The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Soldier’s Medal to Specialist William Joseph Clark, United States Army, for heroism at the risk of life not involving conflict with an armed enemy on 10 March 2007. While on a combat logistic patrol in Southern Iraq, Specialist Clark’s convoy encountered a collision involving two Iraqi civilian vehicles. His selfless service and courageous response in the face of imminent danger, saved the lives of several Iraqi civilians. Specialist Clark’s actions are in keeping with the finest military traditions and reflect great credit upon him, his unit, and the United States Army.
NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD:
On 10 March 2007, while performing duties as a mechanic and recovery vehicle operator on a Combat Logistic Patrol operating in southern Iraq, Specialist Clark’s convoy encountered a collision involving two Iraqi civilian vehicles. A four-door passenger sedan collided head on with a minivan and burst into flames. The rear gun truck from the convoy traveling in front of Specialist Clark’s convoy witnessed the collision and called for support. Specialist Clark, his driver Sergeant Steven Nillo, and one of the gun trucks from his convoy immediately responded to the scene of the accident. When he arrived at the scene, Specialist Clark immediately, with fire fighting protective equipment and with complete disregard for his own safety, attempted to extinguish the fire by using several hand held fire extinguishers. Ultimately, despite his best efforts, and after exhausting all available fire extinguishers, the four passengers in the sedan perished in the fire. Undaunted by this tragedy, Specialist Clark took a tow strap and attached it to one of the gun trucks. He then crawled in, around and under the highly damaged and unstable vehicle to attach the tow strap so the gun truck could pull the engine and dashboard forward off the victims. He extricated the passenger first and then crawled into the vehicle and pulled out the driver. Specialist Clark then performed immediate and critical life saving first aid on five of the civilian casualties for over an hour and a half until the Iraqi Police arrived and began to evacuate the injured to Iraqi medical treatment facilities. While waiting for the injured to be medically evacuated, Specialist Clark and Sergeant Nillo were forced to deal with a highly emotional crowd of about sixty Iraqi civilians who were pushing on them and stepping on the injured Iraqis Specialist Clark was treating. While Sergeant Nillo worked on calming the emotional crowd, Specialist Clark focused on the injured in this highly volatile situation. Specialist Clark’s demeanor and professionalism helped diffuse the situation and reflect very highly on the mission of the U.S. Army in Iraq to build trust, faith and respect with the Iraqi people As a result of Specialist Clark’s selfless willingness to accept risk while demonstrating personal courage in the face of physical danger, Iraqi civilian lives were saved. His actions set the highest standard of military service and compassion for human life. Specialist Clark’s heroism demonstrated, under extraordinary circumstances, the Warrior Ethos. His actions reflect highly upon the 222d Transportation Company, Joint Logistics Task Force 57 and the United States Army.