Mainer honored for Iraq heroism

A Marine reservist who grew up in Maine was honored Sunday for heroism while serving in Iraq.

Cpl. Mark Camp, 25, received the Silver Star, the military's third-highest award for gallantry in battle, during a ceremony in Columbus, Ohio.

Camp was wounded in early May during an intense campaign with Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines. The company, fighting insurgents in western Iraq as part of Operation Matador, lost 23 soldiers.

The former Maine resident and son of a Westbrook car dealer told The Columbus Dispatch newspaper that he was positioned at the top hatch of an amphibious assault vehicle while on patrol when a roadside bomb launched the vehicle into the air and sent shrapnel flying.

The explosion burned Camp's hands and face, but he still attempted to rescue one of his comrades trapped inside the vehicle after the blast, the newspaper reported. He continued his rescue effort despite another explosion that knocked him out of the vehicle and set his hands on fire again.

Camp was taken from the battlefield in a helicopter and flown to a hospital in Germany with shrapnel in his legs and abdomen, according to his family. He was later transferred to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio and has since returned to Ohio.

Camp, who went back into the vehicle in an effort to rescue another Marine who died in the attack, told the Dispatch that the blast scorched his hands.

Camp won the medal for his rescue attempts and for repeatedly attacking the enemy during a firefight inside a home on May 8, the Dispatch reported.

Camp is the second Marine with Maine ties to receive the medal this year.

In February, former Auburn resident Todd Desgrosseilliers received a Silver Star for his bravery during intense urban fighting in Iraq. Desgrosseilliers, a Marine officer, is stationed in North Carolina with his family.

Desgrosseilliers graduated from Edward Little High School and was a University of Maine student when he decided to become a Marine.

Camp was born Oct. 13, 1980, in Portland and grew up in the area. He moved to Ohio in 1998 and graduated from high school there in 2000.

Camp's father is Wally Camp Jr., who owns the Rowe Westbrook automobile dealerships. He said in an interview last week that he would attend Sunday's ceremony.

Wally Camp said his son has progressed well in his recovery, both physically and emotionally. He said his son plans to begin his senior year as a history major at Ohio State University this fall.

"I'm proud of my son," he said. "I'm sad for a lot of families of a lot of Marines who were injured and didn't come home."