War heroes rushed to help injured comrades
Associated Press
MIDLAND, Texas — Cheered by a flag-waving crowd, the parade float carrying wounded military veterans was inching across the railroad tracks when the crossing gates started coming down. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a freight train came bearing down, its horn blaring.
Four veterans died in the Thursday collision, and sixteen other people were hurt. For some of the war heroes who managed to jump off the flatbed truck just in time, training and instinct kicked in: They rushed to aid their injured comrades.
Sudip Bose, who was a front-line physician in Iraq, said Friday that the immediate aftermath reminded him of a combat triage situation. Veterans already were tending to the wounded when he reached the crash site.
“They were applying tourniquets, holding pressure to the wounds,” said Bose, who served in Fallujah and Baghdad and was volunteering at the parade.
Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 3 Gary Stouffer, 37, and Army Sgt. William Lubbers Lawrence Boivin Gary Stouffer Joshua Michael Maj. Lawrence Boivin, 47, were pronounced dead at the scene, Midland police spokesman Ryan Stout said. Army Sgt. Joshua Michael, 34, and Army Sgt. Maj. William Lubbers, 43, died later at Midland Memorial Hospital.
Boivin, Michael and Lubbers were Purple Heart recipients who served on the front lines multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan. Stouffer was awaiting approval for a Purple Heart.
Of those hurt, four remained in stable condition and one is critical, Stout said. Ten others were treated and released from the hospital in Midland, about 320 miles west of Dallas.
National Transportation Safety Board officials arrived Friday in Midland to investigate. On NBC’s “Today” show Friday, NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman said the train was equipped with a forward-facing camera.