Streamwood man named Army's 'Hero' for his bravery under fire
Army medic Sgt. Joe Lollino of Streamwood was traveling in a convoy across Afghanistan's "ambush alley," a dangerous road near the Pakistani border, when a rocket-propelled grenade struck a truck in front of him.
Lollino sprung to action. He drove his Humvee through enemy fire to the disabled truck and helped remove four men from the vehicle while it was on fire. He picked up a fifth man off the ground who had been ejected through a window.
The men in Lollino's company - 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment - fired back at insurgents while Lollino brought the wounded to a triage area and began treatment. When insurgents shot at the triage area, Lollino got out his weapon and fired back, using his own body to cover his patients while he was hit by flying shrapnel.
This past week, 25-year-old Lollino was the Army's Hero of the Week for his courageous actions June 20, 2008, during his second tour in Afghanistan. In May, he was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, the army's second-highest honor to recognize valor, and a Purple Heart, for shrapnel wounds suffered on his arms.
He called his awards "overwhelming" and "a lot more than I expected" because he was just doing his job by helping his fellow soldiers and keeping them out of harm's way. At the time, Lollino said, he had no time to be scared.
"I was more worried about the guys because they were pretty wounded," he said. "Immediately afterward, I thought it was scary. But at the time I shot back. I did what I had to do."
His mother, Cathy, said she was concerned about her son's safety when she heard he'd fought back while trying to treat wounded soldiers. Still, she said, his actions weren't out of character.
"Joe always gives it 110 percent or more," she said. "He said he couldn't have done it alone. It wasn't a one-man operation in his eyes. They were working together as a team."
A 2003 graduate of Streamwood High School, Lollino enlisted in the Army as a senior and completed two years of EMT training at Elgin Community College before heading off to basic training. He was just 20 when he arrived at Ft. Sam Houston in Texas, and in 2005, he began his first tour in Afghanistan.
Lollino knew he wanted to serve his country since he was a little boy. His role model, his grandfather, had been in the Army in World War II. After he died, his family discovered he'd been a medic, too, which inspired Lollino's career choice.
Lollino credited his stubbornness for his bold actions in Afghanistan. The Army had trained him to put safety first and to put others before himself, so he did what he had learned to do.
"In basic training, you learn that you're going to be a soldier before you're a medic. You hold off treatment until you're safe," he said. "I kept shooting 'til everything quieted down. We got the other guys out of there in a helicopter. Then I looked down at my arms and realized I was bleeding."
He removed the shrapnel himself and got some help wrapping his left arm before continuing through the dangerous passage with the convoy. The entire ordeal took 14 hours until the soldiers reached safety.
Lollino, who currently works at the Post Anesthesia Care Unit at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, received his medals at the May 17 Army Medical Symposium in San Antonio. His awards were presented by Lt. Gen. Eric Shoomaker, Surgeon General of the Army. His parents, Cathy and Joe Lollino, and his wife, Ashley, were all present at the ceremony.
Though Lollino's second enlistment ends in 2013, he plans to stay in the Army because he is inspired by the people around him.
"The people are the biggest thing," Lollino said. "We're like a family; that's how close we are. Everybody takes care of everybody."