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Soldier Earns Silver Star For Combat Actions Sergeant pulls wounded men from burning vehicle, during Ramadi attack. Multi-National Corps - Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory AR RAMADI, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2007 -- A soldier who helped pull his wounded men from a burning vehicle and ran alone through the streets of Ramadi to get them evacuated was awarded the Silver Star, Jan. 27. "I’m just glad I was there to take care of my soldiers and bring them home safely," Staff Sgt. David S. Anderson, a section leader with 1st Platoon, B Company, 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Staff...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25, 2007 – Thanks to the efforts of Silver Star Families of America, Indiana and New Mexico have proclaimed May 1 as “Silver Star Day” to honor the nation’s wounded servicemembers. Silver Star Families of America is a member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program highlighting the ways Americans are supporting the nation’s servicemembers. “What we really want to do is have a nationwide event that day,” Janie Orman, the group’s vice president, said. She added that the proclamation had been sent to every state. The group, which would like to establish May 1 as...

U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Elliot L. Ackerman, 26, receives the Silver Star from Brig. Gen. Charles M. Gurganus, 2nd Marine Division assistant commander. Ackerman, a native of Washington, D.C., received the medal for his heroism in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Elliott Ackerman Marine Earns Silver Star for Courage Under Fire By Gunnery Sgt. Demetrio J. Espinosa 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., Jan. 16, 2007 -- Acting boldly in the face of adversity is something all Marines are taught. Against an...

HILO » Army medic Ray Michael Fuhrmann II was calm under fire on the day that he and a unit of friendly Iraqi commandos ran into an ambush. Fuhrmann saved six Iraqi lives in the firefight that followed on March 22, 2005. For his bravery, Fuhrmann's father was presented with the Silver Star last night in a brief ceremony at Waiakea High School in Hilo. It is the third-highest military honor that the nation bestows on its military personnel. Spc. Fuhrmann could not receive it himself. He and three other soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb destroyed their vehicle...

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Three Fort Bragg soldiers were honored Tuesday with the Silver Star — the Army’s third-highest award for valor in combat — for their actions in Afghanistan. Sgt. 1st Class Bruce Holmes and his team sergeant, Master Sgt. Keith Logsdon, received the medal for a 14-hour battle in a village in southern Afghanistan last year. Staff Sgt. Matthew Keefe received the medal for a separate battle. “I went in and did my job. No one expects to go and get a Silver Star,” Holmes said.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — In his final act as a Navy SEAL, Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class (SEAL) Marc A. Lee rained down machine gun fire to help protect several of his teammates before he was felled by enemy fire in Iraq last week. On Tuesday, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter honored that heroism with approval of the Silver Star, Cmdr. Greg Geisen, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., said Wednesday afternoon. The Aug. 2 death of Lee, 28, was the first suffered in Iraq by the Navy’s elite commando force. (Excerpt) Read more at A...

FORT BRAGG, N.C., May 18 -- Sgt. 1st Class David Lowe and his Special Forces A-team were in their last week in Afghanistan on June 10, 2005, when their base received an urgent call: A small group of 82nd Airborne paratroopers was pinned down in a firefight near the Pakistan border and needed support. "When you're that close to leaving the country and you've survived the whole time, you kind of stand down a little bit," said Lowe, 26, of Lancaster, Pa., recalling that much of the team's equipment was packed. "But they needed help," he said, "so we went,"...

MARINE CORPS RECRUIT DEPOT SAN DIEGO (May 12, 2006) -- Conspicuous gallantry, valor and respect preceded the corporal as he proudly stepped forward to the front of the general; crisply his hand lifted for a salute as he awaited the general’s acknowledgement during the Morning Colors ceremony on the depot May 5. The Silver Star, the U.S. military’s third highest honor for valor, was awarded to Corporal Kristopher D. Kane, marksmanship coach, Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, by Brig. Gen. John M. Paxton Jr., commanding general, MCRD and of the Western Recruiting Region. “Corporal...

The sound of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters echoed off the rugged, snowy ridges, almost 9,000 feet up in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border. In the dim first light of dawn, the men of U.S. Army Special Forces detachment Alpha 732 were scanning the fog-bound boulders and trees, searching for Taliban fighters... Ten months later, home from Afghanistan at Hawaii's Camp H.M. Smith, Sgt. Sar stood at attention as he received the Silver Star, the nation's fourth-highest award for valor in combat. He was a reluctant recipient. He felt that what he had done that day in...

PHOENIX — Army Sgt. Jim Witkowski threw his body over a grenade before it exploded six months ago, saving the lives of three fellow soldiers. The Army will posthumously honor Witkowski with a Silver Star for bravery in action at a ceremony in Los Alamitos, Calif., today. Witkowski, 32, grew up in Phoenix and went to high school in Scottsdale. He was assigned to an Army Reserve unit based in Fresno, Calif.

