Army Reserve captain awarded Soldier’s Medal for heroism

Dick Benoit

Thursday, May 4, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

Maj. Gen. Tony Clark, adjutant general of the Nevada National Guard, awarded Army Reserve Capt. William S. Wynn the Soldier's Medal during ceremonies April 8 at the Silver Flag training facility near Indian Springs.

Wynn, an FBI special agent with the Las Vegas office, is an individual reservist in the Army Reserve and participates in local training with the 1st Battalion, 99th Troop Command.

The Soldier's Medal is awarded for heroism, when a person puts himself in personal danger in order to aid or assist another in a situation not involving direct conflict with an enemy.

Wynn was driving a military truck to an appointment to coordinate military aircraft operations at the North Las Vegas Airport when he saw a car flip onto its top near Rancho Drive and U.S. 95. He stopped and saw that a woman was trapped under the car and that gasoline was leaking onto the woman, with the car's engine still running.

Wynn got a fire extinguisher and asked bystanders to call for help. With the help of other bystanders, he turned off the car's engine and remained close to the woman while warning others to stay back because of the danger of explosion.

Wynn was commissioned in the Army Reserve in 1991. He has been drilling with the Nevada National Guard for three years. He is also an Army aviator and holds the Pathfinder and Air Assault qualifications.

Nevada National Guard Gen. Robert Hayes and Lt. Col. William Pierce, the 1st Battalion commander, attended the ceremony, along with Don Wilson, a representative for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Wynn's wife, Jackie, and daughter Baylee.

Tank crews score well on gunnery range

D Troop of the Nevada Army National Guard's 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry, put in a good showing during annual gunnery training conducted at Fort Irwin, Calif., National Training Center in March and April. The troop qualified 10 out of 11 tank crews for a 90 percent qualification rate, which was the best in the squadron.

The top scoring crew within the troop included Staff Sgt. William Carter, tank commander; Sgt. Timothy Wadley, gunner; PFC Jason Mislang, loader; and PFC Patrick Kelley, driver.

The remainder of the squadron is scheduled to undergo the training at Fort Irwin Saturday through 21. The squadron will train with its parent regiment, the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, in the role of an opposing force against the second brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division.

In brief