Trey Salmon: The First MSG Awarded the Combat Action Ribbon for El Salvador

Trey Salmon served as a Marine Security Guard in Calcutta, India and San Salvador, El Salvador. On Christmas night 1989, he found himself in the middle of a firefight between FMLN guerrillas and the Salvadoran Armed Forces. In Calcutta, a taxi hit him mid-run, broke his leg, and left him fighting gangrene in an Indian hospital. When he got home, he spent nearly a decade navigating Marine Corps bureaucracy to earn the Combat Action Ribbon for himself and every embassy Marine who served in El Salvador.For the full story of the 1985 Zona Rosa attack, check out our earlier episode with survivor Anton Koszuth.