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Joe Gibson is an Army Ranger. That will not mean much to those who are not a part of the Army family so here is an explanation. Spc. Joe Gibson volunteered when he joined the United States Army. He then volunteered to become a Ranger. The Ranger school turns out some of the toughest warriors in the world, paratroopers and special operations soldiers. On D-Day in 1944, when there were seaside cliffs to climb to take out German artillery, the Rangers were sent.

That is the sort of outfit Joe Gibson joined. And, he has made them proud.

Chuck Simmins

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A hero is a person who, despite their own fears, did the right thing in an emergency. There are no manuals about how to be a hero in an emergency situation. There are only the examples of those we recognize to be heroes.

Many of us have vivid memories of the events of September 11, 2001. The word “hero” has been used with respect to many people on that day.

Rick Rescorla ensured that 2,600 of his fellow employees did not die when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

Chuck Simmins

On October 17, 2005, Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn C. Cashe, Al Cashe, was one of nine men in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle on patrol in Samarra, Iraq. The Bradley hit an IED and the contents of its fuel cell was splashed throughout the interior. Cashe’s clothing was soaked with it and the vehicle was on fire.

Cashe was able to extract the driver and put out the fire that was burning him. With the rear hatch jammed, the remaining six soldiers and a translator only had a small overhead hatch available to escape from. Cashe returned to the burning Bradley and began to pull the trapped men through the hatch. His clothing almost immediately caught fire.

Despite being on fire, Cashe pulled soldier after soldier free of the wreck and to safety. Altogether he rescued six men while being burned alive himself.

Maj. Mark Rasnake wrote the following about his encounter with Sgt, Cashe at the hospital:

I met a hero last night. I did not realize it at the time, but he is the closest thing to a hero that I likely will ever meet. This is a place where the word “hero” is tossed around day in and day out, so much so that you sometimes lose sight of its true meaning. His story reminded me of it.

He was commanding a Bradley fighting vehicle that was struck with a roadside bomb, catching fire. The loading ramp jammed, trapping eight inside. The crew was forced to escape through a much smaller hatch in the top of the vehicle. All but one made it out. The medic was left behind, apparently unable to get out. Without concern for his own life, my hero went back in to the burning vehicle to retrieve his friend.

Six of his buddies came to us with severe burns. He came to us with burns over most of his body, the most severely injured of the group.

The surgeons worked for hours on his wounds and we worked for hours in the intensive care unit to stabilize him for transport. In the end, damage to his lungs made him too sick to be safely transported by plane to our hospital in Germany and then on to a burn center in San Antonio.

The ventilators we use for transport simply could not deliver the amount of oxygen he needed. If he stayed here in Iraq he would have died of his wounds. We simply cannot care for such severe burns here. Only a handful of hospitals back in the U.S. can.

Knowing this, our air evac team loaded him into the plane for the six-hour flight to Germany. They had to deliver every breath to him during that flight by squeezing a small bag by hand. I do not know yet if he made it to Germany alive, or if he will be able to fly on to San Antonio.

Cashe made it to San Antonio but died of his wounds on November 8, 2005.

Cashe was married, with a family. He had served in Desert Storm and this was his second tour in Iraq. He was awarded the Silver Star and that citation reads:

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Silver Star Medal (Posthumously) to Alwyn C. Cashe, Sergeant First Class, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with the 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3d Infantry Division, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 17 October 2005. Sergeant First Class Cashe was drenched in fuel after an IED blast ignited the Bradley Fighting Vehicle’s fuel cell, during a patrol in Samarra, Iraq. After the vehicle came to a stop and erupted in flames, he helped the driver out of the hatch and extinguished his flames. In the back of the Bradley were six more soldiers and a translator. As flames engulfed the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, without regard for his personal safety, Sergeant First Class Cashe rushed to the back of the vehicle, reached into the hot flames and started pullout out his Soldiers. The flames spread to his fuel-soaked uniform and spread quickly over his body. Despite terrible pain, Sergeant First Class Cashe placed one injured soldier on the ground and returned to the burning vehicle to retrieve another burning soldiers, all the while, he was himself still on fire. Sergeant First Class Cashe is credited with saving the lives of six soldiers, evacuating them despite his own injuries and severe burns. He died of his wounds on November 8, 2006.

The Chicago Tribune:

“My brother told me an officer once asked him why when they were in a danger zone he was always out front,” his brother, Karlos Cashe, said during Saturday’s services. “He told me that he said, `I’m at peace with myself and God, and some of these other guys might not have reached that point yet.’ That was my brother.”

