Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Along with a Bronze Star with a “V” for valor recommendation, Army Spec. Theresa Lynn Flannery, 26, is also receiving a Purple Heart for an injury she received while under fire during a battle at Najaf, Iraq.

Flannery broke bones in her right wrist and hand diving for cover during the two-hour firefight, then treated other fellow soldiers before having her own injury diagnosed.

A letter from Col. William Ettinger, deputy commander of her unit, to Flannery’s family outlined Flannery’s work and her injuries.

“Words cannot express how proud I am of your daughter,” Ettinger wrote. “She is a fine soldier.”

Theresa Flannery’s father, David Flannery of Richmond, said family members did not know the extent of her injuries or actions until receiving Ettinger’s letter.

“I get choked up reading that letter,” David Flannery said.

If Theresa Flannery, who won Miss Teen Madison County in 1991, is awarded the Bronze Star, it would be the second to go to the Flannery family for duty in Iraq. Her youngest brother, Warrant Officer Christopher Flannery, 20, was awarded the Bronze Star while serving with the Army Reserve during the campaign to oust Saddam Hussein last year.

Christopher Flannery is now in Army helicopter pilot training in Georgia. Theresa Flannery’s second brother, Kentucky Air National Guard Senior Airman David Flannery II, 22, was activated and served overseas during the campaign in Afghanistan. He is now back home in Berea.

About a year after high school, Theresa joined the U.S. Army and became a combat engineer, serving in Germany and other places. She joined the Army Reserve after her enlistment ended.

“There have been a lot of sleepless nights, ever since 9/11,” said David Flannery, who served in the Air Force during the 1970s and was a Lexington police officer from 1978 to 2002. “You try to limit your TV watching, waiting and looking for news. You can’t watch the 11 o’clock news and then go to bed. It doesn’t work. There’s too much on your mind.”

According to Ettinger’s letter, Flannery volunteered to accompany a group of coalition military observers in Najaf, where up to a million Shiite Muslims were participating in an annual religious pilgrimage. Authorities feared guerrillas opposed to the U.S.-led occupation might attack the pilgrims.

On the morning of April 2, the letter said, the situation in Najaf began to turn violent, with militiamen opening fire on the compound of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Najaf, where Flannery was on duty.

Though having seen news reports about the fighting in Najaf and Fallujah, David and Maggie Flannery really didn’t know of their daughter’s direct involvement until a few days ago when she called. Theresa Flannery said only that her hand was injured, that she had been in some firefights and that she had helped a wounded soldier. Only in later conversations did details start to come out.

Her mother, Maggie Flannery, said she’s still amazed by her daughter’s story.