Spc. Earns DSC For Heroism During Ambush

[livvy]

Spc. Earns DSC For Heroism During Ambush


Spc. Erik Oropeza, 22, will be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on Feb. 13 at Fort Irwin, Calif.


By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Feb 7, 2009 8:32:41 EST

Spc. Erik Oropeza doesn’t remember hearing a thing when the 13 155mm howitzer rounds exploded beneath his Stryker.

“I remember seeing a white light and then it went dark,” said Oropeza, who had been driving his Stryker on a dirt road 10 kilometers north of Taji, Iraq.

The soldier from 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment regained consciousness a few minutes later and climbed out of his blown-open hatch.

The sharp crack of enemy automatic weapons fire snapped him out of his daze.

“I could hear the bullets whizzing by; I pretty much jumped from my driver hatch to the back right hatch of the Stryker” and ducked inside,” he recalled.

Oropeza’s Stryker had been drawn into a carefully planned ambush. Just a few minutes before, his vehicle and another Stryker from B Company were in a firefight with an enemy position on Main Supply Route Tampa.

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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/02/army_dsc_020609w/%2e

[Lithos]

1. A very heroic man

Well deserved recognition.

:patriot: