WASHINGTON - A Soldier being treated at Walter Reed for wounds sustained in Afghanistan received the Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device during a ceremony here in Doss Memorial Hall Feb. 26.
Spc. Christopher M. "Kit" Lowe, a forward observer with the 1-108th Cavalry Regiment, received the award for actions he took during combat operations in the Alasai Valley, Afghanistan.
Lowe, a six-year veteran of the Georgia National Guard, was on a combat mission with the 48th Battle Training Brigade when he heard gunfire on the roof of the building he was searching. Lowe knew then Marine Capt. Matthew Freeman, whom he considered a friend, and the unit's medic were on that roof and in trouble. Lowe scrambled up a ladder to the roof and saw Freeman had been hit, with bullets still incoming.
"My friend was shot and I needed to get to him," Lowe recalled.
Lowe crawled across the roof to the spot where Freeman was lying, bleeding and unresponsive. "I went to go get him, and I got hit," Lowe said.
As Lowe was pulling the medic to the ground, Lowe was hit by machine gun fire in the upper right thigh.
"It ruined a perfectly good uniform," Lowe quipped. "It was surreal. I never thought I was going to die, even after I was shot. I didn't realize the extent of my wounds. I thought I'd be back at work the next day."
With shots still incoming, Lowe scanned the area. "When you come under fire you want to know where it's coming from," Lowe said. "What I was trying to do was find out where [the enemy fire] was coming from so I could fire on the position."
He discovered the enemy was shooting from a house built into the side of a mountain, so that indirect fire would be ineffective. "You can land mortars on it, but all you'd be doing is beating up a mountain," Low said. "You have to hit the house."
Although injured, Lowe returned fire until reinforcements arrived in a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicle to neutralize the target.
"I really hate public speaking," Lowe told the audience assembled to witness his award. "But I'd better get used to it if I want to be president."
Lowe said of Freeman, the Marine who died, "He was my friend. I wish they didn't have to give his Purple Heart posthumously. I did what I was supposed to do. I did what I was trained to do. It reflects well on the Georgia National Guard."
"My main concern was Capt. Freeman," Lowe said. "Capt. Freeman was killed, and I needed to get him and the medic with him off [the roof]."
Col. Stephen Joyce, commander of the 48th Battle Training Brigade at the time of Lowe's actions, said his behavior was exemplary. "It's everything that's right about America, and everything that's right about the Army."
First Lt. Matt Smith, a member of the unit who earlier received the Purple Heart for injuries sustained in combat two months before Lowe's actions, presented the Bronze Star with "V" Device to Lowe.
"I was intensely proud of him and all the other Soldiers involved," Smith said. "Cavalry have a reputation as above average Soldiers, and his actions exemplified that."
Lowe's thoughts still remain with his fallen comrade. "The only thing I can say is that I'm sorry. He meant the world to me in the short time I knew him and I wish there was more I could do for him."