A Medic Under Fire: Private Michelle Norris | June 2006

um in april 2006 the first battalion the princess of wales's royal regiment deployed to iraq as part of the 20th armored brigade on arrival in the theater the battalion was based at various locations in the southeast of the country with its sea company being garrisoned at camp abu naji on the outskirts of alamara it was here shortly after arriving the sea company found itself in the receiving end of rocket and mortar attacks as major steve finnell recalls the complete stillness of the night on the 15th of may was punctuated by a series of firework like whistles not one but multiple and seemingly coming in from different directions i remember shouting incoming as i ran the last few yards and died for the ground next to my cabin the first explosions erupted and i could tell they were close as i heard the shrapnel pinging off the cabins around me i hugged the ground my arms underneath my body to try and make myself a smaller target as possible in total throughout may four british soldiers suffered light wounds as a result of these attacks and as they increased in tempo and ferocity in early june the british command in iraq authorised a major search operation to be conducted in alamara in the hopes of finding anyone responsible as well as any equipment linked to the bombardments [Music] beginning in the early morning of the 11th june 2006 sea company supported by challenger 2 tanks the queen's royal hussars and the elements of the 1st battalion the grenadier guards moved into the city on board warrior armored fighting vehicles to begin the search this mountain from the warriors at around zero 310 the british infantry came on the small arms far as they moved off to the pre-ranged targets with short but intense fire fights between the british and the insurgents taking place across the city eventually as the sun began to rise the order was given for the british force to withdraw and return to camp however as they did so one of the warriors veered off a road and became stuck in a ditch near the center of the city prompting the crew to begin efforts aimed at recovering the vehicle just as crowds of iraqi civilians began to form around the site fortunately for the crew more british troops soon arrived and set up a cordon around the warrior wearing from out of the tyre alleyways and from the neighboring buildings an enemy force estimated to have numbered 200 insurgents appeared and launched a series of attacks against the british perimeter despite being outnumbered the men of the princess of wales's royal regiment held their ground and at times drove the enemy back with one such action involving sergeant stephen izzard who led a group of british infantry and a 100 meter charged down a street to take out an enemy strong point for this sergeant izzard was awarded the military cross meanwhile elsewhere in the cordon a detachment from sea company's headquarters began to receive accurate sniper fire with color sergeant ian page who was in the turret of the warrior he was commanding being hit in the face inside the rear passenger compartment of the vehicle at the time was 19 year old medic private michelle norris who remembers i heard a big bang up front and the driver said the commander had been hit i asked if he was okay but nobody spoke [Music] unable to get to caller sergeant paige from her current position private norris asked the driver to stop the warrior while she dismounted and administered first aid to their commando opening the rear door private norris slept out from the afv climbed up the side of the vehicle and up to the turret where she found sergeant paige seriously wounded having had his jaw shattered by the enemy bullet although in full view of the enemy private norris began to treat sergeant paige as insurgent gunfire hit all around her including one bullet which struck her rucksack and another which hit the radio mounted on the side of the turru now only missing one of her legs despite this private michelle norris remained in place and continued to provide life-saving support to her commander for three minutes after which she with the assistance of a couple of other british soldiers moved the color sergeant to the rear compartment of the afv in preparation for a medical evacuation which had been organized by company sergeant major barry french during the long intense battle i heard casualty over the radio and as i got my notebook out the soldier's details started to come in over the radio i had enough information to start the kazivac procedure so heavy extraction was requested as the warrior approached the emergency rendezvous i had a medic standby to help administer first aid by the time the back door of the warrior had opened the helicopter was landing on my smoke grenade marker in the skies above alamara a british lynx helicopter piloted by captain william cesarec a u.s marine temporarily serving with british forces as part of an exchange program was rerouted to conduct the evacuation of sergeant paige touching down at the casualty evacuation point captain cesarec along with his crew of royal navy lieutenant david williams and royal marine dance corporal max carter helped transfer the wounded officer onto the lynx prior to airlifting him out to a nearby military hospital remarkably despite the severity of his wounds colour sergeant ian page were going to make a full recovery thanks in large part to the lifesaving first aid private michelle norris provided him all the while under intense enemy fire you

Channel: Liveth For Evermore

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Keywords: British, Military, History, Education, Army, Air Force, Navy, Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Liveth For Evermore, LFE, Special Forces, Operation Telic, Iraq, Invasion of Iraq, Al-Amarah, 20th Armoured Brigade, Private Michelle Norris, Warrior, Warrior AFV, Military Cross, U.S. Marine Corps, US Marines, Captain William Chesarek, Lynx Helicopter, Camp Abu Naji, A Medic Under Fire: Private Michelle Norris & the Battle of Al-Amarah | June 2006, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, PWRR, 1st Battalion

Id: k0BY0aQccYw

Length: 7min 7sec (427 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 25 2021