MOH MSG Gary Gordon's grave vandalized in Maine

“American Hero” veteran’s grave vandalized. Police need our help in finding out who did it.

Law Enforcement Today
by: Kyle S. Reyes
May 23, 2020

LINCOLN, MAINE – It’s exactly the kind of story we don’t want to be reporting on Memorial Day Weekend.

Police are looking for help in finding whoever is responsible for desecrating the grave of an “American hero”.

They put up a Facebook post about the damage this week:

“MSG Gary Gordon is not only a hometown hero for Lincoln, he’s an American Hero!!” they said.

The vandalism to his gravestone is believed to have occurred sometime within the last 2 weeks.

“There has been talk that this may have been done as an additional honor, where Medal of Honor recipients have gold, inlaid to the engravings and that this is still a work in progress,” they said.

But if that’s the case, they said the family was never notified that this was happening.
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Medal of Honor Monday: Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon

Department of Defense
BY KATIE LANGE
JULY 1, 2019

If you've ever seen the movie "Black Hawk Down," then you know the story of Army Master Sgt. Gary Gordon. Gordon and his comrade, Army Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart, made the most difficult decision service members could ever make — to give their lives for their brothers in arms. This Medal of Honor Monday, we honor Gordon's life and sacrifice during a 1993 humanitarian crisis in Somalia.

Gary Gordon was born Aug. 30, 1960, and grew up in Lincoln, Maine. At the age of 18, he joined the Army and was a combat engineer for many years before being selected for the elite Special Forces group known as Delta Force.
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Push for MOH: Private Kenneth David actions saved lives May 7th, 1970

Efforts being made to award Medal of Honor to Girard veteran

WFMJ 21 News
by Derek Steyer
May 7th 2020

While seven men died, 13 made it home, much in part to David's heroic efforts.

On the 50th anniversary of heroically saving numerous men in Vietnam, there are renewed efforts to award the Medal of Honor to a Girard veteran.

It was in the early morning hours of May 7th, 1970 when Private Kenneth David's company came under an intense attack on a mountaintop in Vietnam. David remembers like it was yesterday.

"I could see the explosions going off, I could see my buddies getting killed, it was one big nightmare," David said.

David didn't know it at the time, but he was one of only two men left alive to defend his portion of the perimeter.

"Explosions would go off and you see a face in front of you and you just shoot it," David said. "I had RPG shrapnel in my back, both my eardrums blown out."

Still, he unleashed a barrage of fire and for several hours single handily resisted enemy efforts and secured a landing zone so casualties could be extracted.
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Tennessee boasts 32 of the Medal of Honor Recipients

A look at Tennessee's Medal of Honor recipients and their stories

Chattanooga Times Free Press
by Sabrina Bodon
February 1st, 2020

The state of Tennessee boasts 32 of the medal's 3,525 honorees thus far, including a Signal Mountain native for whom the new Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center is named.

Medal of Honor awards are displayed during the third annual Celebration of Valor luncheon at the Chattanooga Convention Center on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019, in Chattanooga, Tenn. / Staff file photo

On multiple occasions, while awarding the Medal of Honor, President Harry S. Truman remarked, "I would rather have the blue band of the Medal of Honor around my neck than to be president of the United States." But when Congress attempted to award the badge to him in 1971, he wrote to the House that he did " ... not consider that I have done anything which should be the reason of any award, Congressional or otherwise."

Truman continued, saying the medal was for combat bravery, and awarding it to him would detract from that significance.

"This does not mean I do not appreciate what you and others have done, because I do appreciate the kind things that have been said and the proposal to have the award offered to me," Truman wrote. "Therefore, I close by saying thanks, but I will not accept a Congressional Medal of Honor."

Fifty-two medals have been awarded for acts of valor that occurred in and around Chattanooga, including one to Mary Edwards Walker, the only female recipient. read it here

MOH Robert Howard nominated for the Medal of Honor three times for three separate actions in Vietnam

This Army Special Forces veteran was nominated for the Medal of Honor three times

We Are The Mighty
Blake Stilwell
Jan. 16, 2020

In all, Robert Howard fought in Vietnam for 54 months, where he was wounded 14 times. For eight of those wounds, he received a Purple Heart. He also earned the Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, and four Bronze Stars. When he retired, he was the most decorated soldier in the Army and was the most decorated of the entire Vietnam War. He remains the only soldier to be nominated for the Medal of Honor three times for three separate actions, all in a 13-month span.

