Friday, November 20, 2009

Fifteen Purple Hearts later, the 951st Sappers will be back in Wisconsin tomorrow

The most banged-up Wisconsin National Guard unit since World War II is scheduled to return home Saturday.

The 108 members of the 951st Engineer Company racked up 15 Purple Heart medals and 100 combat action badges in 250 combat missions in Afghanistan.

"What these guys did was route clearance," state Transition Assistance Advisor Jeff Unger said, referring to checking for hidden explosives. "Every time they stopped and got out of that vehicle they put themselves at risk."

Unger and Bob Evans, the director of psychological health for the state guard, said since WW II no other guard unit has had as many Purple Hearts and combat missions as the 951st.

Read the Wisconsin State Journal story here.

The 951st is the northern Wisconsin combat engineer company that was featured in a
Time magazine photo essay.