There was a “fallen angel,” a downed U.S. military aircraft, near Najaf, about 60 miles away. Get there as soon as possible, they were told, and secure the crew and the wreckage.

The Charger soldiers and their commander, then-Capt. Brent Clemmer, thought they’d be back to base by midnight.

But things proved to be a great deal more complicated than that near the village of Zarqa.

Over the next 24 hours, Clemmer would lead his men as they defended the downed helicopter, fought hundreds of dug-in, heavily armed fighters, and then provided medical and humanitarian aid to hundreds of wounded and shattered men, women and children when the battle was done.

For his bravery and leadership at Zarqa, the Army on Thursday presented Clemmer with the Silver Star, the military’s third-highest award for combat valor.

Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., the Fort Lewis commander, pinned the medal on Clemmer in a ceremony before the assembled troops of Clemmer’s old unit, the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment.

Clemmer, 34, in an interview before the ceremony, said the medal award really belongs to the “168 guys who were to my front, left, right and rear who did the job and moved forward when the bullets started pinging around you. … It’s their award. I’m just the face of it, to be honest.”

He has since been promoted to major and will be moving soon from his home in Steilacoom for studies at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

It will be a welcome break for an infantry officer who jumped into Afghanistan with the 3rd Ranger Battalion in late 2001 and served 27 months in Iraq in two tours with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Strykers from Fort Lewis.

His family, including his wife, Joelle, and their 2-year-old son, Julian, were on hand Thursday.

“His bravery is what is being awarded here today, but also his compassion and restraint and professionalism and tactical skill, which saved civilian lives as well as his own soldiers,” said his former battalion commander, Lt. Col. Barry Huggins.

Clemmer told reporters that getting to the pilots of the AH-64 Apache helicopter was foremost on his mind as he led his company on its 60-mile race to the scene.

“Images went through my mind of what happened in Somalia and I was not going to let that happen if at all possible,” he said. “I told my soldiers as we drove down, over the radio, ‘No one is going to touch our brothers but us.’”

They made the trip in about 75 minutes, he said. But when they arrived, they found that Apache crewmen, Capt. Mark T. Resh, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer Cornell C. Chao, 36, had been killed when their aircraft was shot down.

They also found themselves fighting against hundreds of heavily armed insurgents positioned in trenches around Zarqa who had inflicted casualties among the Iraqi troops and U.S. Special Forces team already on the scene. Clemmer’s men and the 2-3’s B Company fought through the night while the Air Force pounded the enemy with bombs and AC-130 gunship runs.

Clemmer ran from position to position, checking on and encouraging his troops, despite the gunfire coming from just 300-500 yards away.

The next day, they were lined up ready to assault one of the trench lines when the fighters sent out women and children signaling that they wanted to surrender.

Some 250 enemy fighters had been killed, 80 wounded and more than 400 surrendered.

Clemmer summoned every medic he could find to tend to the wounded, while his soldiers secured weapons and ammunition.

Army officials said intelligence officers reported later that the fighters belonged to a Shiite splinter sect, the Soldiers of Heaven, who plotted to attack the leaders of Iraq’s mainline Shiites and thousands of pilgrims gathering in Najaf for a religious festival.

But Clemmer’s company knew none of that when they got the call to rush to the aid of comrades in trouble. They recovered their fallen brothers in arms, inflicted lethal fire on the enemy, and then showed compassion when the shooting stopped, he said.

“They went from the razor’s edge of dealing death to literally taking their own bandages out of their own kit to treat people. I’m really proud of that,” Clemmer said. “There are not a lot of armies out there … that have that sort of aggression and compassion.

“It was an incredible day. And I’m really proud of those soldiers.”

Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921

mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/military

Decorated soldiers

Fourteen others from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment were decorated for their actions in Iraq. They are:

Bronze Star for valor

Sgt. Jason R. Funaro

Bronze Star for meritorious service

Capt. Christopher Alexander, Capt. Justin Cowne, Capt. Jordan Garrett, Capt. Thom Ryckecky, Lt. Samuel Bonner, Lt. Austin Jones, Lt. Jorge Medina, Lt. Gregory Weber, Staff Sgt. Timothy Farris.

Purple Heart

Staff Sgt. William M. Cobb

Army Commendation Medal for valor

Capt. Jonathan Fursman, Sgt. John Guerra, Spc. Justin Bumpus, Spc. Adam Lopez