On Dec. 30, 1968, Robert Howard was the platoon sergeant for a joint unit of U.S. Army Special Forces and South Vietnamese forces. Their mission was to rescue soldiers who were missing in action behind enemy lines. As they moved out onto their objective, they were attacked by what had to be two companies of enemy troops. 1st. Lt. Howard was wounded by an enemy grenade almost immediately. He lost his weapon to the explosion, and his platoon leader was down.

His luck only got worse from there.

This is how Robert Howard earned his Medal of Honor. It was one of three for which he was nominated. The men who fought with him fervently believed he deserved all three. The battle for which he received the nation's highest military honor was one hell of a slugfest. At Kon Tum, South Vietnam, that day in 1968, things went awry from the get-go.

"We took casualties on the insert," Howard said. "I finally got with the platoon leader and said we need to secure this LZ... I got three men behind me, I remember being fired at and I fell backward and they killed three men behind me."

One of the helicopters had even been shot down with troops still aboard it. The platoon began taking fire from the flanks, and Howard knew he had to tell his lieutenant the landing zone was hotter than they thought. Just as he got close to his officer, however, the unit was ambushed.

"When I come to, I was blown up in a crump on the ground," Howard recalled. "My weapon was blown out of may hand, I remember seeing red, and saying a prayer hoping I wasn't blind. I couldn't see and I was in a lot of pain."
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Medal of Honor Bruce W. Carter Vietnam War Fallen Hero Needs to Be Buried at Arlington!

War hero’s mother wants son buried at Arlington — 50 years later

Miami Herald
BY THEO KARANTSALIS SPECIAL TO THE MIAMI HERALD
DECEMBER 08, 2019

“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen,” said Carter’s mother, Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens. “Being forgotten is.”

Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens, speaks at a 2011 Veterans Day event about how her son, Pvt. First-Class Bruce W. Carter, was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. THEO KARANTSALIS FOR THE MIAMI HERALD

A teenage Marine knew what to do when he was pinned down by enemy fire in Vietnam and a grenade was tossed between him and his friends.

Pvt. First-Class Bruce W. Carter, 19, was posthumously awarded the nation’s highest medal for valor in combat.

“Dying for freedom isn’t the worst thing that can happen,” said Carter’s mother, Georgie Carter-Krell, 88, of Virginia Gardens. “Being forgotten is.”

Carter-Krell said she has reached out to President Trump’s office for help in transferring her son’s body from Miami to Arlington but has not yet received a call back.

A message from the Herald seeking comment from President Trump’s press office Thursday was not immediately returned.

“Something like this needs to come from the top,” said Carter-Krell.
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MOH Former Staff Sgt.Bellavia entered Hall of Heroes

David Bellavia Hall of Heroes Ceremony

WBEN News
Connecting Vets
JUNE 26, 2019

The Pentagon (WBEN/Connecting Vets) - In a moving ceremony in the auditorium deep inside The Pentagon, David Bellavia took the stage following numerous dignitary remarks and spoke from his heart wearing the Medal of Honor he received Tuesday at The White House.

Former Staff Sgt.Bellavia, was inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon.

The Hall of Heroes is a dedicated space that opened in the Pentagon in 1968 to recognize every Medal of Honor recipient. The names of each of the roughly 3,600 recipients are listed there for recognition.

Bellavia's induction ceremony was led by Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist who described just how rare of a hero Bellavia truly is.

"We may use the term hero all the time. But there are in fact heroes among our heroes and they are very rare," Norquist said. "Since the Medal of Honor's creation in 1861, of the tens of millions who have served in the U.S. military, less than 3,600 medals have been awarded each after painstaking deliberation and consideration."

