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Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker awarded Landstuhl Regional Medical Center with a Meritorious Unit Commendation during a ceremony at Heaton Auditorium May 12.
Secretary of the Army Paul Harvey signed the commendation, recognizing the hospital’s medical support to the combat effort for the period of Sept. 12, 2003, through Dec. 1, 2004.
“Getting this award means the entire Army recognizes that we have done a truly tremendous job evacuating more than 24,000 injured servicemembers,” said Col. Rhonda Cornum, LRMC commander.
The commendation recognizes the sustained excellence in the care, especially of mass casualties, throughout the war.
“We are not getting mass casualties every day, but for an intensive care unit or emergency room, seven or eight on a regular basis is quite a feat,” she said.
“A lot of people don’t realize how much care you all provide,” said General Schoomaker addressing the hospital staff. “We are thankful for everything you do. We’re experiencing the lowest war death rates ever … and I thank you.”
During the presentation, Colonel Cornum read a letter from a thankful mother, whose son was treated for shrapnel wounds at the hospital before returning stateside for further recovery. Tears began to well up in the colonel’s eyes as she read the mother’s words about how fortunate she was to still have her son by her side.
“We get a lot of awards,” said Colonel Cornum. “We talk about thousands of casualties, thousands of dollars, thousands of everything. But it’s important to note that we do it one patient at a time.”
Although service in a combat zone is not required for the unit commendation, it must be directly related to the combat effort. Stateside based units are excluded from this award as are other units outside the area of operation. The unit must display superior performance of difficult tasks in order to set it apart from other units with similar missions.
As of now, Air Force personnel assigned to LRMC are not authorized to wear this award. However, the command group is currently seeking approval through Air Force channels.
