|
John Pryor, MD, Major
Forgive me if I post this remebrance of a fallen comrade . . .
John Pryor was a surgeon who joined the US Army Reserves after 9/11. He looked after all of our troops in OIF as a surgeon, saving our young military men's and women's lives and limbs and gave his all doing what he loved . . . he will be missed dearly by all of us in the trauma and surgical critical care community.
Doc Dutch
Military doctor from New Jersey killed in Iraq
by Sharon Adarlo/The Star-Ledger
A Philadelphia trauma surgeon who lived in South Jersey was killed Christmas
Day in Iraq, where he was serving in an Army reserve medical unit.
Dr. John P. Pryor, a 42-year-old Moorestown resident, was killed Christmas
morning in his sleeping quarters when a mortar round struck his trailer in
Mosul, according to the Department of Defense. His brother, Richard, said Pryor had
gone back to his trailer after a holiday Mass and was probably sleeping. He
was killed instantly.
Pryor was serving his second tour of duty as a major with a forward surgical
team with the Army's 1st Medical Detachment, based in Fort Totten, N.Y., and
had arrived in Iraq just a week ago, his brother said. Pryor had previously
served two years ago at a combat support hospital in Abu Ghraib.
After the 9/11 attacks, Pryor decided to enlist in the Army reserves because
he thought his skills as a trauma surgeon would be valuable, Richard Pryor
said.
"He was a surgeon who just gave 100 percent commitment to his career," the
brother said. "He was always working, trying to be the best surgeon he could. He
helped perfect strangers who required emergency care, victims of trauma. He
was also a compassionate, loving, doting father."
Pryor is survived by his wife, Carmela Calvo Pryor, and three children,
Danielle, 10; Frankie, 8, and 4-year-old John Jr.
The family learned of his death on Christmas night after Army officials
tracked down his wife, who was visiting friends and family in Brooklyn, N.Y., and
his parents, Victoria and Richard Pryor, who were in Saint Lucie, Fla.
After growing up in Clifton, N.Y., Pryor completed medical school and surgery
residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo, according to this
brother. He then did training in trauma surgery and critical care at the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
He was the director for the Trauma Center at the University of Pennsylvania,
and the school's Office of Life Support education for the Division of Trauma.
|
Hybrid Mode
