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Grandson of Guyton native receives Navy Bronze Star
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Lt. Cmdr. John L. Lowery, grandson of the late John and Dorothy Crapps of Guyton, was awarded the Bronze Star at the Naval Sea System Command in Washington, D.C. for his actions in countering radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IED) in Iraq.

The medal was awarded to Lowery for his “exceptionally meritorious service” as a Navy individual augmentee assigned to the Army’s 101st Airborne and 25th Infantry divisions from March 19, 2006 to Feb. 4, 2007.

One of the biggest threats in Iraq is the radio-controlled IED, a bomb that can be detonated from a distance by a motion as effortless as pressing a button. Sometimes that button doesn’t go off, thanks to Lowery.

“There are a multitude of ways bombs can be triggered,” Lowery said. “Radio-controlled IEDs require a signal to go to the bomb to blow it up. I served as the technical lead for the systems we used to prevent those bad guys’ signals for blowing the bomb up.”

“This is one of those honors people receive posthumously,” Lowery said. “I’m very humbled by the whole thing, and it’s a credit to everyone I was working with.”