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Courage under fire
Bakersfield native receives Silver Star for ambush bravery
| Friday, Aug 3 2007 10:50 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 3 2007 11:03 PM
Ambushed by Iraqi insurgents after sunset in the streets of Samarra, Brennan Shea Goltry took two bullets to the left leg. Then he got out of his Humvee and led his soldiers into the battle on foot.
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Goltry called it "just another day," but the Army thought differently. Tuesday it awarded the 27-year-old Bakersfield native the Silver Star, the nation's fourth-highest decoration.
Goltry's refusal to stop fighting came as no surprise to his mother and twin brother.
"He was always a tough kid," said Beth Goltry, who still lives in Bakersfield with her husband, John. "He said the adrenaline was just going."
"He's a pretty tough guy," agreed his brother, Eric, who lives in Maryland.
Beth said her son doesn't tell her much about the work he does patrolling the central Iraq city.
"I think he's afraid we'd worry too much," she said.
He's right, she added.
Shea in Bakersfield
Goltry, known to friends and family as Shea, graduated from Garces Memorial High School, then went to Cal State Bakersfield before transferring to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he joined the Army ROTC. Even at the very beginning of his career, he stood out as a good soldier.
"He's one of the best cadets that we had," said retired Maj. Paul Buechner, one of Goltry's instructors. "He was a very diligent student. He has his degree in civil engineering, which is one of Cal Poly's more difficult courses of study."
Buechner said Goltry showed a maturity uncommon in college students.
"He was one of the select individuals who saw beyond the college experience," he said. Goltry had "a perspective of a grander scheme of things," Buechner added.
He met his wife, Channapa, at CSUB, and they married in 2004. She lives in North Carolina near Fort Bragg, Goltry's base, with their son. Goltry deployed to Iraq in August 2006; he returned home in December for two weeks to meet his son for the first time.
Goltry is now part of the 82nd Airborne's 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company C. Charlie Company, as it's called, is patrolling Samarra, aiming for insurgents and working with the local police. At the time of the incident, he was a first lieutenant, but has since been promoted to captain.
Ambush at night
The incident that led to Goltry's Silver Star happened Feb. 2, just after sunset, according to a story written by the 82nd Airborne's public affairs office. The platoon was on patrol in Humvees when it came under fire.
The lead vehicle was disabled, and Goltry ordered his driver to move ahead to cover it. He opened his door to return fire. That's when he was hit twice in the left leg.
But other soldiers in his platoon were hurt worse, so Goltry kept fighting. He led his men on foot toward their attackers until they had the upper hand and it was safe to provide medical care to the wounded soldiers.
A fellow soldier said the incident was not unusual.
"I'm happy he's been recognized, but this is the type of stuff he does every day," Capt. Buddy Ferris, a commander in Charlie Company, is quoted as saying in the Army's story. "It's not the first time he's been shot, and it's not the first time he charged the enemy."
But Goltry talked not about what he did, but about the men he fights with.
"I'm proud of my men," he said in an Internet video of the ceremony made by the Army. "I get real choked up when I talk about them, but I am. They fight real hard for me, I think.
"Being awarded the Silver Star is a huge thing. All my guys are real proud that someone in my platoon is being awarded it. The fact that it's the (platoon leader) is even bigger."