Silver Star for Navy Corpsman After Battle in Sangin

Silver Star for Doc who fought to save Marine
Navy hospital corpsman repelled machine gun fire in Sangin, Afghanistan
UT San Diego
By Gretel C. Kovach
SEPT. 19, 2014

During a ceremony at 5th Marines in Camp Pendleton, Jonathan Kong is awarded the Silver Star from Maj. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson. Kong was a Hospital Corpsman Second Class while serving in the U.S. Navy and assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marines when he was deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan.
Nelvin C. Cepeda / UT San Diego/Twitter

CAMP PENDLETON — When “Doc” Kong saw a Marine drop from a shot to the chest, he didn’t hesitate.

While shooting his rifle to suppress the enemy attack, Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Kong rushed into the open under heavy machine gun fire to retrieve the Marine and administer life-saving medical care.

The former Navy hospital corpsman “courageously fought through an enemy ambush to save the life of a wounded Marine,” on June 13, 2011 in Sangin, Afghanistan, the Marine Corps announced.

For his heroic achievement, Kong was awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest medal for valor in combat, during a ceremony Friday afternoon at Camp Pendleton.

In brief remarks on the 5th Marine Regiment parade deck, Kong told guests he didn’t feel he deserved the award.

“Honestly, these other corpsmen out here… I was with them in Afghanistan and I know for a fact if they were in my shoes they would have done the same thing. If I was the one laying on my back, someone else would be dragging me behind the wall,” he said.
read more here