However, consistent with his efforts at Tuesday's Medal of Honor ceremony to ensure his unit receives as much recognition as he does, Bellavia requested that Norquist also recognize his unit during the Hall of Heroes induction.
v "David would also ask us to push the spotlight from himself back to his unit," Norquist said. "Let me highlight for the audience that the heroism displayed during the course of the Battle of Fallujah earned Task Force 2-2 the Presidential Unit Citation. David and his fellow soldiers here today come from a task force of heroes."

And when it was Bellavia's time to speak, he told the stories of the men in his squad — the men who comprise his memories and his understanding of the Iraq War.
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MOH Staff Sgt. David Bellavia

David Bellavia receives the Medal of Honor for his actions in a ‘house of nightmares’

STARS AND STRIPES
By COREY DICKSTEIN
Published: June 25, 2019

WASHINGTON — Pinned down inside a pitch-black, insurgent-filled house in the early days of the second battle of Fallujah, Staff Sgt. David Bellavia grabbed a heavy M249 automatic machine gun from another soldier and charged forward into oncoming fire from enemy fighters hunkered down in a stairwell.

The enemy fighters froze, ducking away from Bellavia’s fire just long enough for his squad to escape the building and regroup outside. Moments later, with his fellow soldiers outside, the infantryman from Buffalo, N.Y, burst back into the building — eventually killing four insurgents and gravely wounding another.

Nearly 15 years later, Bellavia stood stoically Tuesday as President Donald Trump placed the Medal of Honor around his neck for his actions that night — Nov. 10, 2004, his 29th birthday. The former infantryman who left the Army in 2005 never cracked a smile during the White House ceremony, sharing only telling nods with more than a dozen of the men with whom he served. Along with his family, the men joined him on the East Room stage and a packed audience roared and applauded.

Many of those men would not have made it to the White House on Tuesday if it were not for Bellavia and his “exceptional courage to protect his men and defend our nation,” against an enemy “that would have killed them all had it not been for David,” Trump said.
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From the White House

Iraq Veteran David Bellavia to receive Medal of Honor

update:Medal of Honor recipient calls military honor life-changing

Associated Press

June 11, 2019

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia won’t officially receive his Medal of Honor from President Donald Trump for another two weeks but already, he says, everything’s changed.

The radio talk show host and one-time Republican congressional candidate says his focus now isn't his own opinions but the fellow Iraq veterans he represents, as well as families of soldiers who've lost their lives.

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15 years after Fallujah, Bellavia destined for Medal of Honor and White House ceremony

Buffalo News
By Robert J. McCarthy
Published June 8, 2019

David Bellavia will travel from his Albion home to the White House sometime late this month, where President Trump is scheduled to drape around the Army veteran’s neck a gold medallion suspended by a blue ribbon — the Medal of Honor.

David Bellavia ran for Congress in 2012. (John Hickey/News file photo)

But his journey really began on Nov. 10, 2004, in the dusty streets of Fallujah, Iraq. That’s where the Army staff sergeant, on his 29th birthday, found himself in deadly hand-to-hand combat with some of the enemy’s toughest fighters.

In the end, five of them died. He prevailed.

Now a nation will say thank you.

Veterans’ advocate, author, former congressional candidate and current talk radio co-host, Bellavia will become the 3,469th American awarded the nation’s highest military decoration — and the first living recipient from the War in Iraq.
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Iraq Veteran David Bellavia Honors Vietnam Veterans

Vietnam Veteran Col. Philip Conran may get MOH

Should this airman receive the Medal of Honor for Laos battle? A congressman thinks so

Air Force Times
By: Stephen Losey
April 19, 2019

A California congressman is pushing to upgrade a retired Air Force colonel’s Air Force Cross to a Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism” during a fierce 1969 battle in Laos.

Col. Philip J. Conran receives an Air Force Cross for his heroic actions in Laos on Oct. 6, 1969. (Courtesy of the Robert F. Dorr Collection)

Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-California, on Monday introduced a bill, HR 2330, that would authorize the president to upgrade Col. Philip Conran’s Air Force Cross to the nation’s highest award for valor.

