Bellavia then called for another Bradley Fighting Vehicle to suppress the outside of the building. As enemy rounds snapped past and impacted the walls around him, Bellavia squeezed the SAW’s trigger until it was empty, forcing the enemy to take cover and allowing the Soldiers to move into the street. Recognizing the danger they were in, Bellavia exchanged weapons with an M249 SAW gunner and entered the fatal funnel of the room. Unless something happened quickly, the trapped Soldiers would die. Two were bleeding from the face due to shattered glass, and another was grazed by a round to his stomach. Rounds from the insurgent weapons struck the walls and floor, and began wounding Soldiers. The combined gunfire from the stairwell and the window meant the Soldiers were trapped. Moments later, more AIF opened fire from a window. Two insurgents manning machine guns under a stairwell had been waiting to ambush the Soldiers as they attempted to clear the home. A Bradley Fighting Vehicle was supposed to provide fire support, but a malfunction on its 25mm cannon meant the platoon would have to kill or capture the anti-Iraqi forces (AIF) without it.Īfter finding nothing in the first nine buildings, Bellavia’s platoon moved into the next compound, where they immediately came under fire from the front hallway. 10, 2004, was to clear a block of 12 buildings, where it was thought six or more insurgents had taken shelter. Bellavia was a squad leader in support of Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah, Iraq. Bellavia currently resides in western New York and has three children. He was inducted into the New York State Veterans Hall of Fame in 2005. Bellavia currently is a successful business owner and a loyal Buffalo area sports fan.īellavia’s awards and decorations include the Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Good Conduct Medal with Bronze Clasp and two Loops, the National Defense Service Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, New York State’s Conspicuous Service Cross, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon with Numeral “2,” the Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon with Numeral “2,” the Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Infantryman Badge, Driver and Mechanics Badge and the NATO Medal. He also had several articles appear in national publications and made appearances as a guest on cable news networks. In 2007, he wrote a book, House to House, detailing his experiences in Fallujah. Their membership consisted of tens of thousands of veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.īellavia returned to Iraq as an embedded reporter in 20 where he covered the heavy fighting in Ramadi, Fallujah and Diyala Province. Throughout the year, his task force took part in the battles for Najaf, Mosul, Baqubah, Muqdadiyah and Fallujah.īellavia left the Army in August 2005 and cofounded Vets for Freedom, a veteran advocacy organization that sought to separate politics from the warriors who fight in the field. From February 2004 to February 2005, Bellavia and the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, were stationed in the Diyala Province along the Iranian border. In the summer of 2003, Bellavia’s unit deployed to Kosovo for nine months before receiving orders to deploy directly to Iraq to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. That sense of duty had been ingrained in Bellavia since he was a child by his grandfather, Joseph Brunacini, who served in the Army during the Normandy Campaign in World War II and earned a Bronze Star for his valor. In 2001, Bellavia had to choose between changing his military occupational specialty, submitting a hardship discharge, or remaining as an infantryman and leaving his family for 36 months on an unaccompanied tour to Germany.Īfter the terror attacks on 9/11, Bellavia felt his country needed him and chose to stay and fight. After One Station Unit Training, the Army assigned Bellavia to the Syracuse Recruiting Battalion an assignment which allowed his infant son to receive the medical care he needed. The son of a successful dentist and the youngest of four boys, Bellavia grew up in western New York and attended Lyndonville Central High School and Houghton Academy.įollowing his high school graduation in 1994, Bellavia attended Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, and the University at Buffalo, where he studied biology and theater before turning to the military.īellavia enlisted in the U.S.
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