Washington ? In Iraq this week with fellow lawmakers, Rep. Jerry Moran pinned a Purple Heart medal on a fellow Kansan, Army Lt. Katrina Gier Lewison.

The ceremony was unexpected, Moran said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Kuwait City.

Moran, R-Kan., and his colleagues were in a Black Hawk helicopter bound from Tikrit to Mosul in northern Iraq, and Moran asked an Army general if he knew any Kansans.

“He clicks on the microphone to the front of the chopper, and Katrina comes on — she’s our pilot. So we have a great conversation,” Moran said.

The chopper landed, and Moran attended an Army briefing. After about an hour, an aide to the general tapped Moran on the shoulder and handed him a Purple Heart.

About 150 officers and troops came to attention, and Moran presented the honor to Lewison, who had been injured by shrapnel from a grenade thrown at a Humvee she was riding in.

“Neither one of us could keep the tears out of our eyes,” Moran said. “It was a very moving and emotional experience. Her story is very much that she’s doing OK, that she very much believes in the cause.

“It was very good to hear that from this Kansan,” he said.

Lewison, 25, is from Hutchinson, Kan. Her mother, Kathy Gier, said Lewison had been treated for her injuries and returned to work immediately, despite feeling “a little tender sitting down.”

“It could have been a lot worse, and we don’t want any more Purple Hearts,” Gier said Wednesday in a telephone interview.