On Oct. 6, 1969, as the United States’ war in Vietnam spilled over into Laos, then-Maj. Philip Conran was part of a mission that went south when a helicopter was shot down, according to a narrative provided by Carbajal’s staff. Conran took charge during the rescue attempt, and repeatedly put himself at risk to save 44 of his fellow troops, according to the legislation.
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MOH ceremony for Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins

Trump presents Medal of Honor to family of Iraq war hero

By Associated Press
March 27, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump can recognize individuals for contributions to the arts and humanities, to science and technology and for other gifts to American society, but the Medal of Honor is one of the only awards he gives out regularly, recognizing military members living or dead for acts of bravery against an enemy.

President Donald Trump presents a posthumous Medal of Honor for U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Travis Atkins, to his surviving son Trevor Oliver, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 27, 2019. On June 1, 2007 while serving in Iraq, Atkins tackled a suicide bomber, shielding three of his fellow soldiers from the explosion, but resulting in his own death.Saul Loeb / AFP - Getty Images

Trump on Wednesday presented his eighth Medal of Honor, this time to the family of Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, who gave his life in 2007 to save fellow soldiers from an Iraqi suicide bomber.

The president, who received a series of deferments to avoid military service during the Vietnam War, speaks highly of medal recipients. He recounts for White House guests the details of the heroic acts for which the recipients are being recognized and, at times speaks of them using language that suggests he could not have matched their bravery.

"America is the greatest force for peace, justice and freedom the world has ever known because of you and people like you," Trump said at the October ceremony for retired Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley , the most recent medal recipient. "There are very few. There are very few. Brave people, but very, very few like you, John."

The 80-year-old Canley's heroism during the Vietnam War included twice scaling a hospital wall in view of the enemy to help extract wounded Marines.

At an earlier ceremony, Trump said Medal of Honor recipients are a godsend.

"Our nation is rich with blessings, but our greatest blessings of all are the patriots like John and all of you that just stood, and, frankly, many of the people in this room — I exclude myself, and a few of the politicians, who, like John, carry our freedom on their shoulders, march into the face of evil, and fight to their very last breath so that we can live in freedom, and safety, and peace," he said before presenting the medal to the widow of John A. Chapman. The Air Force sergeant was critically wounded and died in 2002 while trying to rescue a Navy SEAL in Afghanistan.

Trump asked past Medal of Honor recipients attending the August 2018 event to stand and be recognized.
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Medal of Honor medal of Civil War Soldier found

Nonprofit claims to have found Medal of Honor recipient's family

Civil War soldier's relatives thankful for return of medal
Click Orlando
By Troy Campbell - Reporter
February 27, 2019

ORLANDO, Fla. - A military nonprofit organization said Wednesday that it found the living relatives of a Civil War soldier News 6 first told you about Monday.

A couple of house flippers in Orlando reached out to News 6 after finding a Medal of Honor inside a home they purchased and planned to renovate.

Within minutes of the story airing, people from across the county began to call and email information about soldier Mark Wood.

Col. Zachariah Fike with Purple Hearts Reunited said that he located Wood's third-generation nephew and fourth-generation niece.

Kathy Tafel said that she received a call from Fike, telling her that her distant relative's medal had been found.

"This (is a) Medal of Honor that has been found in some house that apparently I'm connected to, and he's looking for my dad," Tafel said.

Fike said that it's believed Wood's Medal of Honor was one of the first two-dozen ever awarded by then-President Abraham Lincoln. He said the award was given for his role in what's now known as the Great Locomotive Chase, where Union soldiers attempted to cause damage along a Southern railway, to halt Confederate soldiers.
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MOH Marine Maj. Henry Courtney Jr. belongs in hometown

Nonprofit in dispute over Marine’s Medal of Honor agrees in principle to hometown display

STARS AND STRIPES
By MATTHEW M. BURKE
Published: February 20, 2019

The foundation’s board includes Medal of Honor recipient Army Col. Walter Marm Jr., who received the award for actions taken during the Vietnam War, and Doug Sheehan, the nephew of Doug Munro, the Coast Guard’s only medal recipient.

