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FH-3 Earns Presidential Unit Commendation

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS050411-13
Release Date: 4/11/2005 1:56:00 PM

By Rod Duren, Naval Hospital Pensacola Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- Fleet Hospital (FH) 3 received the Presidential Unit Commendation April 8 for its work in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).

The 285-member FH 3 unit served under the I Marine Expeditionary Force during the initial combat phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom and in March 2003 became the Navy's first Expeditionary Medical Facility to have operated in a combat zone during the onset of hostilities in Iraq. The unit was located at Camp Viper, 25 miles southwest of An Nasiriyah.

"We brought to the field a more diverse medical and surgical capability than most community hospitals in this country," said Commander, Fleet Hospital Pensacola Capt. Peter O'Connor. FH Pensacola is the primary component for FH 3. "We were all proud to have served."

The Fleet Hospital unit, with nearly two-thirds of the staff drawn from FH Pensacola, was the most medically and surgically advanced facility ever forward-deployed in a combat zone, according to the citation, and was able to provide 21 distinct surgical and medical specialties in a 116-bed, fully-transportable hospital setting.

During those combat operations, FH 3 admitted some 1,100 war casualties and performed 627 major surgical procedures for coalition forces, displaced Iraqi civilians and enemy prisoners of war.

"We saw everyone that came to our doors," O'Connor said, "and I'm most proud to say that we did not lose a single Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine."

FH 3 personnel also came from Naval Hospitals Beaufort, S.C.; Bethesda, Md.: Corpus Christi, Texas; Great Lakes, Ill.; and Portsmouth, Va.; and Seabee units from Kings Bay, Ga.; and Key West, Fla.

NH Pensacola Commanding Officer, Capt. Matt Nathan, presented the framed Presidential Unit Commendation pennant and plaque to O'Connor. O'Connor, in turn, presented commendation ribbons and FH 3 coins to 50 personnel who served with him in OIF, and who remain on the Pensacola Hospital staff.