The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to First Lieutenant (Infantry) William G. Cromie, United States Army, for exceptional bravery and valorous actions in combat on 16 November 2007, while under intense enemy fire as the Route Clearance Package Platoon Leader assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team. First Lieutenant Cromie’s expert combat leadership was pivotal to his platoon’s defeat of a fierce near ambush on the Korengal Road and his personal bravery in assaulting through the ambush saved two of his Paratroopers who were pinned down by enemy fire. First Lieutenant Cromie then led a counter-attack that not only defeated the ambush, but destroyed eight enemy personnel. His leadership reflects great credit upon himself, Task Force ROCK, Task Force BAYONET, Combined Joint Task Force 101, and the United States Army.
NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD:
On 16 November 2007, the Task Force ROCK Route Clearance Package (RCP) was tasked to conduct a deliberate route clearance and counter-IED patrol along the Korengal Road in response to corroborating human intelligence and signal intercepts that indicated the presence of an IED targeting Coalition Force patrols. Having already discovered one IED in the same vicinity, having disrupted another IED emplacement in the same vicinity the previous week, and having been engaged in three separate small arms fire ambushes along the Korengal Road during previous patrols, the RCP expected a non-permissive enemy threat environment and considered contact to be imminent as soon as they began clearing the route. Despite his expectation of enemy contact, First Lieutenant Cromie, the RCP Platoon Leader, chose to employ his platoon in a mixed mounted and dismounted formation in order to most effectively clear the only ground route in and out of the Korengal Valley, the most violent area of operations inside all of RC EAST. Understanding that properly arraying his force to best accomplish his mission significantly increased the risk to his Paratroopers, Lieutenant Cromie spared no effort to set the conditions that would prove decisive to his Platoon’s ability to survive the initial IED detonation and to successfully pursue the enemy contact and defeat the ambush. His expert direction of the fierce combined arms battle that followed the blast, much of it within hand grenade range of a determined enemy fighting from prepared positions, was decisive in securing the tactical victory, bringing his Paratroopers back from the patrol, and keeping the Korengal Outpost’s only ground access open for emergency resupply or CASEVAC. While conducting the clearance, approximately three kilometers south of Omar, Lieutenant Cromie’s lead vehicle struck a command-wired IED. The IED’s detonation initiated a complex, combined near and far, small arms and RPG ambush that raged for the next 45 minutes. Over the course of this fight, Lieutenant Cromie displayed uncommon skill at employing multiple assets with tremendous effect, and he exhibited conspicuous personal valor by repeatedly exposing himself to effective enemy fire while maneuvering his unit directly into enemy fire in order to assault through the near ambush. After overseeing the RCP’s initial response to the initiation of the ambush, Lieutenant Cromie learned that the front of the formation was engaged in an intense small arms fire fight with an enemy less than 25 meters away. Without regard for his personal safety, Lieutenant Cromie secured extra ammunition, hand grenades and an AT-4, and moved over 200 meters in the open, under effective enemy fire, until reaching Staff Sergeant Dockery and Specialist Taylor, both of whom were being effectively suppressed by the enemy. Upon arriving at their position, again under a steady stream of effective enemy fire, Lieutenant Cromie re-supplied Staff Sergeant Dockery’s and Specialist Taylor’s ammunition and began throwing hand grenades in order to suppress the enemy positions. Enabled by Lieutenant Cromie’s hand grenades, Staff Sergeant Dockery and Specialist Taylor IMT’d to the house that had contained the enemy fighters and gained a foot-hold. Having repelled the near ambush, but still drawing fire from the far ambush positions, Lieutenant Cromie then organized a squad of Engineer Heavy Equipment Operators who conducted a deliberate clearance of the multi-room compound from which they drew fire. The clearance, still under enemy fire, located the command wire and initiator used to detonate the IED, and all of this was executed while simultaneously directing 155-mm. and 120-mm. indirect fires and directing ISR observation of the objective that enabled CAS to drop ordnance that destroyed eight enemy personnel (confirmed by Shadow FMV, not by personal battle damage assessment). For his exceptional display of combat competence and valor under fire, repeated and voluntary exposure to enemy fire for the benefit of his mission and his men, his refusal to allow the enemy to impose restrictions on the completion of his assigned mission, and his pivotal role in turning an enemy-initiated ambush into the decisive, combined-arms defeat of an elusive IED cell. Lieutenant Cromie’s conspicuous valor despite the risk of harm reflects tremendous credit on himself and is in keeping with the highest traditions of THE ROCK, the 173d Airborne Brigade Combat Team, CJTF-101, and the United States Army.