Marine Maj. Henry Courtney Jr. received the Medal of Honor posthumously for leading a daring assault on Okinawa's Sugar Loaf Hill on May 14-15, 1945. COURTESY OF COURT STORY

A Pennsylvania nonprofit dedicated to educating Americans about citizenship and community service has agreed — in principle — to send a Marine hero’s Medal of Honor back to his hometown for display following a protracted fight.

The family of Marine Maj. Henry Courtney Jr. has been seeking the return of his medal from the Valley Forge-based Freedoms Foundation since around 2015, family members previously told Stars and Stripes.

They accused the foundation of breaching the agreement over how the medal would be used and requested it be sent instead to the St. Louis County Historical Society’s Veterans Memorial Hall in Duluth, Minn., which has a substantial Courtney display.

At first, the Freedoms Foundation, which was founded in 1949 by a group that included future President Dwight Eisenhower, refused. Courtney’s family members then took their fight public.
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MOH Vietnam Veteran Major Charles Kettles passed away

Obituary: Charles Kettles: Vietnam veteran whose service medal was upgraded by President Obama 50 years on

The Independent

Emily Langer 
February 4, 2019 

The Song Tra Cau riverbed near Duc Pho, South Vietnam, was dubbed “Chump Valley”. Only a chump, American soldiers said, would venture there. 

Kettles receives his medal of honor from the president in 2016 ( Getty )

On Monday 15 May 1967 Major Charles Kettles did just that, braving punishing fire from the North Vietnamese to make four helicopter journeys delivering reinforcements to outnumbered members of the 101st Airborne Division – and evacuate the wounded and the dead.

Kettles was credited with saving the lives of 44 men and received the Distinguished Service Cross, the military’s second-highest award for valour, for his actions. Nearly half a century later, the award was upgraded to Medal of Honour.

President Barack Obama, bestowing the medal on Kettles in 2016, recalled a comrade who called Kettles “our John Wayne”.

Kettles, who died aged 89, retired from the army in 1978 at the rank of lieutenant colonel.
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MOH Retired Air Force Col. Joe M. Jackson passed away

Air Force legend, Medal of Honor recipient, Joe Jackson dies at 95

Air Force Times
Kyle Rempfer
January 15, 2019

Former Air Force Lt. Col. Joe Jackson, a legendary pilot and Medal of Honor recipient, attends an awards dinner in Arlington, Va., in 2015.(DoD)

Retired Air Force Col. Joe M. Jackson, a Medal of Honor recipient, veteran of three wars and Air Force legend, has died.

The 95-year-old Jackson passed away over the weekend, according to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein, who made the announcement Monday morning.

His death leaves James P. Fleming as the only other living Air Force Medal of Honor recipient, according to Military Times Hall of Valor Curator Doug Sterner.

Jackson, a native of Newnan, Ga., was famous within the aviation and special operations community for his daring rescue of a team of Air Force combat controllers who were stranded at the besieged airfield of an abandoned Army Special Forces camp during the Tet Offensive.

His exploits saved the lives of three men, but risked his own, as the airfield had been the site of multiple U.S. aircraft shootdowns and aircrew fatalities over the past 24 hours.

Although Jackson has passed, his exploits and the significance of the battle he took part in were recorded in the Southeast Asia Monographs, Volume V-7, at the Airpower Research Institute of Maxwell Air Force Base, as well as first-person accounts archived by the Library of Congress.
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Getting over PTSD?

You can get over it...when you overcome it

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 12, 2018

When you are depressed, feeling as if there is no hope, someone will eventually become frustrated because they do not know what to say. Sooner or later, the words "Get over it!" pop out of their mouths. 

While you may have been offended by those words, as if you are supposed to just forget and move on, there is power in that message when you think about it. You can get over it by overcoming it and making peace with it.

Back in 2012, there was a fundraiser out at the Orlando Nam Knights and MOH Sammy Davis Jr. was there. I know Sammy and his wife Dixie. I was talking to them about the PSA Sammy had done with some other Medal of Honor Recipients trying to get the troops and veterans to seek help for PTSD.

I asked Sammy if he wanted to add to what he said, and he agreed. This is the message he and Dixie wanted to give.

