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 Private First Class Brendan T. Quinn, United States Army, for gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force while serving as a dismounted infantry scout in C Troop, 1st Squadron, 32d Cavalry Squadron (Air Assault Reconnaissance), 101st Airborne Division Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 January 2008 during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. The gallant actions of Private First Class Brendan T. Quinn are in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflect marked distinction upon him, the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, the United States Army, and the Department of Defense.
NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY AWARD:
Private First Class Brendan T. Quinn, United States Army distinguished himself by exceptional gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States as a dismounted infantry scout in C Troop, 1st Squadron, 32d Cavalry Squadron (Air Assault Reconnaissance), Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 January 2008 during OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. Private First Class Quinn, part of an eight man team serving as the Aerial Reaction Force during a Squadron Air Assault, was inserted to interdict six unidentified personnel attempting to flee the objective area during the Squadron’s initial Air Assault into Objective Hood, approximately 13 kilometers east of the city of Balad, Iraq. Aerial observers were unable to identify any weapons in possession of the six men that Private First Class Quinn’s team landed to interdict. The six men took cover in a clump of brush in a barren field furrowed with irrigation ditches. Unknown to Private First Class Quinn’s team, this brush was also a weapons cache containing six AK-47s, numerous loaded 30 round magazines and at least two fragmentation grenades. The Aerial Reaction Force Commander, First Lieutenant Hanson, ordered the men to surrender and move out from the brush. The men did not come forward. Believing them to be unarmed, the team moved forward to the brush to physically detain them. The team was engaged at close range with automatic weapons and fragmentation grenades. The fire was so intense that the individual weapons of three of the seven members of Private First Class Quinn’s team were struck by small arms fire or grenade fragments. Private First Class Quinn and his teammate, Private First Class Kimme dropped to the prone position to return fire. Private First Class Kimme, at Private First Class Quinn’s side, was struck in the head and fatally wounded immediately after dropping to the ground to return fire. The remaining five members of Private First Class Quinn’s team, including the team leader, Staff Sergeant McGraw, were pinned down in the open field by heavy automatic weapons fire. Private First Class Quinn continued to engage the enemy by his fallen comrade’s side, in the open, 10 meters from the enemy position, exposed to a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire and at least two fragmentation grenades. Staff Sergeant McGraw and Specialist Collins, both wounded, were able to break contact from the sustained fire. They moved to a position to the rear of Private First Class Quinn. Private First Class Quinn crawled back to their location, rendered first aid for the wounds and immediately crawled back into the fight by Private First Class Kimme’s side, where he was once again engaged at a range of less than 15 meters by enemy automatic weapons fire. He stayed in position, continuing to engage the enemy until they were killed by a combination of his team’s fires and door gun fires from the UH-60s supporting the mission. Private First Class Quinn’s actions engaging the enemy at extremely close range, and attempting to render aid to Private First Class Kimme, while selflessly and repeatedly exposing himself to sustained close-range automatic weapons fire, were purely heroic in every sense of the word. The gallant actions of Private First Class Brendan T. Quinn are in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflect marked distinction upon him, the Multi-National Corps-Iraq, the United States Army, and the Department of Defense.