Marine Sgt. Matthew Abbate Posthumously Awarded Navy Cross
U.S. Marine
Sergeant
Matthew Abbate was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, the
highest decoration that can be bestowed by the Department of
the Navy and second highest decoration for valor, during an
award ceremony at the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines' Parade
Deck here, Aug. 10, 2012.
On Oct. 14, 2010, Abbate's Quick Reaction Force team came
under fire during a dismounted patrol through Sangin,
Afghanistan's northern green zone. His patrol was ambushed
in a minefield by insurgents who were in several
well-prepared positions. After his team received fire,
patrol members moved to cover after two Marines and a
Corpsman struck improvised explosive devices in quick
succession. With the patrol leader incapacitated and three
severe casualties, Abate took charge of the situation and,
with total disregard for his own life, sprinted through the
unswept minefield to rally the dazed team members.
Still exposed and suppressing the enemy, he directed the
remaining squad member's fire until they effectively
suppressed the enemy and could give life-saving aid to the
urgent casualties. After coordinating the medical
evacuation, he swept the landing zone with a mine detector
for additional explosives, clearing it for the medical
evacuation aircraft, before the patrol was again forced to
take cover from enemy fire.
Knowing the casualties' survival depended upon the speed of
their evacuation by helicopter, he again rallied the
patrol's able men and led a counter offensive to clear enemy
fighters from the landing zone allowing the critically
wounded to be evacuated.
Sergeant
Abbate was killed in action six weeks later on Dec. 2nd in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
(Information from article by
Marine Lance Cpl. Timothy Childers, August 10, 2012)
U.S. Marine Corps video by Staff Sgt. Philip Grondin
