Another story from this week's Bronx Press. Enjoy.
By Brendan McHugh
U.S. Army Specialist Jeans Cruz, the war hero who found Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein hiding in a hole in 2003, was among five distinguished veterans and veterans’ activists who were honored by the G.I. Go Fund at its third annual gala.
Cruz, a Bronxite, deserves better recognition, according to those at the celebration.
“When I heard Jeans story I thought to myself: how is this guy’s name not world renown? Sixty years ago, if someone had caught Hitler, we would all know who that person was, that person’s name would go down in history,” said G.I. Go Fund Executive Director Jack Fanous. “I want [the people in] this room to start today: we will know who Jeans Cruz is and we will honor him for what he did.”
Cruz received the “Veteran of the Year” Award for his outstanding service. He worked in the World Trade Center when they were attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, and never imagined that during his first and only tour in Iraq, he would be the one to find and capture the fallen Iraqi dictator hiding in a ditch outside of his home city of Tikrit, after the fall of Baghdad.
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