Project Hero

QandO has the next Silver Star recipient tribute up on their site.



Our hero this week is SGT Leandro Baptista, Silver Star

With six men wounded and two vehicles out of action, Baptista "sprinted across a shallow canal, climbed a 10-foot berm, and charged towards the enemy."

Under fire, he knocked out one gun emplacement and grabbed three other Marines to help continue his charge.

After disarming an improvised bomb that threatened backup forces, Baptista split his men up, and the ad hoc team charged a group of 11 insurgents from two angles. Baptista killed at least four of them himself "at close range," while his team attacked the other seven, the citation said.

Baptista, who only left the side of his fiancee long enough to shake the hand of his former 1st Recon comrades, said he was "just doing my job."

"I'm thankful, but I really didn't want to make a big deal of this," he said after the ceremony.

"Everybody out there should be recognized," he said. "People died out there. People got wounded. Everybody did their part. I was just in the position where I had to make a decision and take charge."