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"Stationed in an Afghan battle zone, Navy trauma nurse Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari gained plenty of experience treating the wounds of war. But he had never seen anything like the case that arrived by helicopter one day in January.
A Marine had been struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, but the device hadn't gone off. It was still there -- a live explosive lodged in the young man's thigh.
For Gennari, treating the Marine meant risking his own life. The surgeon on hand told him he didn't have to tend to the Marine, who was kept outside the hospital because of the danger.
"I said, 'I'm a nurse,' " Gennari recalled this week. "'That's my job. I'm going.'"
With the help of an explosives expert, Gennari removed the grenade and saved the Marine's life. The act, which was captured on video, earned Gennari the Bronze Star Medal for heroic or meritorious service.
"He's a natural leader," Navy Capt. David Beardsley, Gennari's commanding officer, said at the ceremony Thursday. "We all carry our service reputations with us, and Jim's was stellar. I knew I could have confidence he'd do the right thing."
Gennari, 52, of East Chicago, is now stationed at the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, where the medal ceremony was held."
"Stationed in an Afghan battle zone, Navy trauma nurse Lt. Cmdr. James Gennari gained plenty of experience treating the wounds of war. But he had never seen anything like the case that arrived by helicopter one day in January.
A Marine had been struck by a rocket-propelled grenade, but the device hadn't gone off. It was still there -- a live explosive lodged in the young man's thigh.
For Gennari, treating the Marine meant risking his own life. The surgeon on hand told him he didn't have to tend to the Marine, who was kept outside the hospital because of the danger.
"I said, 'I'm a nurse,' " Gennari recalled this week. "'That's my job. I'm going.'"
With the help of an explosives expert, Gennari removed the grenade and saved the Marine's life. The act, which was captured on video, earned Gennari the Bronze Star Medal for heroic or meritorious service.
"He's a natural leader," Navy Capt. David Beardsley, Gennari's commanding officer, said at the ceremony Thursday. "We all carry our service reputations with us, and Jim's was stellar. I knew I could have confidence he'd do the right thing."
Gennari, 52, of East Chicago, is now stationed at the Capt. James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, where the medal ceremony was held."
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