The Army has awarded 10 New York Army National Guard soldiers the Purple Heart for injuries they sustained in a January 2024 drone attack while they were assigned to a U.S. military base in Jordan.
The soldiers were wounded during a Jan. 28, 2024 drone attack on Tower 22 that resulted in the deaths of three Army reservists, Army Times previously reported. At least 40 troops were injured in total.
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The 10 soldiers, who are assigned to the 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, received their medals on May 10 from unit commander Lt. Col. Darren Ketchum.
“This decoration is not sought, and it’s not given lightly,” Ketchum said. “It is earned through courage in the face of danger. Today, we recognize those who stood firm when faced with the harshest realities of combat.”
The soldiers honored during the ceremony were:
• Staff Sgt. David Barrientos, from Zebulon, North Carolina
• Sgt. Anthony Gist, from Floral Park, New York
• Sgt. Ryan Kissoon, from Richmond Hill, New York
• Sgt. Guillermo Renderos, from Yonkers, New York
• Sgt. Jarvis Ho So, from Brooklyn, New York
• Spc. Christian Tiburcio, from Manhattan, New York
• Spc. Matthew Crespo, from Brooklyn, New York
• Spc. Domingo Perez, from Brooklyn, New York
• Spc. Junior Clarke, from Brooklyn, New York
• Spc. Michael Branch, from Brooklyn, New York
“I am honored to have received the medal, but it’s never an award we wanted to get,” Sgt. Ryan Kissoon said. “It’s a sad relief we made it home that day, and others didn’t.”
Kissoon added that the chaplain assigned to Tower 22, Maj. Chase Wilhelm, told him something he would never forget about that day.
“‘We are all from different parts of the country, but we will forever be bonded by blood,’” he recalled Wilhelm saying.
When the attack unfolded, 14 soldiers from the battalion’s Charlie Company were at the outpost to help maintain communications, according to a release announcing the Purple Heart recipients.
The drone struck a section of the base where soldiers lived. Soldiers suffered concussions and other injuries due to the blast.
Platoon leader 1st Lt. Ian Gallagher said the containerized housing unit “crinkled like a soda can” from the blast.
Soldiers who were not severely injured worked to rapidly restore communications from the outpost while combat lifesaver-trained troops in the unit used aid kits to help treat other injured soldiers. Other uninjured soldiers donated blood.
Charlie Company commander Capt. Paul Kramarz said the soldiers assigned to the Tower 22 base were chosen especially for the mission.
“These soldiers from Charlie Company, located at Tower 22, were a hand-selected team,” Kramarz said. “We knew they would operate at the far reaches of our area of responsibility.”
Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.
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