8 Soldiers Honored With Purple Hearts

Eight U.S. soldiers received Purple Hearts on Saturday for injuries suffered during an intense, 18-hour firefight on the first day of Operation Anaconda.

“The men standing here . . . showed their mettle and their steel in the sense that they were wounded in the early morning hours and were unable to be extracted until the early evening,” said Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck, commander of the coalition that waged the battle in eastern Afghanistan.

The battle began early March 2, when the platoon from Charlie Company of the 10th Mountain Division dropped into a valley on the eastern ridge of Shahi Kot, nearly directly on top of an Al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold.

The battle raged until about midnight, with 28 of the 86 U.S. soldiers injured but none killed.

“We eliminated a lot of Al Qaeda that day,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Frank Grippe, 39, of Frankfurt, N.Y., who received the award after taking shrapnel to his hamstring.

Maj. Thomas Byrne, a doctor who was one of three medics treating the wounded, was injured when a mortar blast went off next to him as he was treating a casualty. He continued treating the wounded even after becoming one himself.

Byrne, 32, of Renton, Wash., said it was “a miracle” that none of the men was killed.

Capt. James Taylor, 29, of Long Valley, N.J., who was hit by shrapnel from a mortar round in the shoulder, said he never feared that the men wouldn’t make it out.

“I knew it was just a matter of time until we got the situation under control,” Taylor said.

The other men who received the Purple Heart were Maj. James Hall, 41, of Greenville, S.C.; Capt. Timothy Gittins, 25, of Harlan, Iowa; Sgt. 1st Class David Jackson, 37, of Midland, Texas; Pfc. Jack Horn, 25, of Lafayette, La.; and Pfc. Chad Ryan, whose age and hometown were not available.