Whether it’s a short telephone conversation or via e-mail, she communicates often with her husband, who is serving in Iraq.

During one of those conversations, Aaron, a corporal in the Marines, told his wife in passing that he received an award in the fall.

Erin recently received in the mail the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal that Aaron, a McLouth native, was awarded.

“When he sent it back, that was the first time I actually found out what he did,” Erin said.

Military officials presented Aaron with the award on Oct. 20. According to the certificate, Aaron was the first soldier on the scene of an overturned 7-ton truck — in the middle of the night. He immediately “placed his gun trucks and dismounts into perimeter security around the crash site,” the certificated read.

Aaron also jumped down a 10-foot cliff and pulled out six Marines trapped under the truck and assisted two of them to a medical vehicle. Aaron did all this “amidst chaos and enemy small-arms fire,” the certificate went on to read.

The events occurred Sept. 23 — 20 days after Aaron left for Iraq from Twentynine Palms, Calif.

Erin said she wasn’t necessarily surprised by what her husband was involved in Iraq.

“Having people being over there you expect them to get in some sort of situation at some time,” Erin said.

Erin, who attends Kansas State University but calls Tonganoxie her permanent home, said her husband is serving one tour in Iraq and is expected to return home in late March or April.