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Second Purple Heart For Twice Wounded Marine
Photo by: Lance Cpl. Scott M. Biscuiti
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan (July 22, 2005) -- A humvee carrying four Marines rolls along a quiet dusty road near Al Anbar province, Iraq. The vehicle nears a suspicious pothole in the road and maneuvers around it. An explosion from a double-stacked mine hidden in the pothole thrusts the front end of the vehicle in the air and sends shrapnel flying. The humvee crashes down violently.
All the Marines in the vehicle received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received. However, for Lance Cpl. Anthony J. St. Dennis, it was his second in less than two months.
?When I joined I figured I would be going (to Iraq), but I never thought I would be a combat veteran or receive a Purple Heart,? said St. Dennis, a stinger missile gunner with1st Stinger Battery, 1st Marine Air Wing.
St. Dennis, a Detroit native, joined the Marine Corps on his 17th birthday but did not choose a specific military occupational specialty.
After completing recruit training at Parris Island S.C., Sept. 3, 2003, he learned he would be a stinger missile gunner with 1st Stinger Battery.
Soon after arriving at the unit in April 2004, St. Dennis learned he would be deploying to Iraq.
?On April 1, he said he was going to Iraq,? said Kathleen B. St. Dennis, Lance Cpl. St. Dennis? mother. ?I asked if it was an April fools joke. He said no.?
During St. Dennis? time in Iraq, he suffered wounds on two separate occasions within a two-month period. Once from an insurgent?s bullet and another from the blast of a mine.
?I didn?t realize I got shot until I got back to base and looked at my arm and saw my blouse soaked in blood,? St. Dennis said about his first wound received in Iraq.
He was a 240G medium machine gunner in the lead vehicle of an explosive ordnance disposal escort team sent to destroy a suspected improvised explosive device. The driver of the vehicle attempted to evade a pothole concealing a double-stacked anti-tank mine, but the pressure of the tire on the ground was enough to set it off, according to St. Dennis.
?I was hit with shrapnel in my right shoulder. It ruptured my left eardrum, and I sustained a concussion,? St. Dennis said.
Every Marine present at the explosion shared the same first thought, and it was not about their own injuries, St. Dennis said.
?The number one thing on my mind was the other Marines,? St. Dennis said. ?The Marines I was there with took care of me, helping me heal up and get me back in the fight.?
Five months after his second wound, St. Dennis learned he would be leaving Iraq and heading home.
?I didn?t know if I?d ever see him, or if he would come back wounded or dead,? said his mother. ?When he left Iraq and went into Kuwait, he said ?Mom, you don?t have to worry anymore.? When he said that, a weight was lifted. I could sleep at night after that.?
Regardless of St. Dennis? location, he maintains a positive attitude about life, according to Lance Cpl. Joseph S. Dwyer, a friend from his unit who served with him in Iraq and received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds received from the mine explosion.
?He?s a jokester,? said Dwyer, a Douglasville, Ga., native. ?He?s the guy who no matter if the situation is good or bad, he makes everyone laugh to ease the tension.?
Though St. Dennis jokes a lot during his off time, he puts the title of Marine before all else, according to Dwyer.
?When it comes to the Marine Corps he is very serious,? Dwyer said. ?If a Marine needs something, he will be the one to take care of it. He puts other Marines before himself.?
This selflessness is a trait instilled by his family and he continues to exhibit it in all aspects of his life, his mother said.
?He paid for his aunt and me to come here with his hard-earned combat pay,? she said proudly. ?It was an honor to meet all his fellow Marines. He is an only child, but now I see how many brothers he really has.?
