5 receive Purple Hearts
Quick
Ruiz
Soliata
Wyatt
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Darlene Nakashima got the phone call in mid-March: Her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Aaron Nakashima, had been wounded in a roadside bomb attack in Iraq.
"I found out (from the Army) at 10 a.m. and I was worried to death till I heard from him," recalled the Honolulu woman.
Nakashima
She got a phone call that night from her husband, a soldier with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry based at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad.
"All he told me was, 'Don't worry, I'm OK,' " she said.
Nakashima, 48, and four other 100th-442nd soldiers are among the first from the Hawai'i-based 29th Brigade Combat Team to receive Purple Hearts in Iraq.
The others are Sgt. Dominador Ruiz of Honolulu; Spc. Milovale Soliata of American Samoa; Capt. Jeffrey Wyatt of Florida; and Pvt. Adrian Quick of North Carolina.
They were wounded when their patrols were hit by roadside bombs. All have returned to duty.
