A chief whose courageous trauma response is credited with saving her neighbors’ lives will receive a prestigious award from the Non-Commissioned Officers Association.
Chief Hospital Corpsman Jaclyn Place, who treated two of her neighbors’ stab wounds while their attacker was on the loose, will receive the 2016 NCOA Vanguard award for the Navy. This award is given annually to a noncommissioned officer from each of the services for heroism that has saved lives or prevented serious injury.
Place is being recognized for her actions at her Oceanside, California, apartment on the night of Nov. 7, 2015, when she rushed to help her screaming neighbors who had been attacked in an act of domestic violence. Place applied a compression bandage to stem the blood loss from the severed artery in neighbor Jennifer Barela’s arm. She then treated the serious chest wound to Barela’s 14-year-old daughter, stanching the blood loss while preventing air from being trapped in her chest.
“She’s the reason why I have my daughter here still,” Barela said later.
Place, who’s assigned to Headquarters Regimental Aid Station, 1st Marine Logistics Group, will receive the award in July in Las Vegas.
