Fort Hood Survivors, Families Share Heroic, Tragic Tales
Soldiers, doctors, community band together to save lives after Fort Hood attack.
Nov. 6, 2009 — -- Tales of heroism and tragedy from soldiers and civilians alike emerged from Texas today as survivors recover from the Fort Hood shooting that left 13 people dead and dozens more injured.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire in the Army post's Soldier Readiness Processing Center Thursday, firing dozens of bullets into the crowd of unarmed soldiers. The rampage ended when the suspect was reportedly shot by a responding civilian officer, Kimberly Munley, who was shot in the process.
But Munley, 34, is far from the only soldier being hailed as a hero after Thursday's attack. Several soldiers, some of whom where shot, provided immediate first aid to people who were worse off before looking after themselves, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the commanding officer at Fort Hood, said.
Cpl. Nathan Hewitt, 27, took two bullets to the hip and calf before helping other people escape danger.
"I heard somebody shooting at them, and then I tried to get people out with me as I saw a way to get out," Hewitt told ABC News. "There was people hurt worse than I was. I was trying to help them out before I worried about myself.
"Pray for the ones that didn't make it and the ones that are hurt worse than I am."
A female soldier rushed to put a tourniquet on the leg of a downed comrade and then carried him from the building, all without realizing she had been shot in the hip, Cone said.
Soldier Ray Saucedo, who joined the Army last year, was hit in the arm as he escorted a fellow soldier to the medical facility.
Cone said he heard reports of soldiers ripping their own uniforms to use as makeshift bandages.
Army Spc. Keara Bono was wounded in the rampage when she was shot in the back and grazed on the head, her mother, Peggy McCarty, told "Good Morning America" today.
Bono told a friend that a fellow soldier removed a bullet on site, rather than waiting to get to the clinic, Bono's husband, Joey Torkelson, said.
"They were right there helping each other," Torkelson said.
"It is absolutely inspiring," Cone said Thursday of all the soldiers' actions. "This could have been much worse. As horrible as it was, it could have been much worse."
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