Sergeant First Class Levon Fernandez saving the world

Southcom.mil reports that Sergeant First Class Levon Fernandez, a flight paramedic with Joint Task Force-Bravo’s Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 228th Aviation Regiment, was awarded the Soldiers Medal for his actions on August 16, 2017 in Honduras when a Honduran Air Force L410 training flight crashed into powerlines and a headquarters building;

After negotiating the electrical wires, debris and other hazardous conditions, he reached the severely wounded Honduran aviators, checked for signs of life and began directing others in vicinity of the crash site.

“I met up with a few of my medics over there. Our first goal was to try to extract the pilots; we noticed 3 guys in there. There was fuel spurting out all over us as we were trying to extract them,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez retrieved the flight engineer from the aircraft and got him to a safe distance where another flight paramedic was able to provide the necessary medical care. He then turned his attention back to the other aviators who were severely entangled in the wreckage. Unable to extract the pilot within conventional means, Fernandez climbed into the cockpit.

“They were all pretty trapped in so we were trying to take the aircraft apart around them. We were able to extract two of the pilots right away, the third one unfortunately was not able to get extracted and passed away in the aircraft. It was not until hours later that the fire department was finally able to get him out,” said Fernandez.

Thanks to AW1Ed for the tip.

Category: Real Soldiers