Bonanza High grad gets Bronze Star
When Bonanza High School graduate Rob Congdon got back to Iraq after visiting his wife and daughter in Georgia on leave, his company had a special award waiting for him: a Bronze Star medal for valor.
His mother in Las Vegas, Margaret Congdon, said his first sergeant presented him with a Bronze Star with "V" device on March 1 for a heroic rescue of wounded soldiers in January, 20 miles north of Baghdad near the Tigris River.
As his father, Gary Congdon, described the bullet-dodging encounter for a Review-Journal story Jan. 28, it was "just another day at the office" for his son, a 34-year-old staff sergeant and Army medic.
He was a key player in one of two medical evacuation teams that responded in Black Hawk helicopters from Company C, 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Aviation Regiment.
In a 35-minute ordeal that resulted in saving the lives of five soldiers wounded in a roadside bomb attack, Rob Congdon and Staff Sgt. Aughe McQuown sprinted for their wounded comrades while under fire and took cover in a bombed-out Stryker vehicle to radio for support from Apache helicopters in the area.
The two medics slung the last two wounded soldiers over their backs and made a dash to get them to the safety of the Black Hawks nearly 100 yards away.
When they lowered the Stryker’s ramp to get out, a sniper started shooting at them again, but they decided to continue because the wounded soldiers needed quick medical help. An infantry soldier helped with the tallest patient.
"We kind of drug him," Congdon recalled in a January interview. "His feet were dangling as we ran."
While Congdon was on leave in February, Gen. Richard Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, presented Congdon’s team with Bronze Stars for valor.
Margaret Congdon said her son was glad he received his honor later in a more low-key affair befitting his personality.
"He’s very quiet about that," she said. "He was very glad that they all got it. He doesn’t like big ceremonies, so he was very happy with the way they did it."
She said it’s hoped Rob will return to the United States at the end of July.
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