Silver Star recipient visits AARP

By Maurice Emery
Editor

It was a sellout crowd at the monthly Eaton Ferry Road AARP meeting last week.  Over 100 people had come to listen to one of the real heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.  The AARP members and guests were there to show support and to tell Silver Star recipient CW4 James B. Herring and his family that they appreciate all he has done and is doing as a member of the military. 

Herring did more than just talk about his life in Iraq and Afghanistan he also brought along a display of pictures and some of the awards he has received.  

During his first tour in the war in 2002 he was sent to Afghanistan where he said not much was happening.  He was involved with the operation that made headlines throughout the world about the bombing of a wedding party. He said the entire episode did not happen as the world press stated.  A lot of what the world saw was staged for the cameras after the operation.  

His first two tours in Iraq were by his words not much happening.  When he went the third time he said it was “Katie bar the door.[heavy fighting]” He arrived during the surge.  The surge was aimed at Baghdad so the Al-Qaeda moved to Baquabah, Iraq.

The first four and half months it seemed like all we did everyday was fight. “It was unbelievable” Herring stated.  It was house to house fighting.  It was during this tour that he received the Silver Star medal.

He is only the second man from North Carolina to receive the Silver Star since World War II.  The Silver Star is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Army, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

According to an account of the battle from Army Times,

 “Just two days before Christmas 2006, then-CW3James B. Herring, 46, was leading a five-vehicle patrol near Baquabah, Iraq, searching for a Sunni-Arab insurgent cell responsible for assaults on Coalition Forces, when they were attacked. His heroic efforts saved the lives of 23 American and Iraqi men and earned him the Silver Star.

On December 23, 2006, CW3 Herring, a North Carolina National Guardsman, was the Detachment Commander for Operational Detachment Alpha 2084, Special Operations Task Force – North and was serving as the Ground Force Commander of the mission.”

Before the encounter was over Herring “…CW3 Herring, his gunner, a medic, and a now-wounded driver were blocked from support by an immobilized Iraqi vehicle. Realizing his driver was critically wounded, immobile and in need of immediate medical care, CW3 Herring left the relative safety of the vehicle again. He was knocked to the ground by the impact of a rocket propelled grenade, but got up and – covered by his gunner – ran to the driver’s side of the vehicle. Fearing that Spc. Haas’ femoral artery was hit, CW3 Herring successfully removed Spc. Haas from the vehicle and placed him in the rear seat so the medic Sgt. 1st Class John Masson could continue treatment.

CW3 Herring then climbed into the driver’s seat, advised headquarters of the situation, called for medical evacuation, and maneuvered the vehicle – with a heavily damaged ballistic windshield obscuring his view – and led the combined ground assault force through the narrow side streets and back to Forward Operating Base Gabe.”

When I asked Herring about what was going through his head when it all started he said all he knew was that he had to do what he was trained to do.  When asked if there was ever any doubt what he would do in  a situation like this he told the Observer, this was not his first time in combat so he knew what to do and did it. 

In trying to put everything in perspective Herring stated, “This last time I was in Iraq for 400,000 minutes I got a silver star for something that took three minutes.”

Herring, 46, is a warrant officer with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group in Roanoke Rapids, N.C.  Herring is also a lieutenant in the Chesterfield County Police, where he has been since 1983.

Historical references were made throughout his talk.  He asked where the Partick Henry’s are today.  He reminded people of the famous quote from President John F. Kennedy, “…ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”  And reminded them that the following line was just as important, “My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

Herring stated that what Iraq is going through now is a lot less than what our country went through after the civil war. 

To those who say they support the troops but do not support the war it is garbage.  He talked of the importance of winning the war.  Yet later in his presentation he talked about the Sunnis and Shias have no problem torturing one another in various forms to gruesome to talk about here.  Even though Herring wonders if the US is going to be able to do anything over there, he feels it is still worth it.  

There was a lot of pride in Herring’s voice when he talked about the good they do and the positive they are doing in Iraq.  The training of the Iraq soldiers, the good deeds of health care professionals, helping kids were just a few of the positive things he talked about.  Even his family got involved in sending toys to the kids. 

On a humorous note he said that he turned 45 on the battlefield and when he came home it seemed ice cream must be good for the joints because he ate a lot of it. 

CW4 Herring often mentioned his family.  More than once he was brought to tears when talking about how important it was to win this war so his son would not have to fight another one. More than one club member noted that it was tough to watch a man who had risked his life to the point where the Army felt he should be awarded a Silver Star for it, and yet he shed tears when talking about his family. 

Attending the meeting with Herring were his wife, Michelle, his son Michael and daughter Samantha.  He was proud of the fact that his bi-racial children are adopted.