Pasadena paramedic gets Bronze Star 'This is a guy who you can hold up as an American hero' | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The 40-year-old National Guard paramedic from Pasadena, on his second tour of Iraq, didn't think twice before he jumped from his armored Humvee to go help the 6-year-old.

It wasn't until a bullet whizzed past his head, nailing a nearby Iraqi soldier in the buttocks, that he realized the girl had been shot in the neck as bait for a sniper target.

After he treated both victims, they scrambled for cover, with Sgt. Miller shielding the girl with his body until she was stable.

"I've spent most of my adult life in public service. I've never walked away from a patient," he said.

On Monday, the Department of the Army announced that the veteran county Fire Department paramedic has been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor for his efforts to save the child, the second time he's received the medal.

"Matt really has demonstrated the very best that we have," said Battalion Chief Matt Tobia, fire department spokesman. "This is a guy who you can hold up as an American hero."

Sgt. Miller was one of about 1,300 Maryland National Guardsmen with the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who deployed to Iraq last summer.

The mobilization, which includes soldiers from the Glen Burnie and Annapolis armories, was the largest for the Maryland Guard since 1968 during the Baltimore riots, and the largest sent to a combat zone since World War II.

Though it happened months ago, Sgt. Miller can still see the Iraqi girl's face, and her pink dress with orange flowers on it, and her brown eyes, pleading for his help. He doesn't expect to ever forget it, and he recounted the experience during a phone interview this week.

His unit, the Bravo company of the 1-175th Infantry, was crossing a bridge on Sept. 7 over the Tigris River when they found that insurgents had taken a sniper position. As they crossed over the bridge, a white pickup truck came racing toward their Humvee.

The driver was covered in blood and several people in the truck were screaming. The girl was bleeding profusely, Sgt. Miller said.

He jumped out of his Humvee and went to help the girl in the bed of the truck, despite the confusion. People were yelling, no one spoke English, and they weren't sure exactly what happened.

As he was helping the girl with her injuries an Iraqi soldier jumped into the bed of the truck with him to help. The soldier was hit as Sgt. Miller was leaning to reach something in his bag.

If he hadn't been leaning down, the bullet would have hit him, likely in the shoulder, he said. As it was, the bullet whizzed by his head, 6 or 7 inches away.

"If he didn't step up in the truck, it would have been me," Sgt. Miller said.

The Pasadena paramedic now had two patients on his hands.

"I couldn't leave. I couldn't walk away from her, and I couldn't move her at that time because she was bleeding too heavily," he said. "It doesn't take a lot for someone that small to die."

He stopped the bleeding as best he could, threw her over his shoulder and ran for cover. Other Iraqi soldiers helped their wounded comrade.

Sgt. Miller treated the two until they were taken to a nearby hospital. He said while he was in combat he felt confident that the members of his unit had his back.

"Those guys were hands-down the sharpest guys out there. They really knew how to do their business," he said.

The entire unit pulled together during the incident with the girl. Sgt. Miller called for help and another Humvee in their company crossed the bridge - making them targets - to come and help.

"I didn't have to worry about anything except not getting killed and getting the little girl out of there," he said.

He's disappointed that he'll never know how the girl and the soldier fared after he left them at the Iraqi army base.

Sgt. Miller returned to Maryland on April 21 and was already back to work this week, choosing to return earlier than anticipated to "get back into the groove of things," he said.

He has been a paramedic with the county Fire Department for nine years and was one of three firefighters who just returned from Iraq. There are nine firefighters, including four career and five volunteer members, currently serving in the military, Chief Tobia said.

"As large as our department is, it does not have any immediate impact on ability to provide service," he said.

The department has support systems in place to help the families of its members who are deployed while they are serving.

"Their loved ones serving in harm's way don't have to worry about what's going on with their families back home," Chief Tobia said.