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Sun Dec 28 00:33:36 GMT 2008

Army surgeon killed Christmas Day in Iraq
BY MATTHEW CHAYES | matthew.chayes at newsday.com<mailto:matthew.chayes at newsday.com?subject=Newsday.com%20Article>
1:17 PM EST, December 27, 2008
A Pennsylvania<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/pennsylvania-PLGEO100101000000000.topic> trauma surgeon who was attached to a Queens-based Army medical unit, and who had written achingly of having to tell families of crime victims that their loved ones had died, was killed Christmas Day<http://www.newsday.com/topic/religion-belief/religious-festivals/christmas-12014001.topic> in Iraq, the Department of Defense said.

Dr. John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/pennsylvania/northampton-county-%28pennsylvania%29/bethlehem-%28northampton-pennsylvania%29/moorestown-PLGEO100101022012500.topic>, N.J., died when a mortar round struck near his living quarters in Mosul, according to published reports. He was serving in Iraq with the Army's 1st Medical Detachment, which is based at Fort Totten.

The University of Pennsylvania doctor and Army Reserve major had served at least two tours in Iraq. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he rushed to Manhattan<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/new-york/new-york-city/manhattan-%28new-york-city%29-PLGEO100100804010000.topic> to treat the injured.

As director of the University of Pennsylvania's trauma center, Pryor once likened his experiences treating Philadelphia<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/pennsylvania/philadelphia-county/philadelphia-%28philadelphia-pennsylvania%29-PLGEO100101023010000.topic>'s casualties of street violence to his time in Iraq trying to save "mascals" -- mass-casualty situations -- as an Army surgeon.
"In Iraq, soldiers die for freedom, for honor, for their country and for their buddies," Pryor wrote in an August 2007 article published in The Washington Post<http://www.newsday.com/topic/economy-business-finance/washington-post-co.-ORCRP016520.topic>. "Here in Philadelphia, they die without honor, without purpose, for no country, for no one.

"More young men are killed each day on the streets of America than on the worst days of carnage and loss in Iraq," he wrote. "There is a war at home raging every day, filling our trauma centers with so many wounded children that it sometimes makes Baghdad seem like a quiet city in Iowa<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/iowa-PLGEO100102200000000.topic>." Pryor began helping others as a teenager. He and his wife, Carmela Calvo, a pediatrician at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, have two sons and a daughter.

"Since an early age, Dr. Pryor was involved in the care of the sick and injured," Pryor wrote of himself in an undated statement left with family, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. "He was certified in CPR when he was 14 years old, joined the Clifton<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/new-york/new-york-city/staten-island-%28new-york-city%29/clifton-PLGEO100100806011200.topic> Park-Halfmoon Ambulance Corps at 17, and became a N.Y. State emergency medical technician at 18."

The statement added that it was "emotionally very challenging" to balance his dedication to family and to country. "He hopes and prays for forgiveness from his family and colleagues," he wrote. Pryor had served two active-duty tours as a trauma surgeon for the 344th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq in 2006, and then this year with the Fort Totten-based Forward Surgical Team, according to his profile on the hospital's Web site and the Defense Department.

He received his medical school training at the University at Buffalo and then completed a fellowship at Penn, the hospital profile says.

In The Washington Post article about his treatment of crime victims in Philadelphia, Pryor recounted how he told parents about the death of their children.

"They will look at me with tears welling up, their knees weak, and lean forward while watching my lips, bracing for news about their loved one," Pryor wrote. "My announcement will be short and firm, the intonation polished from years of practice. The words will be simple for me to say, but sharp as a sword for them to hear: 'I am sorry, your son has died.' "

In addition to his wife, Pryor is survived by his daughter, Danielle; sons, Francis and John Jr.; brother, Richard Pryor<http://www.newsday.com/topic/entertainment/richard-pryor-PECLB003465.topic>; and parents, Richard C. and Victoria Pryor of Florida<http://www.newsday.com/topic/us/florida-PLGEO100100400000000.topic>, according to news reports.

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