Mystery Solved
In this post I complained about a newspaper story we wrote about Sgt. Jason Leisey, a local soldier wounded in Iraq. The story lacked essential information (such as what unit the soldier served in and where the attack happened), and the family had only the vaguest information about the soldier who, apparently, saved their son/husband's life. And the news staff here just was not that interested in discovering any of this.
I was sure the facts were out there, but I couldn't turn them up. I should have known that if I waited long enough, Mudville Gazette would tell me the story that my own newspaper was insufficiently interested in discovering. MG works tirelessly to find, and tell, the tales of the heroes who slip through the cracks in the newsroom floors.
Sure enough, he turned up the story I was looking for. A Western Pennsylvania newspaper, near the hero's hometown, had told the story right. And what a story. Sgt. Scot Sage and others with a Connellsville-based Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit rushed to the burning wreckage of a Humvee and saved Sgt. Leisey and three others.
They used flak jackets to shield the injured men, they used pen-knives to cut them free, and they fought the flames with eight fire extinguishers and 300 bottles of water.
Holy crap! Have you ever seen a car in flames? And known there was a gas tank in there somewhere? You know what kind of courage it takes to run into that situation?
Unfortunately, my suspicions were right and this was a Guard unit, not an Army unit, as we reported. Oops.
And I'll take this opportunity to remind you that a fund has been set up for Sgt. Leisey, whose family are "good people" around here, and donations are being taken at the Jason Leisey/Kate Gribbin Fund, in care of the Hempfield Area School District, 200 Church St., Landisville, Pa., 17538.
I was sure the facts were out there, but I couldn't turn them up. I should have known that if I waited long enough, Mudville Gazette would tell me the story that my own newspaper was insufficiently interested in discovering. MG works tirelessly to find, and tell, the tales of the heroes who slip through the cracks in the newsroom floors.
Sure enough, he turned up the story I was looking for. A Western Pennsylvania newspaper, near the hero's hometown, had told the story right. And what a story. Sgt. Scot Sage and others with a Connellsville-based Pennsylvania Army National Guard unit rushed to the burning wreckage of a Humvee and saved Sgt. Leisey and three others.
They used flak jackets to shield the injured men, they used pen-knives to cut them free, and they fought the flames with eight fire extinguishers and 300 bottles of water.
Holy crap! Have you ever seen a car in flames? And known there was a gas tank in there somewhere? You know what kind of courage it takes to run into that situation?
Scot Sage, who holds the position of combat life saver with his platoon, is among those credited with stabilizing the injured soldiers prior to their evacuation to an Army support hospital in Mosul. A 1991 Gulf War naval veteran and former chief of the South Connellsville fire department,Sage was so near to flames from the burning Humvee that his hair was singed and he suffered minor cuts and smoke inhalation, his wife said.
Unfortunately, my suspicions were right and this was a Guard unit, not an Army unit, as we reported. Oops.
And I'll take this opportunity to remind you that a fund has been set up for Sgt. Leisey, whose family are "good people" around here, and donations are being taken at the Jason Leisey/Kate Gribbin Fund, in care of the Hempfield Area School District, 200 Church St., Landisville, Pa., 17538.
