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American Morning

Interview of Taji Moore, Purple Heart Recipient

Aired March 08, 2002 - 09:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to travel now back to Afghanistan. We were telling you that Martin Savidge actually attended that ceremony where a number of Purple Hearts were handed out earlier this morning, and he joins us right now from Bagram.

Hello again, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Morning to you, Paula.

It was a very moving ceremony. It was a very touching one. These are the first medals that have been presented since the beginning of Operation Anaconda. And, of course, that operation is still ongoing. There were six recipients of the Purple Heart. Of course, to receive the Purple Heart, you must have been wounded in the line of duty under combat.

One of them went to an Apache helicopter pilot, he was accidentally -- not accidentally, he was shot in the face as a result of bullets that punctured the cockpit of his aircraft. He was still able to continue to fly, with the help of his co-pilot, they got it back on the ground.

Then the five other recipients came from Charlie Company, the 10th Mountain Division, First Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment. And their story is one that they make movies of. They were on the first wave, the first flight that went in, and they came under intensive fire. So let's stop showing you the ceremony, and let's introduce you to a real live hero, and that would be Sergeant Taji Moore.

SGT. TAJI MOORE, PURPLE HEART RECIPIENT: Yes, sir.

SAVIDGE: You are from Charlie Company. First, let's try to tell the people exactly what happened when your company went in on the ground on the very first day of operation.

MOORE: On our very first day of operation, we went in, we exited the Chinook, and we picked up, and started to move out, and we started to head in toward our objective. That's when we started receiving mortar fire, started coming in.

SAVIDGE: And this was intensive fire, it was mortar fire, it's heavy machine gun fire, AK-47s, snipers.

MOORE: And RPGs. SAVIDGE: How long were you pinned down?

MOORE: From the beginning, it wasn't pinned down, it was just dodging everything they was throwing at us, trying to find some good cover so we can put effective fires on them.

SAVIDGE: And Paula, this was a battle that went on for about 18 hours, they figure. There are over 80 members of a part of this platoon. 26 of them, I think, at one count, were the number that was injured.

How were you injured, how did it happen?

MOORE: I took shrapnel, the first time, in the hand, trying to carried one of the injured, until one of the battalions set up a perimeter, or a defensive perimeter was set up. Trying to carrying the injured, and I took shrapnel in the hand. Then we just started returning fire from -- when they was firing at us. Then the second time, I took shrapnel in the side. I was trying to keep the injured warm. Actually, it was the same guy, Specialist Burkins (ph), keeping him warm, keeping him from going into shock. Another mortar round came in on the casualties, on their position, that's when I took that shrapnel in the side.

SAVIDGE: Well, we congratulate you. I won't squeeze your hand too tight.

MOORE: It's all right, sir.

SAVIDGE: Thank you, sergeant, very very much.

You know, Paula, the wounded in that particular case, had to be shielded as well. What they did was, they wrapped them in their sleeping bags, and partially buried them under the ground because the barrage of mortars that was coming down was so intense. Like I say, it is something just out of the movies, only in this case, it was real life, and fortunately, amazingly, no one in that platoon was killed -- Paula.

ZAHN: They're very, very lucky men. I think that was some of the first details we've heard about what these young soldiers were forced to endure.

Thank you, Martin, for that live update.

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