Keesler nurse earns Bronze Star Published Aug. 25, 2006 By Susan Griggs 81st Training Wing Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AETCNS) -- Sept. 11 has evolved into a somber observance for Americans since the terrorist attacks in 2001. But the date took on special significance last year for Keesler's newest recipient of the Bronze Star. Sept. 11, 2004, Capt. Kevin Polk risked his life to save an injured Airman while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a critical care air transport team nurse with the 379th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. His medal was presented Nov. 17 by Brig. Gen. James Dougherty, 81st Medical Group commander, at Keesler Medical Center, where the captain has been an emergency services nurse for the past six months. "I was deployed from the end of August 2004 until the end of January 2005," Captain Polk said. "We had been stuck in Kuwait for several days, and I had just arrived in Iraq on Monday and flew a mission to Germany on Tuesday. I had only spent two or three days in Iraq when the situation occurred." While forward-deployed to Balad AB, Iraq, the base came under direct mortar attack from enemy insurgents. Captain Polk was exposed to enemy fire while searching the living quarters for potential victims, where he found an Airman with many life-threatening injuries. He stabilized the Airman's condition as he continued to assist with the medical transport of the Airman to a hospital for emergency surgery. The Airman sustained permanent disabilities, but Captain Polk's heroic response was credited with saving his life. The captain served in the Mississippi Air National Guard for eight years and as an inactive reservist for three years before coming on active duty four years ago. With the Guard's 183rd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron in Jackson, Miss., he flew missions into Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War, helped move patients of the Bosnia conflict out of Germany and participated in missions to Panama. The Bronze Star is awarded to military members for heroic or meritorious service, not involving aerial flight, in operations against an enemy.