Master Sgt. Brendan O'Connor gets Distinguished Service Cross

Bragg E-8 gets DSC for crawl to save soldiers

By Kevin Maurer - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday May 2, 2008 11:37:22 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — A Special Forces soldier who crawled 200 feet while being fired upon to save a wounded colleague, then led a group of besieged soldiers to safety, received the Army’s second-highest award for valor Wednesday.

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, assigned to the 7th Special Forces Group, received the Distinguished Service Cross in a ceremony Wednesday at Fort Bragg for his actions in Afghanistan.

“He made a conscious decision to do whatever it took to get to our wounded soldiers,” said Maj. Sheffield Ford, the team’s commander during the June 2006 battle in southern Afghanistan.

O’Connor, 47, said he doesn’t believe he is a hero. He said that police officers and firefighters are courageous every day and that he was only completing his mission.

“I am being recognized for a moment of courage,” said O’Connor, whose wife and four children attended the ceremony. “I firmly believe other soldiers in my place would have done the same thing.”
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