Petaluma soldier honored for heroism in Iraq

Army Capt. Nick Countouriotis of Petaluma, shot in the arm while aiding an Iraqi soldier under enemy fire, has received a hero's medal in Iraq.

Countouriotis, 26, was awarded a Bronze Star for valor, the Army's fourth-highest award for combat heroism.

"I'm truly humbled to even be considered 'valorous' by the brave men around me," Countouriotis said in an e-mail. "Each one of them is a true hero, putting aside his own safety . . . to defend people he doesn't know and will never meet."

A Terra Linda High School graduate, Countouriotis is serving his second tour in Iraq with a 15-member team based near Sadr City, a sprawling slum next to Baghdad.

His team and an Iraqi army unit were ambushed by militants while on patrol in Sadr City on April 5. The Iraqi soldier was shot in the street, and Countouriotis left a building to help him, exposed to small-arms fire.

Countouriotis got the soldier to safety and was knocked down by the force of an enemy bullet striking his left arm and breaking the bone. Rather than allow Army medics to risk harm, Countouriotis ordered them to stay put and applied a tourniquet to his own arm.

He directed his team's actions by radio until the enemy attack broke off.

A month later, Countouriotis was home, recuperating from the wound and preparing to return to duty. "I'm ready to get back over there so I can help the team out," he said in May while on the couch of his parents' Petaluma home.

The soldier's father, brother and sister have all served at least one tour in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Steve Countouriotis, Nick's father, also has been deployed to Afghanistan and is now stationed at Tal Afar in northern Iraq

The elder Countouriotis advised friends and relatives of Nick's medal via e-mail, saying his son was "too quiet and humble" to do so himself.

"Heroes like him usually don't say much," Steve Countouriotis wrote.

Nick's sister and brother -- Army Reserve Capt. Alethea Bordwell and Marine Staff Sgt. Demetrius Countouriotis -- are both stateside.

Their mother, Debbie Countouriotis, a Marin County teacher, has spent years worrying about her loved ones at war.

"It's something you just have to live with," she said in May while Nick was recovering at home. "You can't change it."

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner

@pressdemocrat.com.