Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Alan P. Dementer and his wife,
Jerri, attend the Oct. 14 USO Gala in Washington, D.C. Dementer was named the
USO Sailor of the Year for his heroism in Iraq. Photo by Linda D.
Kozaryn
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image available.
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The United Service Organizations disagrees with Dementer's assessment of his
heroic actions. The USO honored the corpsman and four other enlisted men, one
from each service branch, at the 2004 USO Gala here Oct. 14.
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine
Gen. Peter Pace, Joint Chiefs vice chairman, and top officer and enlisted
personnel from each of the services, as well as numerous entertainment
celebrities, saluted the heroes.
Myers said the five servicemember heroes represent all the men and women in the
armed forces. "And I would submit that they're all heroes," he said.
USO President Edward A. Powell presented the 2004 Service Hero of the Year
awards to Dementer, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Laurence D. Nettles,
Army Sgt. Christopher David Holbrook, Marine Sgt. Nicanor A. Galvan, and Air
Force Senior Airman Nicholas P. Semonelle.
"I can't imagine how I got chosen," said Dementer, of Gladstone, Mich. "It's
such an honor to be able to be here tonight, just for doing my job.
"As a corpsmen going out with the Marines, we train to go out and patch people
up and get them back into the fight," he said. "To get an award for going out
with a unit such as 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines -- this is awesome."
Dementer had been in Iraq for about a month when insurgents attacked the unit's
command headquarters. USO officials honored Dementer for his courage under
fire, leading directly to the life-saving treatment and the evacuation of 31
Marines.
Although wounded, Dementer provided medical care to others and, without regard
for his own safety or his own injuries, went to another part of the compound to
treat a group of Marines pinned down under enemy fire, according to information
provided in the event program. While under attack, he administered treatment,
stabilizing their injuries, and coordinating their evacuation.
Dementer's combat experience has deepened his commitment to his cohorts. He
said he expects to again deploy with the Marines either to Afghanistan or Iraq
sometime in the future. "I'm proud to serve with the Marines," he said. "I
can't imagine doing anything else. I love my job."
Dementer's wife, Jerri, said she's always been proud of her husband. "Now I'm
just glad the rest of the world can see what a great guy he is," she said. If
Dementer deploys again, she said, "then I will always support him and stay here
and take care of the kids and love him and pray for him to come home safely."
Dementer is now assigned to the Naval Hospital Corps School, Great Lakes, Ill.
The Coast Guard's Nettles, a nine-year veteran, echoed Dementer's sentiments
about being a hero. "I feel like I'm being spoiled for just doing my job," he
said. "I couldn't imagine a job more rewarding than being a helicopter rescue
swimmer."
The USO honored Nettles for his skill and bravery while rescuing passengers
from a sinking vessel during a hurricane. He fought heavy seas to rescue two
passengers, and even though he and a third survivor were pushed under water by
a breaking wave, he was able to regain control and rescue the third survivor.
He then returned and rescued the last survivor.
Nettles said he spent 45 minutes in the water that day. "It was very windy,
rainy, zero visibility in a helicopter," he said. "(The) seas had about 20- to
30-foot waves, and it was pretty ugly."
Nettles, a self-proclaimed "government brat" whose home is where he "rests his
rump," said he swims about 1,000 yards a day, runs three to five miles, and
lifts weights for an hour. He plans on making the Coast Guard his career.
"They'll have to physically force me out," he said.
The USO also honored the Army's Holbrook, an infantry team leader from St.
Paul, Minn., for his selfless and courageous actions in saving the lives of his
fellow soldiers.
While a member of a squad providing escort duties for a civilian team working
to restore oil production in Iraq, the convoy Holbrook was escorting was
ambushed, according to information in the event program. Although seriously
wounded, he continued to drive when the convoy was ambushed again. By this
time, seven of the ten soldiers in the convoy had been wounded. Despite his
injuries, Holbrook continued driving, breaking through the ambush zone and
making it back to base so the wounded could get medical treatment.
"We didn't just drive through the ambush," he said. "We got out, and we killed
a bunch of the insurgents. Luckily, I think because we did react, we didn't
die."
When military officials examined the area after the attack, he said, they found
four daisy-chain unexploded improvised explosive devices right next to the
road.
"Either we killed one of the guys that was going to set off the IED," Holbrook
said, "or we caused chaos and confusion because the majority of the units over
there, when they react to an ambush, they drive through it. We got out. We
reacted. We took a toll on the enemy. Even though the seven of us were wounded,
we still did the job."
Holbrook, who's slated to deploy to Afghanistan in February or March, said
"it's good to be an infantry team leader in the Army, seeing policy first hand,
because you're influencing things over there."
Holbrook noted that he appreciates the USO's honor on behalf of his fellow
soldiers and the organization's efforts to support the troops. Holbrook is
assigned to 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade,
Vicenza, Italy.
The USO also honored the Marine Corps' Galvan, of Waco, Texas, for inspiring
and saving the lives of his fellow Marines. When his company was ordered to
clear the battalion's advance to Baghdad, Galvan's platoon was able to close in
on the enemy while enemy fire pinned down the rest of the company. The first to
rush forward under heavy sniper fire, according to USO officials, he led his
squad by example, giving them the courage to close in on and destroy the enemy
position.
Galvan, a six-year Marine veteran, is now a combat instructor at the School of
Infantry, Combat Marine Training Battalion, at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He said
he advises his students to "always be at the alert, ready to go, set the
example, look alert, and be ready for anything."
The Air Force's Semonelle was honored for his unhesitating courage in saving
the lives of two children.
Seeing smoke coming from a home and learning that children were trapped inside,
Semonelle entered the burning structure and began a systematic search to try to
find the children. He rescued one child and, without hesitation and regard for
his own personal safety, risked his life to go back inside the home, now ablaze
and filled with smoke, to locate and rescue the second child.
Semonelle is assigned to 435th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Ramstein Air
Base, Germany.
In a letter to the USO included in the gala's program, Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld said the nonprofit organization has been a link between the
American people and the nation's fighting forces for more than 60 years.
The secretary noted the USO has opened centers in Qatar and Kuwait and will
soon open another in Afghanistan. The new center will be dedicated to ex-
National Football League star Pat Tillman, who left professional football to
join the Army Rangers and was killed in action in Afghanistan.
 | The USO 2004 Service Heroes of the Year display their awards at
the Oct. 14 USO Gala in Washington, D.C. From left to right: Army Sgt.
Christopher D. Holbrook, Marine Sgt. Nicanor A. Galvan, Navy Petty Officer 2nd
Class Alan
P. Dementer, Air Force Senior Airman Nicholas P. Semonelle, and Coast Guard
Petty Officer 3rd Class Laurence D. Nettles. Photo by Linda D. Kozaryn
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 | High resolution photo
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 | The USO 2004 Service Heroes of the Year display their awards at
the Oct. 14 USO Gala in Washington, D.C. From left to right: Army Sgt.
Christopher D. Holbrook, Marine Sgt. Nicanor A. Galvan, Navy Petty Officer 2nd
Class Alan P. Dementer, Air Force Senior Airman Nicholas P. Semonelle, and
Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Laurence D. Nettles. Photo by Linda D.
Kozaryn
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 | High resolution photo
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