Ronan Marine awarded Purple Heart last week

A Marine from Ronan was awarded one of the military's highest honors last week, the Purple Heart, for an injury he received while defusing a bomb in Iraq last January.

In a ceremony at Camp Pendleton, Calif., last Friday, Staff. Sgt. James Morgan, Jr. received the Purple Heart, after being wounded by metal shrapnel in his leg and hands after a blasting cap from a bomb he was defusing was remotely detonated.

Morgan said he was lucky he had already separated the blasting cap from the improvised explosive device (IED), because the blasting cap was the only thing that exploded.

"We responded out there (to the scene) and after separating the blasting cap from the IED, they set the blasting cap off by remote detonation," Morgan said. "I was pretty lucky — the blasting cap was separate from the main charge."

Morgan was working as a bomb technician for the 7th Engineer Support Battalion in the I Marine Expeditionary Force in Ar Ramadi, Iraq when he was wounded on Jan. 28. He said as a bomb technician, the chances of being wounded or killed are an everyday reality for him, but that he's well trained for the job.

"Bomb disposal — that's my job. On average, we dispose of about 15 or 16 bombs a month. It varies though. Some days we've had 15 bombs in one day (to dispose of)," he said.

Morgan said Iraqi insurgents typically use a cell phone or pager for remote detonation. Insurgents can be miles from a blast area simply by calling the phone number to a phone attached to the a blasting cap, setting off the charge.

In the Jan. 28 incident, Morgan said it's possible the bomb's creators were watching him defuse the bomb when they detonated it.

Morgan finished his second tour in Iraq and returned to the States on March 16. In the months and months of bomb detonation work, he said insurgents have been getting more and more skilled at bomb making.

"It varies, but they (the bombs) have been getting more and more complex. They will typically use a regular explosive shell, like an artillery shell, with a blasting cap," Morgan said. "And then they use a pager or cell phone to set it off remotely."

Morgan, 28, joined the Marine Corps on Oct. 30, 1995. He said he's planning on serving another 10 years. He is the son of Jim and Letha Morgan of Ronan.

"I've been in the Marines for 10 years, and I'm thinking about going through it for the next 10," he said.

Purple Heart recipients receive extra retirement benefit compensation, Morgan noted.

He said it's highly unlikely he will be sent back to Iraq after completing two tours. Morgan's unit has been ordered back to Iraq, but he has been assigned to another unit, he said.

Morgan has been awarded the Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Gold Star, a Combat Action Ribbon, a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal with two Bronze Service Stars, and National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, among many of the awards he's been given, according to information provided by the public affairs office at Camp Pendleton.

Morgan will return to Ronan next week to visit his family, he said.