English: Captain Brian Von Kraus, the commander of Headquarters and Support Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6, looks over a school reconstruction site as Iraqi men tear down the remnants of the old structure here recently. Serving in 2004 at the forefront of clandestine military operations, Von Kraus witnessed the worst of what the enemy could throw at a Marine unit. During one complex attack, initiated by insurgents, he led his Marines in three separate successful assaults on enemy position. For his actions that day he was awarded the Silver Star Medal, one of the Marine Corps� highest awards for conspicuous gallantry, third only to the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Four years later, Von Kraus finds himself back in Iraq, but this time he�s winning the war without firing a shot as the creator of �Operation Iraqi Pen Pal�, a letter exchange program bridging the gap between the young students of the local Iraqi schools here, and students of Boston and Maine public schools in the United States.