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Guardsman Shows Courage Under Fire
(February 16, 2010) | 
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Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland awards the Silver Star
Medal to Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark A. Wanner on Feb. 6, 2010, at the
Ohio Statehouse. Wanner is the first Ohio National Guard member to
be awarded the Silver Star since the Korean War. |
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COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 12, 2010 Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark
Wanner prefers to be referred to as a soldier, not as a
hero. But he graciously humors those who insist on the
latter.
On Feb. 6, the Ohio Army National Guard Special Forces
medical sergeant stood unassumingly on a stage in the Ohio
Statehouse atrium here to receive the Silver Star Medal —
the nation's third-highest medal for valor in combat.
Despite the season's worst snowstorm, several hundred
people, including his fellow Green Berets from the
Columbus-based Company B, 2nd Battalion of the Army National
Guard's 19th Special Forces Group, traveled to Central Ohio
to attend the event honoring Wanner for his actions in
Afghanistan during a firefight in May when he saved the life
of a fellow Green Beret. |
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Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Army Maj. Gen. Gregory L. Wayt, the adjutant
general of Ohio, were on hand to present Wanner with the medal. It is the
first such award for an Ohio National Guard member since the Korean War.
“We are in the presence of greatness today,” Strickland said. “Many people
live their entire lives wondering if they've made a difference. But Sergeant
1st Class Mark Wanner never has to worry about that, does he?”
Fighting back tears, Army Sgt. 1st Class Sean Clifton recounted the day he
almost lost his life after being shot multiple times during a raid on a
Taliban compound in eastern Afghanistan.
“I'm standing here today, alive, because of the heroic and competent actions
Mark performed on the night of May 31, 2009 -- Memorial Day,” Clifton said.
The previous week, Clifton and his team had received word that a known
Taliban leader soon would be meeting with about a half dozen Taliban
fighters in a nearby village.
After waiting for five days with what Wanner referred to as “tactical
patience,” the team received word that their target was in position. It had
been training with their Afghan counterparts for nearly five months, and the
plan was to allow the Afghans to take the lead and for the U.S. soldiers to
follow closely behind.
But when the team approached the village, the Afghans already were in
trouble, and the situation was deteriorating quickly. They had expected five
or six Taliban fighters, but there were at least 30. They reacted
immediately.
“I led some guys into a doorway, and that just happened to be the room that
had 80 percent of the threat,” Clifton said. “I knew something wasn't quite
right. Then I got hit.”
Clifton had taken at least four rounds. The first entered his pelvis just
below his body armor, the second hit the chest plate of his body armor, the
third shattered his left forearm, and the last round hit his helmet,
knocking off his night-vision goggles.
When he saw his injured arm and realized his rifle had dropped in front of
him, Clifton knew he was in trouble.
He headed back out and almost immediately ran into Army Sgt. 1st Class Matt
Scheaffer, a team medic. Wanner, the team's senior medic, realized Clifton
was hit and immediately ran to assist Scheaffer.
Rounds splashed the ground around them as they began working on their
wounded comrade. Realizing the danger to their patient, they quickly dragged
him around to what they assumed was the safer side of the building.
As the two medics continued to work on Clifton, Wanner began to realize the
extent of his patient's wounds. Wanner knew they couldn't move Clifton
unless they had a stretcher, so he ran to the vehicle to retrieve one. As
the medic returned, the group began receiving fire from a window about 15
feet away, forcing them to press up against the wall of the building.
As he continued to work on Clifton, Wanner coordinated suppressing fire on
the window and told Scheaffer to grab a fragmentation grenade.
Wanner kept on the back of his body armor and tossed the grenade into the
room from which they were taking fire. The tactic worked. It subdued the
enemy long enough to allow the medics to race Clifton to a vehicle for
evacuation.
Wanner continued to provide life-saving care as they bounced across the
desert to a medical evacuation site, avoiding the main routes they knew to
be laced with roadside bombs.
When the medical evacuation helicopters arrived, Wanner boarded the one
carrying his patient, and he didn't leave until Clifton was transported to
the U.S. Army hospital at Landstuhl, Germany, three days later.
“He was there every step of the way, ensuring I was receiving the best
possible care,” Clifton said of Wanner's actions. “He assisted the flight
surgeon in the medevac, the trauma surgeons in the [operating room], and
even helped out a wounded soldier that lay next to me. That's Mark, ... always
going over and above the call of duty.”
Wanner, a North Dakota resident, spent nine years in his home state's
National Guard before joining the Ohio National Guard in 2000, when he
accepted a job as a researcher with the University of Cincinnati's College
of Medicine.
In 2003, he left his job at the university to begin two years of Special
Forces qualification and specialized language and medical training. When he
moved back to North Dakota, he did not even consider leaving his Ohio
National Guard Special Forces unit.
“I find it remarkable that he travels every month to train with these men
right here,” Wayt said. “That speaks to the brotherhood that exists inside
this unit.”
Throughout nearly 20 years of service, Wanner has worked in several
specialties, training initially as a vehicle mechanic, then as a carpentry
and masonry specialist and combat engineer in the North Dakota National
Guard before joining the Ohio National Guard and earning his Green Beret. He
earned a bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University in 1996 with a
major in microbiology and minors in chemistry and biotechnology.
Wayt referred to Wanner as a “fixer,” who epitomizes the spirit of the
Silver Star Medal.
“If you have mechanical trouble, you call Mark. If you have a house problem
and you want something built or fixed, you call Mark,” Wayt said. “And as
Sergeant Clifton can attest, he fixes life-threatening injuries as well.”
Wanner, who currently works building custom homes in North Dakota, shrugged
off the praise.
“I was just the closest person to him that day. The real heroes are the
whole team, our Afghan counterparts,” he said. “The whole team's a hero,
because everyone did their part.”
Nonetheless, Clifton credits the medic who never left his side, ensuring he
made it home to his wife and two young sons.
“I've thanked Mark several times since that day, and his response is always
the same,” Clifton said. “‘Ah, you would have done the same thing. I was
just doing my job.'” | |
Article by Army 2nd Lt. Kimberly Snow, Ohio National Guard
U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Cleary
Special to American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
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