'Everybody ... was passed out'

In spite of the danger in Hit, Iraq, soldiers planned to pass out candy to children on Nov. 28, 2006.

Earlier in the month, Sgt. 1st Class Leon Richardson’s section of Bradley fighting vehicles had been hit by about five roadside bombs in a week.

His driver, Cpl. Jonerik Loney, and his gunner were getting itchy from the danger but still wanted Richardson to toss some of the candy from the Bradley to the city’s kids.

On the morning of Nov. 28, the soldiers put a bag of candy in Richardson’s hatch to throw to the kids.

They went out on patrol in the afternoon. Richardson, second platoon sergeant with the 1st Armored Division, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, Company A, lobbed candy. All seemed fine.

Around 2 p.m., the Bradley came around a corner, and Richardson saw some guys take off. The soldiers followed. The vehicle made a left turn, but 200 feet later a roadside bomb exploded.

The blast flipped the tracked vehicle on its side.

“The only thing I heard was somebody in my headphones yelling,” said the 29-year-old from San Fernando, Calif. “Everything slowed down to nothing. Everything went black. Everybody in the Bradley was passed out. I believe there was about six of us inside the vehicle.”

Everybody inside was knocked out for about a minute. Richardson, positioned in the turret, got up first and went to the front of the vehicle. He had cuts on his face and his legs were bleeding pretty bad. All that remained of the front of the vehicle was a big hole where the driver’s hatch used to be, Richardson said.

Richardson checked that the gunner got out and moved him to the back of the vehicle to keep him from seeing what happened to Loney.

The squad leader in the back of the Bradley yelled to Richardson that they were all right, but had taken some injuries. The medic had shrapnel in his shoulder. The soldiers got out of the Bradley, and Richardson — without a weapon — ran to another Bradley about 100 yards behind his position to make sure they were calling in the reports.

The soldiers made a decision to move to a house about 200 yards away to treat the wounded. Between the Bradley and the house was a small dirt mound.

“We started moving, going around the dirt mound,” Richardson said. “That’s when we got hit by small-arms fire. One of my soldiers was hit in the head.”

The bullet ripped through the soldier’s helmet, scratching him, and some bullet fragments entered the soldier’s head.

The group stopped and returned fire. Richardson began performing first aid on the wounded soldier. Once he was sure the soldier was OK, Richardson and the soldiers made their way to the house. He helped treat the four wounded soldiers once inside the house.

As the medevac team arrived, it started taking small-arms fire.

“We were trying to guide them to the house because they couldn’t find us,” Richardson said. “We were trying to keep our heads down.”

The injured were evacuated, and another squad of soldiers was dropped off to Richardson. The soldiers left the house in search of the insurgents. One squad went to the northwest. Another went to the south.

“Once they got in their houses, we located one sniper,” Richardson said. “At the other house, they located two guys that had weapons also, so we did capture some bad guys.”

Richardson coordinated the effort while still suffering from his wounds.

“I guess the medic said my wounds were pretty bad,” he said. “Plus, the concussion they said was pretty bad. I didn’t think it was that bad. Maybe it was just the adrenaline running through me.”

Richardson and a sergeant made the decision that they would recover Loney’s body. Soldiers pulled security and popped smoke to provide cover while Richardson performed the grim task.

After providing cover for the team recovering the downed Bradley, the two squads made their way back on foot to the forward operating base in Hit. At around 8 or 9 p.m., Richardson was finally treated for his wounds.

For his actions, Richardson was awarded the Silver Star in March.

“You can’t say enough about Loney himself,” Richardson said. “He was the perfect citizen. I don’t know anybody who disliked him.”