loss of such a fine American paratrooper.”
By Rob Parsons/Tri-County Newspapers
Willows Journal
Table of contents for Fairbairn
- Aaron Fairbairn – KIA Afghanistan July 4 2009
- Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn, 20, of Aberdeen, Washington
- Air Assault into Zurok
- Pfc. Justin Casillas and Pfc. Aaron Fairbairn – the rest of the story
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