Lt. Terry Peterson

Lieutenant Terry Peterson was deployed to Iraq to protect American and Iraqi officials attending to the Saddam Hussein Trial. While on assignment in east Baghdad, a roadside bomb hit his armored Humvee.

Lt. Peterson sustained serious blast injuries to his right leg and hand, as well as his left arm and left wrist. He was airlifted to an Iraqi hospital where he was stabilized and transferred to Germany where he underwent multiple surgeries. On December 12th, Terry was transferred to Walter Reed Army Hospital where he is currently undergoing treatment for his injuries. He has received the following military awards: the Purple Heart Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Combat Action Badge.

Peterson is a 2005 graduate of the Citadel, which he attended after graduating from Marmion Military Academy in Aurora, IL.

Staff Sgt. Israel Del Toro

North of Kabul Air Force Staff Sergeant Israel Del Toro was with a group of scouts. For three days they had been trailing a group of Taliban fighters, and watched for them by night. Hours later, after eating lunch with Afghan National Army allies, they crossed a creek. His humvee tire rolled over a buried pressure plate mine. On fire, Israel crawled into the dirt. Then, limping on Lt. Findley's arm, he sank into the nearby stream to cool his seared body. Amidst the explosions of ammo stashed in the burning humvee, he struggled to utter the code words to call in airlift medics on radio equipment half burned.

From there he was in and out of consciousness. He remembers Lt. Findley talking to him to keep him awake during the helicopter ride. He remembers the doctor in the hospital cutting off his favorite watch. Then knew nothing for the next three months. The bomb blast had taken his face, his hands and his career as an elite JTAC, calling in tactical jet strikes.

He awoke in intensive care in the burn treatment unit of Brooke Army medical Center in San Antonio. Burns covered 80 percent of his body. His wife was there and he wanted to hug her, but Carman was only able to squeeze a toe. She told him president Bush had been there to see him. Dressed in medical gloves and booties, stayed with him for about twenty minutes, thanking him for his valor. Israel remembered none of it.