Marine Officer awarded Silver Star

[USMC Chuter]

A Marine from Bristol has received the country’s third-highest medal of valor for his actions in combat last May against insurgents in a mountainous region ofAfghanistan.


In a ceremony held Feb. 2 at Kanoehe Marine Corps Base in Oahu, Hawaii, Lt. Col. Norm Cooling, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment pinned the Silver Star on 1st Lt. Stephen Boada.


The 27-year-old Bristol Central High School graduate was the first Marine from Kanoehe to receive the Silver Star since the war on terror began in 2001.

In accepting the medal, Boada said Americans need to remember that there is still a war in Afghanistan.

"There are lot of things going on in Afghanistan that people don’t really know about," said Boada in a story that appeared Feb. 3 in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "It is not as high intensity as Fallujah or Iraq right now, obviously," he said. "I think we have made significant progress in Afghanistan up to this point."

Boada, who suffered a minor chest wound, said it was the team effort of his platoon that earned him the Silver Star.

"It was a tremendous honor, but ..it’s just not my day. I don’t see it that way. An honor, certainly, knowing the history of the award and those who have received it before me ... but I prefer just to carry on," the medal recipient was quoted as saying in the Honolulu newspaper.

The commanding officer of his battalion, Lt. Col. Rudy Janiczsk, told his Marines that they should look up to the lieutenant and remember that "at any given time you can make the difference."

Born and raised in Bristol, Boada is the son of Albert L. Sr. and Jean Boada of Robin Street. His older brother, Lawrence, is a teacher in Meriden.

Boada graduated from Bristol Central in 1997 and later received a bachelor of science degree in geography from Central Connecticut State University.

A Marine for seven years, including time in a Reserve unit, Boada has been an artillery officer with Kaneohe’s 1st Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, since July 2004.

While in Hawaii, Boada married a high school classmate, Jennifer Zabek, in October 2004. An advanced practical registered nurse, she is the daughter of David and Joan Zabek of Bristol. The reception for the couple’s families was deferred until last July and was held at the Mohegan Sun.

For seven months last year, Boada was assigned to an infantry unit, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, as a forward observer and forward air controller. His job was to coordinate both artillery and close Air Force support for the 3rd Battalion.

In the story appearing in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Boada recounted the action for which he was awarded the Silver Star.

During a routine patrol in May, Boada not only coordinated both Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt and AC-130 Spectre gunships on about 30 insurgents fighting in the mountainous region near the village of Shatagal, in Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan, but also led a grenade attack on a machine gun nest hidden in a cave.

Boada said the firefight was "the highest-intensity conflict" that the unit he was assigned to -- 2nd Platoon, Kilo Company -- had experienced during the seven months it was in Afghanistan.

Two Marines -- Cpl. Richard P. Schoener, 22, and Lance Cpl. Nicholas C. Kirven, 21 -- were killed in the battle on May 8. They were the only combat deaths the 3rd Battalion suffered in Afghanistan.

The two fallen Marines were both awarded a Bronze Star for their part in the cave-clearing incident.

Three other Marines were injured in the fire fight in a valley known for its poppy fields and dominated by drug lords. The region had been virtually untouched by coalition forces until the Kaneohe Marines arrived there in November 2004, Boada said.

Boada said that while operating near Shatagal village, intelligence reports indicated that al-Qaida and other insurgents planned to ambush the Marines when they left the village.

Boada and 30 members of 2nd Platoon pursued the insurgents up the mountain. One of his squads came under fire, killing Schoener and Kirven.

Boada said the insurgents, armed with AK-47 rifles and machine guns, were spotted in a cave on the side of a mountain. He said that one of his squads surrounded the cave while another took a defensive position.

While members of his platoon laid down a barrage of firepower, hoping to distract and suppress the insurgents in the cave, Boada and Cpl. Troy Arndt hurled grenades into the cave, Boada said.

The two were about 30 feet from the mouth of the cave on their bellies, protected only by a few rocks.

Arndt, 22, said he "prepped" the grenades by removing several of their safety mechanisms and then tossed them to Boada, who hurled them into the cave. The two tossed four grenades into the cave. Arndt was awarded a Bronze Star medal with "V" device for valor.

Arndt praised the way Boada "took control of the situation and neutralized it" after realizing several members of the platoon had been killed and others wounded.

He also agreed with Boada that although the Iraq war might get more attention, "it’s good for the world to be reminded that there is still terrorism and al-Qaida and Taliban in Afghanistan who are still trying to make a statement."

Boada will be deployed again in July, possibly to Okinawa, and since returning from Afghanistan he also has been deployed to Korea, according to his father, who is expecting a visit from his son some time this spring.

Much of the information in this story is from a Feb. 3 article byGreg K. Kakesako of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.