Jumper presents Purple Hearts to Baghdad bombing victims

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Julie Briggs
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Two Air Force Office of Special Investigations agents were presented Purple Hearts on Jan. 31 in a ceremony at the Brooke Army Medical Center at nearby Fort Sam Houston.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper presented the medals to Special Agents Therese Frentz and Todd King, who are still recovering from injuries sustained from an Oct. 14 suicide bomber’s blast.

General Jumper credited the medical professionals from Baghdad to the United States for the agents’ speedy recovery.

“Due to marvelous evacuation efforts, we got them back (to the United States) and on the road to recovery,” General Jumper said.

The agents along with Special Agent James Hamilton were in the Green Zone Café, located in Baghdad’s International Zone, after a mission when the bomb detonated about 10 feet away from their table.

Agent King was thrown into the parking lot, sustaining burns, shrapnel wounds, loss of vision and hearing. He said he does not remember seeing the bomber in the café. All he remembers is seeing a flash and then feeling as if he was floating.

“I remember waking up in the parking lot. I think I landed on a car and rolled off,” said the 26-year-old agent from Belton, Texas. “My ears were ringing, and I was blind. I started crawling ... and yelling for someone to help me.”

Agent King said his body armor took the brunt of the blast as evident by the huge hole in it.

Agents Frentz and Hamilton were found in the café, and their injuries were more serious than Agent King's, he said.

Agent Frentz received multiple shrapnel wounds and burns covering 30 percent of her body, mostly to her right arm and torso. Agent Hamilton also received extensive burns and shrapnel wounds. He is recovering in Maryland.

Agent Frentz said she remembers the pain and waking up as medics were cutting off her clothes.

“(Only) by the grace of God are they here with us today,” said Lt. Col. Nicholas Psaltakis, vice commander for Air Force Office of Special Investigations Region 4, about their injuries. He, too, credits the medical people for the agents’ miraculous recovery.

Both Agents Frentz and King remain on active duty. Agent Frentz is assigned to AFOSI Detachment 409, and Agent King is assigned to AFOSI Detachment 252. Both units are located at nearby Lackland Air Force Base.

The Airmen are examples of the finest this nation has to offer, General Jumper said about the two agents.

“And to have them ask when they can get back to their unit, ‘Can we still serve,’” he said. “They are the kind of people … that all services of the military provide this nation today."

Agent Frentz said she is currently working on regaining full range of motion in both arms.

“They are stiff due to the skin grafts,” the Crawfordville, Fla., native said. She is receiving treatment at Fort Sam Houston.

Agent King will undergo eye surgery in about a month, and he said he hopes to regain 40 to 50 percent of his hearing. He is receiving care at the Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)