Former Santa Rosa resident awarded Silver Star

<p>A former Santa Rosa man and long-time Marine has been awarded the Silver Star, the third highest medal for valor, for his actions during a combat mission in Iraq.</p><p>Gunnery Sgt. Robert Blanton, 34, a native of Santa Rosa, has been in the Marines for 16 years, joining after graduating from Montgomery High School in 1993, said his grandmother, Margaret Blanton of Santa Rosa.</p><p>“I cried, because I knew he had to go through something bad,” she said, recounting a telephone call with her grandson telling her the news. “But I was proud.”</p><p>He received the award Jan. 15 for his role in a mission in a desert town in the Anbar province of Iraq on Aug. 10.</p><p>According to the military, Blanton was on his third tour of Iraq with his platoon on a search of what they thought was an abandoned house when they encountered insurgents.</p><p>One of his platoon members, Sgt. Michael Ferschke, was killed and two others were injured in the fighting in which Blanton drove his armored vehicle into the house, crashing through one of the walls, and rescuing a wounded soldier.</p><p>Blanton’s vehicle was disabled by a suicide bomber during the fight, after which he was involved in a close-quarters fight armed with his pistol, according to the military.</p><p>Blanton is stationed in Okinawa, where he lives with his wife, Hilima, who also is in the Marine Corps, and his two children.</p>