A Ngāpuhi soldier in the New Zealand Army has been awarded the Defence Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of his courageous actions during a rocket attack in Iraq in March last year.
Corporal Charles Munns is one of three soldiers recognised for their actions in the attack on the Taji Military Camp.
Corporal Jessica Healey-Render and Private Maddison Van Sitter both also received a Chief of Defence Force commendation.
Corporal Munns, originally from Kaitaia, was a section commander in the Quick Reaction Force of the Task Group in Iraq from November 2019 to March 2020, and was part of the team responsible for maintaining the security of the camp.
The rocket attack
On the night of March 11, the NZ Defence Force says an indirect fire attack on Camp Taji saw at least 29 rockets explode, resulting in mass casualties, large fires and unexploded weapons littering the camp.
Corporal Munns says he was climbing into bed when the attack happened at about 7.30pm. He was preparing to be up at midnight for patrol.
"At first you don’t think it’s real because you do so much training but, within seconds, you realise what is happening.”
Corporal Munns says he ran to a bunker and ensured his section was all there. As they ventured out into the camp they found casualties almost immediately. No New Zealanders were killed or injured.
“We found three wounded soldiers, two in a rather bad way and the third had taken a lot of shrapnel and was in a lot of shock," he says.
"We treated all three and had to begin CPR on one but eventually it was no use as his injuries were too much.”
Three people died in the attack - two Americans and a British medic - and 17 were injured.
Corporal Munns and his section spent the rest of the night clearing areas where power lines were sparking, buildings were on fire, and also dealing with vehicles leaking petrol, and marking spots where unexploded weapons had fallen.
Kiwi respondents acknowledged
In the same attack, Corporal Jessica Healey-Render, a medic from Auckland, was one of the first responders to reach critically injured casualties, and quickly assumed control of the medical situation.
“We heard the rockets just after we had finished a step class in the gym," she says.
"I found my evacuation team and we drove down the road where we soon found our first casualty. This is when I realised the true nature of the situation. There were multiple traumatic injuries including shrapnel wounds.
"I’ll admit it was scary – you never think there will be a day when you are literally running for your life.”
Private Maddison Van Sitter, from Rotorua, responded to one of the main incident sites, where he noticed an extremely distressed coalition soldier attempting to deliver CPR to a critically injured colleague.
Private Van Sitter took over the CPR duties and spent the next six minutes fighting to resuscitate the injured person.
When medical staff confirmed the individual had died, Private Van Sitter re-focused his efforts on ensuring the deceased person was afforded privacy by covering the body and ensuring that onlookers were kept away.
“It was far from what I’d ever expected to deal with but I’m just glad that we all were able to do what was needed under the circumstances,” Private Van Sitter said.