Kathie Costos DiCesare
Published on May 8, 2012
Vietnam Medal of Honor Sammy Davis has a message to all the troops coming home. Talk about it! Don't try to forget it but you can make peace with it. Dixie Davis has a message for the spouses too. Help them to talk about it with you or with someone else.

Why stay down there with the pain? Why surrender your power and remain trapped by what "it" is doing to you?


The only reason you have PTSD is because you are a survivor of something horrible. No shame in being a survivor! So, no shame in you unless you choose to have it control what you do now.

The next time someone tells you to "get over it" tell them that is exactly what you are doing by working to overcome it!

Netflix on a big venture: a docuseries celebrating Medal of Honor recipients.

Bringing Medal of Honor Heroics to Life

Department of Defense
BY KATIE LANGE
NOV. 13, 2018

This was Netflix’s first partnership with the DOD. We’re glad they decided to aim high for it! You can find the docuseries, aptly titled Medal of Honor, currently streaming on Netflix.

The Defense Department often partners with filmmakers to create accurate military portrayals, which is why we recently collaborated with streaming giant Netflix on a big venture: a docuseries celebrating Medal of Honor recipients.

The series highlights the lives and experiences of eight men who earned the honor since World War II. So naturally, several current and former service members were asked to offer their expertise behind the scenes and on camera.

“[The DOD] sent several active-duty soldiers to be background in an episode, but they also sent Humvees and other vehicles, which are valuable assets to have for authenticity,” said Marine Corps veteran Mike Dowling, who now works in the entertainment industry and did a lot of advising on choreography, tactics and weapons for the show.

Many of those soldiers were from the New York Army National Guard. One of the show’s highlighted recipients, Army Master Sgt. Vito Bertoldo, was a member of the 42nd Infantry Division during World War II, which is now part of the NYARNG. So, it made sense for them to be part of it.

For an episode on Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Etchberger, the Air Force reviewed the script, offered historical Vietnam footage to filmmakers and had historians consult on the reenactment scenes.

The other recipients highlighted are World War II soldiers Army Sgt. Sylvester Antolak and Army Sgt. Edward Carter, Korean War troops Army Cpl. Hiroshi Miyamura and Marine Corps Cpl. Joseph Vittori, and more recent recipients Army Spc. Ty Carter and Army Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha, who fought in Afghanistan.
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Vietnam Veteran Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley Received Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor: Trump awards nation's highest military honor to Vietnam veteran

USA TODAY
Tom Vanden Brook and David Jackson
Oct. 17, 2018

Retired Marine Sgt. Maj. John L. Canley is honored during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House Oct. 17, 2018, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – Marine Sgt. Maj. John Canley’s astounding heroism in Vietnam 50 years ago speaks for itself, so loudly that Wednesday he was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Donald Trump at a White House ceremony.

Canley's daughter Patricia Sargent knows how her father took command of the undermanned Company A, First Battalion, First Marines despite shrapnel wounds during the bloody battle of Hue in 1968. How he set up a base while caught in a “deadly crossfire,” drew fire by darting into the open so his Marines could seize a building and carried wounded Marines to safety while exposing himself to the enemy.

"John raced straight into enemy fire over and over again, saving numerous American lives and defeating a large group of communist fighters," Trump said in conferring the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. He lauded the former gunnery sergeant for "unmatched bravery" and fearlessness.

"Despite sustaining serious injuries – very, very serious injuries – he continued to face down the enemy with no thought for his own safety," Trump said.

The audience gave Canley a prolonged ovation, complete with Marine shoutouts of "Oorah!"
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From CSPAN

MOH Benjamin Wilson

No rifle, no problem — soldier single-handedly killed dozens of enemies, including 4 using his E-tool

Military Times
J.D Simkins
October 13, 2018

His mad scramble provided the time necessary for his unit to arrange an orderly withdrawal, during which time Wilson was wounded once again. Despite his mounting injuries, he continued to provide cover fire as his men moved down the hill. Wilson would go on to receive the Medal of Honor for his herculean feats that day, but his story doesn’t end there.

Benjamin Wilson was in Hawaii when the Japanese unleashed their infamous attack on Pearl Harbor during the morning hours of Dec. 7, 1941.

