Silver Star awarded to humble Tucsonan

Upon learning he was to receive one of the nation's top medals for bravery, he asked if the military could just mail it to him so he wouldn't look like a glory hound.

"It seemed like too much," Hermann, a bomb-disposal expert, said in a military video of the fanfare surrounding his recently awarded Silver Star.

Last week, the Marine Corps dispatched a two-star general to pin the medal on Hermann's chest at his current post in Afghanistan.

The Silver Star is the nation's third-highest award given specifically for combat valor, and is relatively rare. Several hundred have been given to U.S. troops since 2001, compared with several thousand Bronze Stars and tens of thousands of Purple Hearts.

Hermann, 32, a 1996 graduate of Palo Verde High School, was recognized for risking his life and ignoring his own injuries to save a fellow Marine wounded during a firefight in Afghanistan in February 2008.

While on a reconnaissance patrol, Hermann - then a staff sergeant - and fellow troops with the 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion came under heavy attack in the Taliban-held village of Dahaneh.

Hermann was hit in the leg by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade, and a Marine running behind him was downed by machine gun fire.

As bullets whizzed, Hermann continued moving toward the enemy trench line and killed a nest of Taliban fighters, then turned back and put a tourniquet on his wounded colleague's leg.

By that time, only one enemy machine gun was still going. He silenced that one, too, then organized a security cordon to clear the area of hostile forces.

"His quick decision-making, technical competence and bravery saved the wounded Marine from enemy fire and enabled the platoon to continue clearing the village, resulting in the destruction of 13 enemy fighters," according to his Silver Star citation.

Hermann, now a warrant officer based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., is on his second Afghanistan deployment, and has also done two tours in Iraq. He's been a Marine for 14 years.

His father, Greg Hermann, lives in Tucson, and his mother, Debbie Hermann, lives in Colorado.

His wife, Jenny Hermann, 31, a Tucson native and a 1997 graduate of Salpointe Catholic High School, said she was torn between pride and terror when she learned of her husband's heroics.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm beyond worried. But of course, I'm very proud, too," she said.

They are expecting their third child in December.

Being married to a military bomb technician is a roller coaster ride at the best of times, Jenny Hermann said.

"I live with the possibility of losing my husband every day," she said. "I've always known John to be a guy who doesn't go the easy route.

"He takes the road less traveled. He's definitely a unique individual."

On StarNet: In a video from military sources, Hermann talks about the events leading to the award. Watch it at azstarnet.com/multimedia

Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at calaimo@azstarnet.com or at 573-4138.