Drill hall named for corpsman killed in Iraq

I saw this today and wanted to give the NOSC Lousiville Kudo’s for doing this.  I remember when we at Corpsman.com were notified of his passing.  I remember one of the only photo’s I could find at the time was of he and his family, his wife and his 2 girls.  This picture really brought this whole conflict home to me, usually you see a picture of the Devil Doc, but with him I saw his whole family.  Corpsman.com Still grieves for his loss.–D/C

By Patrick Howington – Louisville Courier-Journal
Posted : Sunday Oct 26, 2008 15:40:29 EDT

Jeffrey Wiener was an emergency medical technician in New York when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, killing thousands and shocking the nation.

What he saw and experienced that day prompted Wiener to enlist in the Navy Reserve after moving to Louisville in 2002.

That led to a tour of duty in Iraq, where Wiener, 31, was killed in 2005 while serving as a hospital corpsman. He left behind a wife and two daughters.

Yesterday Navy comrades, family members and former co-workers at Jefferson County Emergency Medical Services honored Wiener’s memory at the dedication of a drill hall bearing his name. The hall is at the Naval Operations Support Center in Louisville.

More than 100 sailors and civilians attended the dedication of the HM2 Jeffrey L. Wiener Drill Hall at the center on Southside Drive.

“We’re just honored that he just made such an impact on everyone that he met here,” said Wiener’s widow, Maria Wiener, after the ceremony. “It was such a short time that he knew them, but they haven’t forgotten him, and it’s just amazing.”

“It means my son will always be remembered,” said his mother, Diana Wiener. “It means that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain — that he will always be in somebody’s mind and (people will) know what Jeffrey stood for.

“Jeffrey loved his family, his country, and most of all his daughters and his wife. After 9/11, he was trying to make sure that his girls’ future was secured.”

Jeffrey Wiener was a Navy petty officer third class assigned to the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. He died May 7, 2005, after insurgents shot him during a four-hour firefight. The firefight followed a suicide bombing near a civilian hospital in western Iraq that killed three Marines.

Yesterday’s presentation included a slide show of Wiener working for EMS, training reservists and serving in Iraq — and of his flag-draped casket.

In speeches and interviews yesterday, sailors and public officials said Wiener was driven by a desire to help people. They said he pushed those around him — even paramedics with more experience — to give 100 percent effort.

Seeing how emergency medical crews sometimes had trouble maneuvering stretchers in tight quarters, Wiener helped train colleagues to use a flexible stretcher that could fold around patients like a cocoon. The maneuver is still known as the “Wiener roll,” said Dr. Neal Richmond, director of Louisville Metro EMS.

“Jeffrey committed himself to protecting and healing others,” said U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “That’s why he joined the Navy. That’s why he became a hospital corpsman.”

Giovanni Caruso Dattalo, a petty officer third class, said Wiener was both friend and mentor — teaching him how to shine his boots to perfection and teaming with him to teach medical techniques to new reservists.

“He went out of his way to help any person he could in any situation,” Dattalo said.