 CBS3 -- A New Jersey doctor --who was a well-known trauma surgeon at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- has been killed in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.
In a statement issued Friday night, the DoD said 42-year-old Maj. John P. Pryor of Moorestown died Christmas Day when a mortar round hit near his living quarters. He was serving with a forward surgical team with the Army's 1st Medical Detachment, based in Fort Totten, N.Y.
Pryor's colleagues said they were devastated by the loss of the married father of three young children.
"John was a man who truly believed that service to others was his calling," said Dr. C. William Schwab, chief of trauma surgery and critical care at the hospital, which is in Philadelphia. "Whether it was volunteering at Ground Zero on 9/11 or with the Army, or serving the people of the community, that was what he was about."
Schwab said Pryor joined the hospital in 1999 after graduating medical school at the State University of New York in Buffalo. He described Pryor as a "star" who quickly rose through the hospital ranks to become director of its trauma program.
Pryor deployed Dec. 6 for his second tour of duty in Iraq as a combat medic with the Army Reserves, and was due to come home in April, Schwab said. He said Pryor had studied Arabic, knowing he could be dealing with wounded Iraqi civilians -- especially children -- and wanted to make them feel at ease.
Pryor wrote of his experiences as a surgeon confronting violence in Iraq and inner-city Philadelphia in articles published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post.
"As a trauma surgeon, every death I have is painful; every one takes a little out of me," he wrote in a 2006 article in the Inquirer. "Losing these kids here in Iraq rips a hole through my soul so large that it's hard for me to continue breathing.
"If I could say something to this Marine's parents, it would be this: I am so sorry that you have lost your son. We, more than almost everyone else, know he was a true American hero."
==Another news story==
phillyBurbs.com -- An Army Reserves doctor from Moorestown, N.J., was killed in combat in Iraq on Christmas Day, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Major John P. Pryor, 42, died from wounds suffered when a mortar round exploded near his living quarters in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. He had been serving as a battlefield surgeon with the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team based out of Fort Totten, N.Y.
Additional details about the circumstances surrounding Pryor's death were not released.
“He was Moorestown's finest. It doesn't get any better than John,” said Moorestown Councilman Daniel Roccato, who spent time with Pryor this fall prior to his deployment on his second tour of duty to Iraq.
Pryor was deployed Dec. 6, according to his civilian employer, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where Pryor worked as trauma surgeon since 1999. He came to the hospital after completing medical school and his surgical training at the University of New York in Buffalo, according to a death notice distributed by the university.
“JP was a magical man, with boundless energy and goodness. He was a devoted son, husband, father, colleague and friend,” Dr. C. William Schwab, the university's chief of Trauma and Critical Care, and Dr. James Mullen, interim chair of surgery, wrote in the notice. “He was an outstanding physician, gifted surgeon, teacher and mentor. At his core were many great values but his passion was (for) service to others and (he) gave back something to each and everyone of us, everyday.”
Pryor is survived by his wife Carmela V. Calvo, MD and three children, Danielle, 10, and sons Francis, 8, and John Jr., 4.
==Another news story==
CLIFTON PARK — The Christmas Day death in Iraq of former Clifton Park resident John P. Pryor has some former urgent care colleagues recalling him as a teenager who found comfort with them and with the medicine they practiced.
Pryor, 42, an Army major, died in Mosul, Iraq, after a single mortar round tore into the trailer in which he was sleeping. Pryor, a 1984 Shenendehowa High School graduate, husband and father of three, was on his second tour of duty in Iraq after joining the Army Reserves shortly after 9/11.
Having served as a front-line trauma surgeon in Abu Ghraib during his first tour of Iraq, Pryor knew the dangers he was taking with a second tour. He contacted a funeral director before shipping out Dec. 6 and chose his casket and the music to be played at his funeral.
That type of planning did not surprise Saratoga County Emergency Services Coordinator Mike McEvoy. He knew Pryor since he was a 15 years old, when he came to the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Emergency Corps station to take a course in basic emergency care.
“He joined the ambulance corps at 17 and we rode together on many calls,” McEvoy said Monday. “I think his interest in medicine came from the ambulance corps experience and the people he met. He liked what we did and liked the camaraderie.”
Pryor had to wait until he was 18 before he could take the emergency medical technical course from him to become an EMT. McEvoy has been with the ambulance corps for 28 years and serves as a paramedic.
Twenty-seven years after first meeting Pryor, McEvoy still spoke with him often.
“He was always a happy person,” he said. “Right up until this month, he was still upbeat. He didn’t focus on negative things.”
If Pryor had not found a career in medicine, McEvoy thought he was bound for community service in some way. But after applying to many medical schools, some twice, Pryor was finally accepted to SUNY Buffalo, McEvoy said.
“He was determined to go to medical school,” McEvoy said, “and when he finally got in there he chose surgery. And he excelled at it.”
Pryor’s ability to do trauma surgery well is what McEvoy believes got him to request front-line duty in Iraq. “He knew the soldiers needed him there,” he said. “He knew they didn’t have enough trauma surgeons and that more of the soldiers could be saved if he was there with them. Most trauma surgeons are stationed in Germany and they fly the injured to them. They aren’t on the front lines. John wanted to be on the front lines where he could make a difference.
“That was John.”
Another Clifton Park-Halfmoon Ambulance Corps member who knew Pryor was the unit’s director, George June. “I met him several times when he came back here,” June said. “He came around to see our new station.”
June attended conferences at which Pryor was a speaker. He said that Pryor explained in simple language what the emergency responders in the audience could do to help the surgeon and thereby benefit their patients.
“He had an appreciation for us and was able to relate to us because he was one of us,” June said. “He reached his audience at those conferences. We understood what he was saying.”
McEvoy was pained to hear the news of Pryor’s death. “It’s a big loss,” he said. “A talented medical person will be missed in the medical community, by his family, and by his friends. You don’t always keep in contact with people you meet in this life. His life is a lesson to all of us.”
==Notice==
A memorial fund has been established. For details, visit: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/surgery/faculty/jpp.html
The family has erected a website, to share thoughts and memories of John. http://www.drjohnpryor.com/index.html
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Sir, I would just like to say thank you for your service and sacrifice for our Country. And to your family and loved ones, I wish to extend my deepest sympathy.
A grateful citizen