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JOINT FORCES TRAINING BASE, Los Alamitos, Calif. - Amidst a formal gathering of family, friends, Army Soldiers and civic officials, the Commanding General of the 63rd Regional Readiness Command (RRC), MG Paul E. Mock, presented a posthumous Silver Star medal to Jim and Barhara Witkowski, the parents of SGT James Witkowski, in a rare Silver Star ceremony held April 9, 2006.
SGT Witkowski, 32, was killed in action Oct. 26, 2005, during a combat logistics mission near Ashraf, Iraq. Witkowski's unit, the 729th Transportation Company, an Army Reserve unit of the 63rd RRC, came under vicious auack while conducting a 23vehicle convoy to deliver building materials to another unit.
Addressing the gathering, MAJ Scan J. Cannon, who commanded the 729th in Iraq, depicted the attack as being very complex, unfolding in three stages: improvised explosive devices (IEDs), small arms fire, and a combination of hand and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
Cannon described Witkowski's heroic actions.
Entering a kill zone of approximately one mile, the convoy started to receive small arms fire. As IEDs were beginning to explode on both sides of the highway, insurgents began rushing the convoy, shooting RPGs and lobbing hand-grenades. While under fire, Witkowski, manned the 50-caliber machine gun in the turret atop his gun-truck, holding insurgents down with suppressive fire. During the attack a grenade landed in his turret. Rather than ducking hack inside to...