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| Iraq-Jordan | |||
| Salvadoran Army Cited for Heroism in Iraq | |||
| 2004-05-03 | |||
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) - One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Salvadoran Cpl. Samuel Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his switchblade knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen. In one of the only know instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq conflict, Toloza stabbed several attackers who were swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to their rescue.
Phil Kosnett, who heads the Coalition Provisional Authority in this holy Shiite city, says he owes his life to Salvadorans who repelled a well-executed insurgent attack on his three-car convoy in March. He's nominated six of them for the U.S. Army's Bronze Star medal. "You hear this snotty phrase 'coalition of the billing' for some of the smaller contingents," says Kosnett, referring to the apparent eagerness of some nations to charge their Iraq operations to Washington. "The El Sals? No way. These guys are punching way above their weight. They're probably the bravest and most professional troops I've every worked with." "We didn't come here to fire a single shot. Our rifles were just part of our equipment and uniforms. But we were prepared to repel an attack," says Col. Hugo Omar Orellana Calidonio, a 27-year army veteran who commands the Cuscatlan Battalion. The troops, El Salvador's first peacekeepers abroad, conducted a wide range of humanitarian missions in Najaf. They provided books, electricity, playground equipment and other supplies to destitute schools and helped farmers with irrigation works and fertilizer supplies. "Our country came out of a similar situation as in Iraq 12 years ago, so people in El Salvador can understand what is happening here," said Calidonio, referring to a civil war between the U.S.-backed government and leftist guerrillas that left some 75,000 dead. The military was held responsible for widespread abuses. "We came here to help and we were helping. Our relationship with the people was excellent. They were happy with what we were doing," Calidonio says. Then came April 4, when armed followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized virtual control of the city and staged attacks on two camps - Baker and Golf - adjacent bases on the fringes of Najaf occupied by the Salvadoran and Spanish units. When Toloza and 16 other soldiers arrived that morning at a low-walled compound of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, about 1.2 miles from their camp, they found its 350 occupants had melted away and themselves trapped by al-Sadr's al-Mahdi militia. Lt. Col. Francisco Flores, the battalion's operations officer, said the surrounded soldiers held their fire for nearly half an hour, fearful of inflicting civilian casualties, even as 10 of their number were wounded by rocket-propelled grenades and bullets from assault rifles and machine guns. After several hours of combat, the besieged unit ran out of ammunition, having come with only 300 rounds for each of their M-16 rifles. Pvt. Natividad Mendez, Toloza's friend for three years, lay dead, riddled by two bullets probably fired by a sniper. Two more were wounded as the close-quarters fighting intensified. "I thought, 'This is the end.' But at the same time I asked the Lord to protect and save me," Toloza recalled. The wounded were placed on a truck while Toloza and the three other soldiers moved on the ground, trying to make their way back to the base. They were soon confronted with al-Sadr's fighters, about 10 of whom tried to seize one of the soldiers. "My immediate reaction was that I had to defend my friend, and the only thing I had in my hands was a knife," Toloza said. The Spanish didn't fight, and only after a long delay agreed to send out their armored vehicles to help evacuate the wounded. Flores says he cannot question the Spanish decisions that day, but with a slightly sardonic smile adds that they "could have helped us sooner."
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #12 JFM, I offer my apologies. Was the Spanish Press covering their forces? It seems that the only way I would have heard about that type of performance by an American unt would have been through NC Times coverage. Jarhead, would it make sense to have elements of our armor available throughout the sectors that include multi-national? I know there is the desire on the part of the insurgents to bloody the noses of any coalition partner that seems not to have firm support from their homeland, but if I were the attacking force I would also count on the multinational areas to have poorer unit-to-unit communications etc. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-05-03 10:38:43 PM |
| #11 JFM is correct - the Spanish soldier is not to be blamed, we've trained w/them and they do real well - I'm sure the average Spaniard there wants to complete the mission properly. The lack of armor was prolly a higher up decision. |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2004-05-03 9:53:44 PM |
| #10 SuperHose A couple days before their departure a Spanish patrol was ambushed. End result was two terrorists killed, no Spanish casualties. The day after the same patrol was ambushed again. Six bad guys killed, seven captured, no Spanish casualties. I know from the Sapnish press than the Spanish soldiers were very unhappy to be pulled back and their general said many politically uncorrect things about the Iraqui "resistance" ("Jovenes chulescos" => Young pimps). But Sapanish soldiers are unfortunate enough to have a Zapatero as CinC. Just like yours had to evacuate Somalia because they have the misfortune to have a Clinton as President. |
| Posted by: JFM 2004-05-03 2:58:33 PM |
| #9 My apologies, Robert and Frank. T'was just that reading about School of the Americas & the leftists' accusations made me think of the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq now ... |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-05-03 12:32:04 PM |
| #8 True Grit. He deserves more than a Bronze Star. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-05-03 10:17:50 AM |
| #7 agreed. Edward, you lost me on that one.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-05-03 9:42:11 AM |
| #6 AC, let it be known that I'm less enthusiastic about SotA after Abu Ghraib And yet you fail to show a connection between the two. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-05-03 9:39:33 AM |
| #5 Man that is one brave dude,he should get the CMH.This ranks right up there with the story I read of a U.S.soldier attacking a Tiger tank with a .45 during the Normandy invasion. |
| Posted by: raptor 2004-05-03 8:20:03 AM |
| #4 The Spanish didn't fight, and only after a long delay agreed to send out their armored vehicles to help evacuate the wounded. Flores says he cannot question the Spanish decisions that day, but with a slightly sardonic smile adds that they "could have helped us sooner." I think its best for all concerned that the Spainish have left the war zone. I have never before heard of a switch-blade bayonet charge during a military operation. Maybe Snoop Dog is moonlighting as a hand to hand instructor for the Salvadoran forces. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-05-03 8:06:40 AM |
| #3 AC, let it be known that I'm less enthusiastic about SotA after Abu Ghraib ... just can't help the feeling, and an Iraqi (even an admitted al-Mehdi) proclaiming he preferred Saddam's torture does nothing to help my conscience. However, without reservation I congratulate the courage and the strength of this Corporal, and it's a pity he is not a regular with our own Army - with that kind of daring, he seems like officer material. :) |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2004-05-03 5:48:55 AM |
| #2 Salvadoran officers, many of whom were trained at military schools in the United States, That would be the School of the Americas at Ft. Benning. Lefty terror-tools, Castro-sucking Hollywoodists, and brain-dead trustafarians have been working night and day for years to shut it down. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-05-03 4:40:02 AM |
| #1 It is good to know faith in the Jewish Christian God beats the excrement out of belief in whatever spawn of hell it is the Muslims worship. |
| Posted by: Garrison 2004-05-03 4:30:00 AM |