Written by: Cpl. Kyle Welshans
Master Sgt. Jay Wilfrom, adjutant chief for the 4th Marine Corps District, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal in a ceremony at the Defense Distribution Center Susquehanna in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11.
This marks Master Sgt. Wilfrom’s second time receiving the award. The first was in 1995, after he saved an American military dependent from a whirlpool in Iwakuni, Japan. At the time, Pfc. Wilfrom saw several teenagers struggling while swimming in the Nishiki River. He and another Marine jumped in to rescue them and carried one teen to shore.
On June 8, 2014, Master Sgt. Wilfrom received a phone call about a fire behind his mother’s house.
“I sprang up and ran to the fire,” he said. “Me and another guy noticed there was a woman inside the house and that we needed to get her out.”
According to Loretta Marburger, the woman trapped inside, Master Sgt. Wilfrom and Al Scroggins kicked down the door and entered the home to search for her.
“I would want someone to do the same thing for me if I was in that situation,” he said.
“When they reached me, the house was filled with flames and smoke—you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face,” Marburger said.
After getting her out, both men collapsed from exhaustion. That’s when they noticed downed power lines around them and continued moving to the road for safety.
“I knew I was getting her out of that house with me. There was no other option,” Wilfrom said.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more—he saved my life,” said Marburger. “I didn’t think I was going to make it out. But when I saw them and they started dragging me, that’s when I knew I would be getting out.”
Master Sgt. Wilfrom became the third Marine since World War II to receive the Navy and Marine Corps Medal twice, according to Suzanne Spray of the Navy Department of Decorations and Medals.
“This is about her getting to see her grandson be born. She got to celebrate her son’s birthday. It’s all about that—it’s not about me,” Wilfrom said.