Ala. Guard honored for bus wreck rescue

Published 12:42 am Sunday, August 30, 2009

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Spc. Angela Martinez believes it was more than just a coincidence that 47 Alabama National Guard soldiers were on the scene immediately after a Louisiana church bus carrying teenagers to a Georgia camp overturned last month on Interstate 20.

The soldiers, who are headed to Iraq in January, had just received training in how to right an overturned vehicle when a tire blew out on the church bus in front of them and the bus rolled over three times near Meridian, Miss. Some of the soldiers had also recently attended a combat life saving course.

They put all that training to use as they worked together to set the bus upright and free some of the 17 teenagers and six adults inside.

The soldiers were recognized for their valor Friday when Gov. Bob Riley presented them the Alabama Commendation Medal, calling each soldier to come to the front of the old House Chamber at the Capitol to receive the honor.

“I really think God planned for us to be there,” said Martinez, a truck driver in the National Guard, who as a civilian works at the Wal-Mart distribution center in Brundidge.

The accident occurred July 12 as the soldiers, members of the Alabama Army National Guard’s Detachment 1 of the 2101st Transportation Co., were returning to the unit’s headquarters in Aliceville.

At least two people were killed and 23 injured in the accident.

Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of Troy has seen plenty of accidents in his civilian job as a state trooper. But he said what he saw that afternoon was as bad as almost any wreck he has worked as a trooper. He said it took almost all 47 soldiers, working together, to stand the church bus upright. Burkett said he doesn’t see himself as a hero.

“It was one of those things that anybody who saw it would have done,” Burkett said.

Some who were on the bus traveled to Aliceville in west Alabama earlier this month to meet with the soldiers who had rescued them. Burkett said making friends with the people on the bus may come as a blessing for the soldiers during their deployment to Iraq.

“Some of the people have volunteered to be our pen pals when we go overseas,” he said.

Riley told the soldiers Friday that their actions symbolized what is best about America.

“When you saw people who needed help, you did what you could, you did all that you could, without thinking of yourself first,” Riley said.

Maj. Gen. A.C. Blalock, the Alabama Guard’s adjutant general, congratulated the soldiers at the ceremony attended by many of their family members.

“Some of you put your lives at risk,” Blalock said. “I know you made a difference.”