Long Island Soldier Receives Silver Star

John Mitty Sunday, April 7, 2013

Sgt. 1^st Class Matthew Loheide of Patchogue, Long Island, recently was awarded with the Silver Star for heroism.  The soldier helped to evacuate wounded troops to helicopters so that they could be taken to safety after a bomb was dropped.  The bomb actually came from an Air Force jet passing overhead, so the injury sustained by Loheide was from friendly fire.  “I remember, due to the enemy contact that we were making, it was a very limited time frame where we could actually get the helicopters in and get casualties on the helicopters and out of the area,” Loheide explains. 

Loheide himself was badly injured by the bombing, but despite the trauma to his brain, he continued to do his part to get the others to safety.  The Silver Star is the third-highest medal awarded by the US military for actions of great valor.  The ceremony was conducted at Fort Campbell on the border of Tennessee and Kentucky.  Loheide, who first enlisted in the Army in November of 2001 following the 9/11 attacks, has been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the past, and has already re-enlisted following his reception of the Silver Star so that he can return to the Middle East and help other wounded soldiers.

jmitty@longislandyellowpages.com

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