As a high school quarterback, Brian Stann led the Scranton Prep offense under the glare of Friday night lights. At 25, the Scranton native is still a field general. But now he’s leading U.S. Marines under the glow of bursting grenades and flashes of gunfire. First Lt. Stann’s unit played a key role in a weeklong hunt for insurgents in northwestern Iraq last May. The 2nd Mobile Assault Platoon braved enemy attacks over six days while securing a bridge near Karabilah along the Euphrates River. First Lt. Stann led a charge back into the heart of an ambush to recover...

Hello Everyone I don’t know if you all remember me and I hope I am not intruding here, moderators help me if I am, but my name is Steve Newton. I am an author, feature writer and a veteran. (And a FReeper) I am also the Founder of the Silver Star Families of America. The mission of the SSFOA is to remember and honor our wounded Armed Forces Members by getting legislation passed authorizing them a Banner or Flag. We call it the Silver Star Shining for Sacrifice.

Like any good leader accepting an honor, Maj. John D. Harrill III deflected the credit to his troops. "My actions were the result of the young Marines beside me and their will, their fighting spirit and their savvy," the 35-year-old Marine Corps officer said. Harrill, commanding officer of the Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Richmond, yesterday was awarded the Silver Star Medal, the military's third-highest award for gallantry in combat. The commendation cited his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action" while serving as a battalion operations officer last year in Iraq. Harrill said the incident for which he was awarded occurred...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (Dec. 2, 2005) -- “ He led from the front,” said 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment Bn. commander Lt. Col. Craig S. Kaczynski during Capt. Patrick M. Rapicault’s Silver Star ceremony Dec. 2. Rapicault assumed command of Weapons Company, 2nd Bn. 5th Marines during his deployment to Iraq while they were in contact with the enemy on 24 September 2004. As company commander, Rapicault led his Marines through 50 firefights and 27 improvised explosive device ambushes between the time he took command of the unit and until he was killed Nov. 15, 2004. For...

CAMP PENDLETON – A Marine sergeant who rescued his platoon commander from a burning vehicle during a firefight with Iraqi insurgents last year is to receive the Silver Star Wednesday in a ceremony at Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Sgt. Sagredo's citation Gunnery Sergeant Ismael Sagredo was a staff sergeant on April 13, 2004 when his platoon attacked insurgents, who set one their armored amphibious vehicles afire deep within insurgent-held territory. Sagredo led his Marines to a nearby house, then went back to evacuate his platoon leader. But that was only the beginning, according to the Department of the Navy's official...

Thirty-four years after he left Vietnam, Frank Korona of Georges Township is helping a comrade be recognized for valiant action during the war. Korona, 59, now the cooperative education coordinator at Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School, has given a statement on behalf of the late Dr. William Illingworth of Bedford County, regarding combat action against intense enemy fire they were both involved in on Oct. 12, 1970. Advertisement The statement is being used to nominate Illingworth for a Silver Star.

'WASHINGTON, DC --- John Kerry contacted the Pentagon today to request a Silver Star for a recent swift boat mission he ran through the streets of New Orleans. While the Pentagon claims the mission was unauthorized, Kerry claims it was a secret mission approved by the highest levels of the government. "I clearly remember listening to the radio and hearing President Bush deny that swift boats were in New Orleans," said Kerry. "And there I was on a swift boat in New Orleans. Dodging bullets. Scanning the shore for enemy fire and mortar attack. The band aid on my hand...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.-- (August10, 2005) -- Cpl Danny S. Santos, a rifleman with the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (Anti-Terrorism) and a native of south-central Los Angeles, received a Silver Star Aug. 10 from Lt. Gen. James F. Amos, commanding general of II Marine Expeditionary Force, for his actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom April 2004. The Silver Star is the nation’s third-highest award, after the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross, respectively. Amos noted the significance of the award in his presentation. “In all my years in the Marine Corps, I have pinned on a lot...

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 617th Military Police Company, Iraq FEMALE SERGEANT WINS SILVER STAR Terrorists Humiliated By Woman Warrior From Hell A female military police soldier was awarded a Silver Star Thursday in Iraq for helping to fight off insurgent forces that ambushed her convoy in March. Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., is the first woman since World War II to receive the prestigious award for bravery under fire, according to a Defense Department press release. Hester, 23, received the award along with two other soldiers from...

PENTAGON A 23-year-old sergeant with the Kentucky National Guard is the first woman since World War Two to get a Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor. Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, who is from Nashville, Tennessee, but serves in a Kentucky unit, received the award for gallantry during a March 20th insurgent ambush on a convoy in Iraq. Two men from her unit, the 617th Military Police Company, also received the Silver Star. According to military accounts, insurgents attacked the convoy south of Baghdad, launching their assault from trenches along the road. Hester and her unit moved through enemy...