Marine's Rocket Assault Earns Silver Star

CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind.  — “I thought I was going to die,” Staff Sgt. Alec Haralovich pondered as he lay on his back in Afghanistan.

On Oct. 4, Taliban fighters ambushed his patrol of dismounted Marines with automatic gunfire. The enemy’s aim was accurate. Two bullets had struck his body armor with such force that he was knocked backward into the dirt.

Haralovich had seen all the signs. It was quiet as they patrolled Ghorah, a village that was usually filled with people.

“As we were pushing through we were all feeling confident like we were going to get a drop on these guys,” thought Haralovich, who is from Bloomington, Ind. “They’re not going to have anywhere to run to.”

He was wrong. The insurgents set up a complex ambush that lured his Marines into a death trap.

Haralovich didn’t let his fears get the best of him though. He had survived two other combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. A reconnaissance Marine who knows how to treat his own wounds, Haralovich applied pressure to his side while he checked for bleeding.

There was no blood.

“I was really angry,” he recalled. “I was angry because it basically was like they had duped us, they had out maneuvered us, outsmarted us.”

Haralovich’s combat medic, Cpl. Matthew Chen, bounded forward to treat Haralovich who he thought was critically wounded. However, Haralovich was only shot in his armor, so he yelled at Chen to get back.

As Chen was returning, he was wounded in the leg, with a minor grazing wound from an enemy bullet.

“That’s when I was like, time for the rocket shot,” he said. “It’s time to end this now.”

He yelled for a Marine to bring him the M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon, a rocket launcher that can disable a tank. He knew this weapon well. He trained extensively with it on active duty before he became a reconnaissance man in the Reserves.

Haralovich and his team bounded forward through an open field toward the enemy, while two of his Marines were sending rounds steadily to the enemy. Haralovich armed his rocket launcher. He knew he had to hurry because those two Marines were laying prone, shooting with less than one foot of cover.

“Running out with a prepped LAW on your shoulder, you’re definitely a target, I realized like halfway into the field,” Haralovich remembered. “I had to basically hurry up, take the shot.”

Haralovich fired. The explosion blew up the enemy stronghold and caused all of the attackers to cease fire and retreat. But Haralovich and the Marines weren’t finished. He wasn’t just going to let insurgents attack them.

Haralovich tried to communicate with the other element but he couldn’t. One of the rounds that struck his armor also ruined his radio.

He had to go back and link up to get a face-to-face with his other patrol element. Then both elements patrolled forward as a bigger, stronger unit.

“We knew there was a command and control element that was well known within the region that was near this mosque so we pushed to the north,” Haralovich said. “We pushed toward that area, ran into a couple more fighters. They were surprised to see us and then they took off.”

With the insurgents nowhere to be seen, Haralovich gathered his men and headed back to the patrol base. His company commander, Capt. Jonathan Joseph, said he had to convince him to rest after he had returned.

For his gallantry in action, Haralovich was presented the Silver Star Medal, the nation’s third highest award for combat heroism, by Maj. Gen. James M. Lariviere, the 4th Marine Division Commanding General at Camp Atterbury in Indiana Aug. 26.

More than 100 Marines, sailors, soldiers, family and friends attended the event at the training base. This was the same place where his grandfather, an Army veteran, was stationed before serving in D-Day in 1944. So it was also a historical occasion for Haralovich and his immediate and extended family members who attended the ceremony.

“I’d have to say that he’s made me extremely proud,” said Peter Haralovich, Alec’s uncle. “We followed his three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and communicated with him regularly by satellite phone and email. We’ve experienced the stress that any family experiences. And of course we’re relieved that he’s healthy and in one piece and looking forward to the rest of his career in the United States military.”

“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Joseph, who is from New York City. “Not just because he got the award. What he did that day, he did that countless other times. It wasn’t just an isolated incident. He did that every day. He was by far the best team leader I have ever had.”

According to his uncle, heroics run in his family. Haralovichs’ have fought as Marines in the Pacific and executed bombing missions as soldiers in Germany during World War II. Haralovich now adds a new daring chapter to his family’s long legacy of war fighters who have lived for something greater themselves.