Benjamin Wilson received both the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross for actions that took place within a week of each other. (Army)

The Washington state native had enlisted in the Army as an infantryman only a year before the attack and found himself stationed at Oahu’s Schofield Barracks, watching as Japanese planes devastated the unsuspecting naval base.

Despite the timing of his enlistment, however, Wilson would miss combat entirely during World War II, attending Officer Candidate School in 1942 and getting subsequently assigned to stateside training roles despite multiple requests by the young officer to lead men into combat. At the war’s conclusion, Wilson would go back to Washington to work in a lumber mill, but the life didn’t agree with him, and the desire to serve called Wilson back to the Army.

Because the service was drawing down its officer ranks, Wilson signed back up as a private, but quickly rose through the ranks due to his previous experience.

It didn’t take long before he found himself as a first sergeant on the front lines of the Korean War, where he would become a legend among his men.
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Medal of Honor recipient saved lives, now has GoFundMe for his family

UPDATE Ronald Shurer, Medal of Honor recipient who saved lives in Afghanistan, dies at 41

Former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, who received the Medal of Honor in 2018 for braving heavy gunfire to save lives in Afghanistan, has died of cancer. He was 41.

Miranda Shurer said her husband died Thursday in Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. She said he was diagnosed with cancer three years ago.
read it here on CBS News

Trump Awards Medal of Honor to His Own Secret Service Agent
Military.com
By Matthew Cox
1 Oct 2018

A decade later, Shurer is fighting another battle -- this time with stage 4 lung cancer. More than 500 people have joined his cause and are attempting to raise $100,000 for his family through a gofundme account.

President Donald Trump on Monday awarded the Medal of Honor to former Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Shurer II, a Secret Service agent who is now fighting a battle with cancer.

Associated Press

"Today is a truly proud and special day for those of us here in the White House because Ron works right here alongside of us on the Secret Service counter-assault team; these are incredible people," Trump told a crowded room filled with Shurer's family, fellow soldiers and Army senior leaders. The assault force encountered no enemy activity during the 1,000-foot climb to their objective, but as the lead element approached the target village, "roughly 200 well-trained and well-armed terrorists ambushed the American and Afghan forces," he said.

Shurer, the mission's only medic, immediately began treating wounded. He then sprinted and climbed through enemy fire to reach several of his teammates who were pinned down on a cliff above.
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MOH: Combat Medic proved there are no limits to love

Love? Yes! Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II put his life on the line when he joined the military. Why do they do it? Love, pure and simple. Sure, they have to have courage, but the fact they could all do something else with their lives, choosing service requires something beyond courage.

Shurer wanted to save lives and became a combat medic. According to the Citation for the Medal of Honor he will receive, he was ready to sacrifice everything to save someone else. He did it so that others may live even if it meant he could die.

Army Special Forces Medic Will Get Medal of Honor for Afghanistan Heroism
Military.com
Hope Hodge Seck
September 21, 2108

"With disregard for his own safety, Sergeant Shurer took off through a hail of bullets and began scaling the rock face to get to the casualties," his dramatic Silver Star citation states. "During initial movement to the base of the mountain, he treated a teammate wounded by shrapnel to his neck from an RPG blast that blew him off his feet."

Ronald J Shurer II

An Army medic who braved enemy rocket-propelled grenades and sniper fire in Afghanistan to treat wounded soldiers will receive the military's highest honor, the White House announced late Friday.

Ronald J. Shurer II will receive the Medal of Honor, an upgrade to the Silver Star he had been previously awarded for his actions in April 2008. The medal will be presented at an Oct. 1 ceremony, according to the White House announcement.

"Sergeant Shurer rendered life saving aid to four critically wounded casualties for more than five and a half hours," the citation reads. "As the lone medic at the besieged location, and almost overrun and fighting against nearly 200 insurgent fighters, Sergeant Shurer's bravery and poise under fire saved the lives of all wounded casualties under his care."

Before the day was over, Shurer had evacuated three critically wounded soldiers down a "near-vertical" 60-foot cliff, using a rig of nylon webbing he designed himself and shielding the wounded from falling rocks with his own body.
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