Machias native soldier of the year Army Times lauds life-saving effort

WASHINGTON – You would never know that Tennille Marquis faints at the sight of blood. Especially after hearing her story about pulling off her shorts at the side of the road last June and helping an injured woman stop a bloody wound on the side of her head.

Marquis, a Machias native, was leaving physical training for the U.S. Army at Fort Lee, Va., when the car in front of her bumped into a guardrail and jumped in front of oncoming traffic. In a split second, the car was hit and flipped over several times before landing in a ditch.

Marquis stopped and pulled the woman from the smoking, battered car and used her biker shorts to stop the female driver’s large gaping wound from bleeding until the paramedics arrived.

“I just laid her in my lap and kept her arms away from her because she kept trying to reach for her face,” Marquis recalled of that day last year. “I just tried to keep her as calm as I could.”

That heroism led her to win Soldier of the Year from Army Times, an independent newspaper that covers the U.S. Army. The award was presented to her Thursday on Capitol Hill by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who served 22 years as a naval aviator and was held prisoner during the Vietnam War for more than five years.

Marquis said she didn’t believe she won the award until a few hours before accepting it at a Capitol Hill ceremony, which was attended by Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a very ordinary girl. Things like this don’t happen to me. I’m from Maine, a remote area,” Marquis said.

Other awards given Thursday were Airman of the Year, Marine of the Year, and Sailor of the Year.

Marquis, a 24-year-old sergeant, and the other awardees were chosen by their military peers based on their work in improving their communities and inspiring fellow servicemen. Each of the four winners was honored Thursday for assisting during a crisis.

“The military is an incredibly motivated, mature audience. It makes them a tremendous community that people don’t know about,” said David Smith, vice president of marketing and business development for Military Times Media Group, which owns Army Times and other military newspapers.

Marquis, who grew up on the coast of Maine in Machias, first was drawn to military life six years ago when she didn’t get accepted into the art school of her dreams. Her father told her she either had to pay rent to continue living at home or go to college. Her employer at that time suggested she go into the military.

“I laughed because I’m not the military type. I’m an art student,” Marquis said.

She chose the Army because it was the one branch that didn’t force her to cut off her long, dark-brown hair, she said. Plus her father advised her that every branch of the military has the same purpose, which is to protect the United States.

But it’s a decision she never has regretted and now plans to make a career in the Army along with her husband of two years, Randy, who is an Army training instructor.

“The military is a great foundation, especially for people like me from Maine,” Marquis said. “It’s a great way to get out and see the world.”