Convoy escort earns a Purple Heart
Released: Nov. 15, 2004
By 2nd Lt. Heather Alden
100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
Staff Sgt. Amelia Solomon, 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron, stands in front of the truck she was commanding when the truck in front of hers was hit by an improvised explosive device in Iraq May 1. She earned the Purple Heart for the injuries she received during a convoy mission with the Army. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Robinson)
ROYAL AIR FORCE MILDENAHALL, England (USAFENS) -- Staff Sgt. Amelia Solomon didn’t spend her summer backpacking through Europe or sunbathing on the beaches of Cornwall with her 3-year-old daughter.
Instead, she spent her summer in the dry, blistering heat of Iraq , wondering how many improvised explosive devices might be hidden on the trail in front of her convoy and praying just to make it through each day alive. She triumphed through the challenging six-month tour with the Army as a convoy escort, and she has the Purple Heart to prove it.
A five-year Air Force veteran, the 24-year-old enthusiastically volunteered to go to Iraq as an Air Force vehicle operator. The 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron sent five people to Iraq just a couple of months before she found out she was going.