James Gant

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to James Gant, Major, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as Chief of the Iraqi National Police, Quick Reaction Force Battalion Transition Team, during combat operations in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 11 December 2006, in Iraq. After six weeks of fighting insurgents Major Gant and his team were returning home to Baghdad along the road to Balad. Major Gant and his small American advisory team were riding in three up-armored Humvees. These were mini-tanks on tires with bullet proof-glass, blast-proof armor plate, and turret mounted machineguns. The Iraqi National Police were riding in 23 soft-skinned trucks. Major Gant was leading the convoy south when machinegun fire erupted from a dense palm grove on the west side of the road. Major Gant’s gunner, Captain James Kim, returned fire, and the convoy of more than two dozen vehicles raced past the first enemy emplacement. During this short encounter, one of the Iraqi commandos had been shot in the face. Major Gant immediately stopped the convoy and raced to the aid of his fallen comrade. The Iraqi was gravely wounded, so Major Gant radioed for an immediate evacuation, then ordered his men to clear a landing zone as he administered combat first aid. He cleared the man’s airway, saving his life. By now, the enemy was closing in and a close quarters fight ensued to secure the landing zone and a defensive perimeter. Soon, a Black Hawk helicopter swooped in and the wounded Iraqi was quickly loaded aboard the airborne ambulance. “You have about two minutes before we start receiving mortar fire,” Gant told the flight medic. No sooner had the helicopter lifted into the sky, than mortar rounds began to fall among him and his men in the LZ. Major Gant immediately turned his attention from the wounded Iraqi to the fight at hand. He opened fire on an enemy machine gun position with his M4, dropping an Iraqi insurgent in his tracks. Captain Kim killed five more of the charging enemy. Major Gant’s priority now was to get his men away from the enemy’s established positions. He ordered his men to remount their vehicles. The convoy continued to take fire from both sides of the road as they started to move south. There was so much fire that two of his men were pinned down. Major Gant ordered his driver, Sergeant Bob “Doc” Minor, to peel off and return to the hot zone at the tail of the convoy. As they rolled up, Major Gant’s gunner sprayed the enemy with machinegun fire while his driver positioned their vehicle between the enemy and the soft-skinned Iraqi trucks. This gave the remaining commandos the opportunity to mount up and drive away from the hail of gunfire. Once the entire convoy was moving south, Major Gant raced back to the head of his unit. Just ahead was a built-up area and he knew that in an urban environment the danger would be much greater, as there would be myriad places for the enemy to hide. The threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) would increase, so would the threat of Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack. And Gant was not disappointed. In the road ahead, Major Gant’s second-in-charge, Captain Paulo Shakarian, noticed an IED planted in the median. He immediately reported his discovery to Major Gant. The insurgents had planted the device hoping that the explosion would force the embattled convoy to stop in a prepared kill zone. There was no way that Major Gant would force his men to stop in their soft-skinned vehicles, so he made a command decision. He ordered Captain Kim to get down out of the turret and Sergeant Minor to drive straight for the IED. As they rolled within twenty feet, the device detonated. The enemy unleashed a heavy mortar attack from both sides of the road. Major Gant kept the column moving through a vicious close-range gun battle. Then a second IED was spotted only five hundred yards ahead. Again, Major Gant and his driver went after the planted explosive and, again, a thunderous explosion failed to disable his vehicle. The convoy was still receiving machinegun fire from the front and both sides of the road so Major Gant pressed forward through the gauntlet. As the convoy rounded a mild bend in the road, he noticed a third IED. Just as before, he rolled up on the device, but this time there was no explosion. Then Major Gant received word that an Iraqi woman in a civilian vehicle had been critically wounded in the second blast. Still under fire and less than a kilometer from the large American compound at Taji, he ordered his men to stop once again and to establish a hasty defense around the civilian vehicle. Then he jumped from the relative safety of his armored Humvee and rushed to the woman’s aid. He found her in the front seat bleeding heavily from both legs. She was hysterical and certain that she was going to die. She refused to let Major Gant touch her. His Iraqi counterpart, Colonel Dhafer, reassured the woman and said to her, “Its okay. He is my brother.” The woman calmed and Major Gant quickly applied tourniquets to both legs, saving her life too. After treating the civilian casualty, the convoy resumed its journey to Baghdad.