By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Screams and the sound of breaking glass spurred Jody
Vinzant outside to find this Schofield Barracks home
ablaze. He went in to look for his neighbors' two daughters,
ages 4 and 2. For the May rescue, Vinzant will receive
the Soldier's Medal.

Soldier wins
highest peacetime
medal for rescue

Army Spc. Vinzant
saved two children in
a burning home at
Schofield last May

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Spc. Jody Vinzant will be leaving the Army at the end of this month with the military's highest peacetime medal for heroism, ready to tackle new challenges.

Vinzant, an infantryman assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, was to receive the Soldier's Medal this afternoon for risking his life to rescue two children from a burning house in May.

Lt. Col. Michael Gould, commander of the 1st Battalion, described Vinzant's actions as an "incredible act of bravery."

"This soldier reacted quickly and without fear for his own life, saving two children from sure death or serious harm."

Vinzant said everything happened so quickly that he merely reacted.

"I was sitting in my living room at around 1:30 a.m. when I heard glass breaking and a woman screaming," Vinzant said.

He left his two-story Schofield Barracks duplex and saw his neighbors -- Spcs. James and Gina Jones -- on the lanai roof. They had escaped the flames through their second-floor bedroom window.

Vinzant said Gina Jones was screaming that her children were still in the house.

He broke down his neighbor's locked door and with several other soldiers went into the house.

Vinzant said that when he entered the burning house, 4-year-old Amber Jones, confused by the smoke and fire, had run back up the stairs toward the flames.

He picked her up and gave her to Pfc. Timothy Butler, who took the child outside.

"I took her out first and then went back in because I knew they had another child," Vinzant said.

The second floor was fully engulfed in smoke.

Vinzant said he got disoriented and at first opened the door to the master bedroom, thinking it was one of the children's rooms.

"Flames shot out and I immediately dropped to the floor."

Crawling on hands and knees, Vinzant peered into another smoke-filled room, which had two beds.

"But I didn't see anything until she rolled over."

Vinzant then picked up 2-year-old Rebecca Jones and with the help of Pvt. Donald Butler carried her out.

Then Vinzant and the other soldiers helped the parents down from the lanai.

"I didn't have time to think about it," Vinzant said, "until it was over. It happened in minutes.

"Then I had to time to think about, and all I can say is wow."

"It just happened so fast."

Vinzant, 22, plans to retain his military connections after returning home to Harselle, Ala.

He's already enlisted in the Alabama Army National Guard.

"My immediate plan is to go to school and specialize in computer science," he said.

"I've had a good time in the Army, but as for a career -- it's for some people, but it's not for me."