Also in Iraq is one of the Army Reserve’s most unique and famed units. The Army Reserve’s only ground combat unit, the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, arrived in March 2005 for a year-long tour of duty. It is assigned to Logistics Support Area Anaconda (about 50 miles north of Baghdad) as part of the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade, Hawaii Army National Guard. Base defense is a key mission at Anaconda but the 100th/442nd Soldiers also carry out neighborhood searches, monitor traffic-control points and conduct civic action projects for local Iraqi citizens in neighboring villages.
The Army Reserve soldiers of the 100th/442nd come from Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam and Saipan and are well aware of the record they have to uphold from the heritage they inherited from the original 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team of World War II, the most decorated U.S. Army units of their size in American history.
The area of operations for the 100th/442nd is a tough one. Of the 28 U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq in the first three weeks of April 2005, 10 were killed in either Baghdad or in Balad, where LSA Anaconda is. An Army Reserve Soldier from American Samoa was wounded with a broken leg and wrist April 20 when his vehicle hit a suspected land mine.
It was from Balad on April 9, 2004, that a convoy originated that resulted in the first Silver Star to be awarded to an Army Reserve Soldier in the War on Terrorism. On that date, members of the 724th Transportation Company, an Army Reserve unit from Bartonville, Ill., were ambushed by hundreds of Iraqi insurgents. Spec. Jeremy Church, driving the convoy commander’s vehicle, fired his weapon and administered immediate first aid to the seriously wounded 1st Lt. Matthew Brown while continuing to drive his Humvee through the four-mile kill zone. After getting Brown to medical treatment, Church returned to the battle. He rescued a number of his fellow Soldiers and civilian contractors, then helped load nine of them in a recovery vehicle. Finding the vehicle to be full, he volunteered to stay behind to cover its withdrawal. He held off the insurgents until a rescue team came back for him.
For his courage under fire, Church received the Silver Star, which was presented to him at Fort McCoy, Wis., by the Chief of the Army Reserve Feb. 27, 2005. The convoy commander, Brown, lost his left eye from his wounds. Two 724th Soldiers were killed in the ambush, and one, Sgt. Keith “Matt” Maupin, remains a prisoner after his capture during the convoy ambush.
In all, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, more than 130,000 Army Reserve soldiers have been called to duty. By mid-April 2005, the number of Army Reserve soldiers killed in both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom had grown to 72. Almost 560 have been wounded in action.
As operations continue in Iraq and Afghanistan and as new fronts open in the War against Terrorism, more casualties are to be expected. Pain and sorrow will still have to be borne by both Soldiers and their loved ones as the citizen-warriors of the Army Reserve do now and in the future what they have been doing so honorably and so well for almost a century – answering the nation’s call to serve.
“What hasn’t changed in our 97 years is the courage, commitment and sacrifice of our people who voluntarily accept the challenge of serving.” -- Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve, April 23, 2005
