U.S. Justin LeHew, Navy Cross IRAQ

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Navy Cross

Authorized February 4, 1919, the Navy Cross was the Navy's third highest award for combat heroism and other distinguished services. On August 7, 1942, Congress made the Navy Cross a combat only decoration with precedence over the Distinguished Service Medal, making it the Navy's second highest award ranking below only the Medal of Honor. It shares its position with the Army's Distinguished Service Cross and the Air Force Cross


Justin LeHew

* Date of birth: 2 Jan. 1970
* Place of birth: Columbus Grove, Ohio
* Home of record: Temecula, Calif.
*

Justin LeHew served in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. In October 1996, he graduated Drill Instructor School at MCRD San Diego. He earned the Navy Cross for his heroism in Iraq in 2003 and, one year later when his award was approved and scheduled for presentation, First Sergeant LeHew was back in Iraq on his second tour. He was selected for the rank of Sergeant Major in November 2006, and subsequently deployed yet again to Iraq as Battalion Sergeant Major of the First Reconnaissance Battalion.

Navy Cross

Awarded for actions during the Global War on Terror

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Gunnery Sergeant Justin D. LeHew, United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism as Amphibious Assault Platoon Sergeant, Company A, First Battalion, Second Marines, Task Force Tarawa, First Marine Expeditionary Force in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM on 23 and 24 March 2003. As Regimental Combat Team 2 attacked north towards An Nasiriyah, Iraq, lead elements of the Battalion came under heavy enemy fire. When the beleaguered United States Army 507th Maintenance Company convoy was spotted in the distance, Gunnery Sergeant LeHew and his crew were dispatched to rescue the soldiers. Under constant enemy fire, he led the rescue team to the soldiers. With total disregard for his own welfare, he assisted the evacuation effort of four soldiers, two of whom were critically wounded. While still receiving enemy fire, he climbed back into his vehicle and immediately began suppressing enemy infantry. During the subsequent company attack on the eastern bridge over the Euphrates River, Gunnery Sergeant LeHew continuously exposed himself to withering enemy fire during the three-hour urban firefight. His courageous battlefield presence inspired his Marines to fight a determined foe and allowed him to position his platoon's heavy machine guns to repel numerous waves of attackers. In the midst of the battle, an Amphibious Assault Vehicle was destroyed, killing or wounding all its occupants. Gunnery Sergeant LeHew immediately moved to recover the nine Marines. He again exposed himself to a barrage of fire as he worked for nearly an hour recovering casualties from the wreckage. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, Gunnery Sergeant LeHew reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Service: Marine Corps

Rank: Gunnery Sergeant

Bronze Star

Authorized on February 4, 1944, the Bronze Star Medal is awarded to members of all branches of military service. The medal may be awarded either for meritorious service or for combat actions, in which case the "V" device is attached.

Justin D. LeHew

Bronze Star

Awarded for actions during the Global War on Terror

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" to First Sergeant Justin D. LeHew, United States Marine Corps, for heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy as Company First Sergeant, Company C, Battalion Landing Team 1/4, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), I Marine Expeditionary Force from 5 to 27 August 2004, in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II. While defending against a Mahdi Militia attack on Iraqi security forces, the Company came under intense mortar, rocket, sniper, and machine-gun fire at Revolutionary Square, in the heart of Najaf, Iraq. First Sergeant LeHew fearlessly moved about the battlefield to points of contact. On three occasions, he directed the fires of vehicle-mounted weapons against enemy snipers and militia attempting to penetrate the rear lines of the Company. For six hours, he repeatedly moved back and forth under heavy sniper fire and mortar attack, ensuring safety and inspiring Marines. During heavy fighting in the Najaf cemetery, he moved to assist in the treatment and evacuation of nine wounded Marines and three killed in action. His timely decision-making made the difference between life and death for two of these Marines. Throughout this 22-day battle, his decisive leadership and courage against a determined foe inspired the Marines under his charge and led the Battalion's assault deep into enemy territory. By his zealous initiative, courageous actions, and exceptional dedication to duty, First Sergeant LeHew reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Service: Marine Corps

Rank: First Sergeant

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This is how Custer must have felt'
Gunnery Sgt. Justin D. LeHew, Navy Cross
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Heroes, Tuesday, June 14, 2005


Unit: Company A, 2nd Assault Amphibious Battalion

Medal: Navy Cross

Earned: March 23, 2003, Al-Nasiriyah, Iraq

The story of Pfc. Jessica Lynch and how the 507th Maintenance Company got lost, then ambushed near Al-Nasiriyah, Iraq, is one of the most widely known of the Iraq campaign.

