William Chesarek

William David Chesarek Jr., DFC is an officer of the United States Marine Corps. As of 2022 the Marine Corps University listed him as Deputy Director of the

Expeditionary Warfare School, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, a rank he was promoted to in 2012.

Military career

Exchange program and actions in Iraq

From 2005 Chesarek began participation in an exchange program between the USMC and their counterparts in the Royal Marines. As a weapons and tactics instructor he joined 847 Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Commando Helicopter Force learning to fly the Westland Lynx in support of 3 Commando Brigade. In June 2006 he was a Captain when along with the rest of 847 NAS he deployed to Basra, Iraq.

Flying a Lynx AH.7 helicopter on the evening of June 10, 2006, Chesarek was providing radio communication relay for British ground troops conducting a company-sized search operation near Amarah, Iraq. Monitoring radio transmissions, he overheard that a vehicle involved in the operation had become disabled and a crowd of insurgents was firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at the company.

His award citation tells, "Chesarek elected to fly low over the area in an attempt to distract the crowd and if possible, to engage the insurgents." Because the crowd of civilians was so close to the ground troops, he decided that instead of engaging his machine gun, he "opted instead to provide bold, harassing, very low level flight over the area in an attempt to disperse the crowd."

However, Chesarek learned from radio traffic from the ground that he was now the target and was drawing weapons fire, and that a rocket-propelled grenade had just missed the tail of his helicopter.

Using his view from the air, Chesarek, who was trained as an airborne forward air controller, then used his skills to coordinate, designate and control fixed-wing aircraft in providing close air support, which resulted in dispersing the insurgents.

Chesarek, aware that a British soldier, Colour Sergeant Ian Page, had been critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head, then made the decision that as the only helicopter in the area he would conduct a medical evacuation with the Lynx despite his version of the aircraft type not being designed for this use.