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From the Navy Times:

On Oct. 22, Chiarini, a native of Coventry, R.I., received the nation’s third-highest award for combat valor in a statehouse ceremony attended by Rhode Island’s Gov. Donald Carcieri, two U.S. senators and several state legislators.
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On the morning of Feb. 10, 2006, Chiarini — who was with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit — was riding shotgun in the third vehicle of a Marine patrol in Anbar when a roadside bomb detonated near the lead vehicle.

That vehicle sped out of the kill zone, and four of its five occupants — the gunner stayed in the turret to provide cover fire — ran out to take up defensive positions. At that moment, a much larger explosion ripped into the dismounted Marines. An Iraqi interpreter, called Kenny by the Marines, had his arm nearly severed in the second blast. Then insurgents about 400 meters away pinned the Marines down with small-arms fire.

But Chiarini knew none of this. After the first explosion, the convoy had become separated, with the corpsman in one of two vehicles in the back half of the convoy. A second, more heavily armored Humvee was about 100 meters in front, and the lead Humvee carrying the injured Marines was 100 meters farther up. The scene ahead was blocked by dense smoke, and he could not hear above the din of small-arms fire and exploding hand grenades. He heard nothing over the radio.

When his less experienced driver — Chiarini was then on his second tour in Iraq — balked at driving forward into the melee, Chiarini grabbed his rifle and medical kit and ran forward as insurgents fired at him from rooftops.

“He just hesitated. I said, ‘Screw it. I am going forward.’ ” he recalled. “I felt like corpsmen that had gone before me in earlier wars were there. I could feel their hands on my shoulders as I worked.”

Dodging enemy fire, Chiarini ran 200 meters to the wounded Marines. One by one, he directed three of them to limp toward the armored Humvee, while he followed them, laying down covering fire with his M16. Then, with one hand, he carried the more seriously wounded interpreter to the rear, turning his body sideways at times to lay down cover fire.

When they reached the rear of the armored Humvee, Chiarini began treating their injuries

About five minutes later, a Marine quick-reaction force arrived from a nearby base. Once its corpsmen began treating the wounded, Chiarini grabbed his rifle again, killing several insurgents, including a 12-year-old boy who was spotted with a detonator.

All of the wounded Marines survived; a few weeks later, Chiarini ran into one of them, a corporal nicknamed Redhead, at a Camp Lejeune, N.C., pool hall. Earning the Silver Star was special, Chiarini said, but he got the most meaningful tribute he ever received for his work in Iraq not at the statehouse, but at 8 Ball Pizza more than a year ago.

“Doc, I knew everything was going to be OK when I saw you come through the smoke,” the Marine told him.

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