That message was repeated by family and friends who gathered at First Baptist Church to pay tribute to Cashe.

Tears and laughter punctuated the two-hour service, where dozens of people who had never met Cashe came to pay their respects.

Those closest to Cashe remembered him as a boy who loved to goof around with friends while growing up in the projects, a man who cherished his family — including his wife, Tamara, 12-year-old daughter, Alexis, 8-year-old son, Andrew, and a daughter, LaJada — and a soldier who took his job seriously.

The medic who treated him at the explosion site wrote this to his family:

My name is SSgt Alisha Turner and although I only met Sgt Cashe briefly he left an impact that will stay with me always. I am a medic currently deployed to Iraq. I treated Sgt Cashe and members of his unit moments after the accident. He was a brave man and a remarkable individual. His selfless actions took my breath away and the last statement I can recall him saying has left me in awe ” Take care of my troops.” He was more worried about his wounded troops and making sure they will be alright then himself. Those of us that took care of him paid our respects to him and his fellow soldiers as they left that night. He truly is a hero in our eyes. I only learned days ago about his death and I offer my sympathy to his family. He paid the ultimate price for his country…for his fellow man. He was one of the bravest men I have known.
With deepest regards,
SSgt Alisha Turner

This Memorial Day, and every day for the rest of your life, please thank your God for men like Al Cashe. Tell your children the story of his heroism.

Redemption, Courage, Sacrifice

Somewhere near here, Valhalla or Fiddler’s Green, a band of brothers is welcoming a new friend. Standing at attention are men like Alvin York, Audie Murphy and Douglas MacArthur. A new hero has come home.

It wasn’t a very long road for Ross McGinnis. He was just 19 when he became a legend. It had not been a long road but it had some twists and turns.

Ross McGinnis was not always hero material. He grew up in a small town in western Pennsylvania, the only boy in a family with two gifted girls. His father suggests Bart Simpson as a good image of this underachiever.

At fourteen he made several mistakes, bought some marijuana and talked about it at school. When school administrators looked further, they found a couple of knives in his locker.

Suspension and court followed.

Given time to think, Ross thought. At some point he talked with an Army recruiter. In his junior year he enlisted in the United States Army under the delayed enlistment program. Those who knew him saw the change. Despite academic struggles, he graduated from high school and joined the Army.

After basic and advanced infantry training, Ross came home on leave. He was a changed man. He was a soldier.

In Germany, training for deployment to Iraq, Ross made his mark with his fellow soldiers. He was the platoon funny man, able to make men laugh even after a long day. He was also recognized as a born leader, and excelled at the skills a combat soldier needs.

His unit was assigned to northeastern Baghdad, and violence was a daily happening. In late November his unit fought off a five hour attack in which dozens of the enemy were killed. McGinnis’s photo was on the cover of the Middle East edition of Stars & Stripes for November 30 as they covered that battle.

December 4, 2006 was like most days. The unit geared up for a patrol and the delivery of a generator. Six vehicles pulled out of Combat Outpost Apache. McGinnis was the .50 cal gunner on the rear vehicle, a position he was expert at.

The vehicles ahead heard an explosion and when they looked, found McGinnis’s vehicle severely damaged with all four of its doors blown off. Medics found four wounded soldiers and McGinnis. McGinnis was dead.

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

McGinnis saw an insurgent throw a grenade from a nearby rooftop. He tried to deflect it but it dropped through the hatch behind him. Training told him to holler “Grenade” and then jump clear. That is not what this hero did.

He saw the grenade lodged in some equipment below him. The doors were locked and the four soldiers in the truck had no chance to escape. McGinnis dropped down into the Humvee and pressed his back against the radio where the grenade had come to rest, covering the blast with his body.

Ross McGinnis, a little over six feet tall and a lanky 130 some pounds, took the force of the explosion. One of the other soldiers was seriously wounded, and the other three received less serious injuries. All of them lived because of Ross McGinnis.

On June 2, 2008 the President of the United States will present the Medal of Honor to the family of Ross McGinnis. He will speak about courage and sacrifice. His fellow heroes in Valhalla and Fiddler’s Green know all about that.

It may be the the President of the United States will also talk about redemption. Ross McGinnis was once a troubled youth on a clear path to nowhere. Then, he chose to become a soldier in the United States Army. He chose to become a warrior.

This young man, this ordinary young man, found a place that gave him a path, people who became comrades and friends, and he found a time that for all eternity became his time.

God bless you, Ross McGinnis.

Ross McGinnis MoH site
Army News story by Carrie McLeroy
Scripps Newspaper by Milan Simonich

Army Resources Command, Military Awards Branch