Soldier's Medal for N.M. Guard medic after highway rescue

Nearly two years ago, a New Mexico National Guard medic pulled the driver of a wrecked cement truck from his crumpled, burning vehicle just seconds before the cab went up in a fireball.

On Friday, Sgt. 1st Class Greg Holmes received the Soldier’s Medal for his actions in a ceremony attended by about 50 people in Albuquerque. But the medal — the military’s highest non-combat valor award — is far from his only reminder of what took place April 16, 2014, on a stretch of Interstate 40 in Tijeras Canyon.

“I drive by that same spot” on the morning commute from Cedar Crest to Albuquerque, said Holmes, who works with the Office of the State Surgeon and ensures the Guard has all of its medical supplies statewide. “There’s the burn mark from where his vehicle was on fire still there on the K-rail [a ‘Jersey wall,’ for East Coasters], and there are two crosses on either side of that from previous fatal accidents, and I think, ‘You know, there could be four crosses up there now.’ ”

Holmes, who has been on Active Guard Reserve status for 19 years and a reservist for 10 additional years, was driving into Albuquerque on a mid-morning errand run when he saw the wreck — a cement truck had caught fire after hitting a flatbed.

The flatbed truck driver was out of his vehicle. There was no sign of the cement truck driver until Holmes noticed bystanders already on scene “were just staring at the cab,” he said, “and I turned around, and his hand was just sticking out.”

The driver, Julio Ibarra, was trapped, with flames making their way up his legs. Holmes tore at the crumpled, jammed door so hard that he’d eventually need surgery to repair both rotator cuffs and a torn biceps tendon. As acrid smoke began disrupting his breathing, a final pull cleared enough space to free Ibarra.

“Within, hell, 10 to 15 seconds after I got him out, and I got two other guys to help me with him — he’s a big guy — and drag him around, his vehicle exploded,” Holmes said. “Just as we cleared [the cab], I was holding on to his legs and these two guys had his torso. … It was just like being in combat. That blast wave hits you, and you just keep on going and hope nothing [else] hits you.”
Holmes, 47, deployed once to Kosovo in 2000-01 and again to Afghanistan in 2003-04. He told Army Times that he and Ibarra were about 30 feet from the cab at the time of the blast, the result of which can be seen in this Albuquerque Journal image.

Emergency medical personnel took over after they’d made it through the long traffic jam caused by the wreck and transported Ibarra to a nearby hospital. Holmes also received treatment: In addition to arm injuries and some burns, the soldier said he suffered for weeks with ill effects from breathing in the chemical-laden smoke and “couldn’t run without hacking stuff up or not feeling well.”

His commander told him shortly after the incident that he’d been put in for the Soldier’s Medal, but Holmes didn’t know what to expect from the nomination.

“I figured it’d go through channels,” he said. “If it got approved, it got approved. If it didn’t, it didn’t. … Firefighters, EMTs do that stuff every day and don’t get that type of recognition, so I’m just really humbled by it.”
Ibarra and some of his family members attended the ceremony, according to local media reports, and he thanked his rescuer through a translator. Holmes visited the driver multiple times while Ibarra was treated for burns suffered in the wreck.

A former emergency-room worker, Holmes said he may return to that area of medicine after he hits the 30-year service mark. It suits his track record for life-saving, both in and out of uniform.

“I was a flight medic. I’ve pulled guys out of burning helicopters when they crash,” he added. “I want to help people and get them out of this situation so they can get the care they need.

“And then after the fact, you’re like, ‘Boy, that was dumb. What was I thinking?’ "