But there is more than one war story to tell about Al-Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003, including how Marines captured and held the city’s three bridges.

By the end of that blisteringly hot day, Gunnery Sgt. Justin D. LeHew would prove himself a hero in the best tradition of the Corps.

For his valor, LeHew, now first sergeant for Company A, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, was awarded the Navy Cross, the second-highest military honor after the Medal of Honor.

LeHew was platoon sergeant for Company A of the 3rd Platoon, 2nd Assault Amphibious Battalion. The unit was attached to Company A, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, or “Task Force Tarawa.”

LeHew and his platoon began the day by rescuing soldiers from the 507th who had neither been killed nor taken hostage. But that was simply a sidelight to the day’s main event.

Taking the southern bridge was easy. LeHew said his amtracks, as Marines call amphibious assault vehicles, just drove across.

Holding the bridge would be a different matter entirely.

“We were over the bridge about five minutes when it seemed like the whole city came down on our heads,” LeHew said. “Fire was coming from almost every single building, and we could see swarms of Iraqis coming down the alleys.”

“I remember thinking, this is how Custer must have felt at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.”

It would take more than four hours for LeHew’s 28-vehicle convoy and the 150 infantrymen they carried to emerge victorious through a 360-degree urban firefight, with limited water and ammunition.

With the Marines dressed in head-to-toe-chemical protective suits, the first thing to go was the water.

“They sucked their two canteens dry in the first hour, [as well as] the couple cases we carried in the vehicles,” LeHew said.

Meanwhile, Charlie Company, a unit charged with holding Nasiriyah’s northernmost bridge further up the road, was having its own problems.

The first indication LeHew’s Marines had that all was not well up north was when they saw a smoldering amtrack, careening back toward the southern bridge, where the vehicle smashed to a stop.

“I grabbed my corpsman,” 19-year-old Hospitalman Alex Velasquez, LeHew said.

Ripping off their amtrack helmets (which are tethered to the tracks with communications cords), the pair jumped off their own track, without putting on their Kevlar battle headgear.

LeHew and Velasquez (who was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for his actions that day) dodged a curtain of hellfire through the contested intersection.

When they reached the vehicle, LeHew said, “the first thing I saw when I went up the ramp was a leg, still in a MOPP (chem gear) suit.”

LeHew handed the leg to a wide-eyed Velasquez.

“I said, ‘put this in my vehicle. We’re going to find out who it belongs to.’”

The stunned corpsman obeyed.

“Doc [Velasquez] was a good little kid,” LeHew said.

Then LeHew entered the track.

“Everybody was dead.”

But as he moved forward to destroy the radios and check to see if the .50-caliber machine gun was salvageable, “I heard a Marine gasp for air. Doc and I started digging.”

They found Cpl. Matthew Juska, a 6-foot 7-inch, 240-pound bruiser who had been pulling security up at the northern bridge.

Juska was horribly wounded. LeHew could see the young Marine’s brain, “and we thought he had a broken back. We had to get him out of there.”

The corporal was trapped beneath the amtrack’s collapsed hatches — hundreds of pounds of mangled steel.

With the help of five Marines who had come to help, “we started yanking him out. It took 30 minutes,” LeHew said.

Juska was evacuated along with several other wounded members of Charlie Company. Once the chopper left the scene, the battle raged on.

Toward noon, with the help of Alpha Company’s tanks that were finally able to make their way from the rear refueling depot and across the southern bridge, the battle finally began to turn.

LeHew’s unit went on to help Marines at the northern bridge, and by day’s end, the battalion had completed its mission.

The three bridges they captured and held made it possible for the 1st Marine Division to make its historic “race to Baghdad,” a journey of more than 1,000 kilometers that stands as the longest combat advance by U.S. Marine forces in history.

But victory at Nasiriyah demanded a steep price: 40 Marines wounded and 18 killed.

Last year at Camp Lejeune, N.C., “someone said, Gunny, go to the orderly room, we have a surprise for you,” LeHew said.

It was Cpl. Juska, out-processing from the Marine Corps with “some neurological problems, but he was walking and talking,” LeHew said.

Asked how it felt to see the man whose life he’d saved, LeHew’s voice became thick.

“It felt good,” he said, and paused.

“It felt good to see the kid was alive.”


http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=29703