Friday, June 17, 2005
For Gallantry In Action
As seen on OpinionJournal.com's "Best of the Web":
For the first time since World War II, a woman soldier was awarded the Silver Star Medal today in Iraq.
The full account is here.
Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester earned her Star (along with two other members of her unit, the 617th Military Police Company) as follows:
Hester's squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti-Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester led her team through the "kill zone" and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. She and Nein, her squad leader, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle.Sgt. Hester, for the record, got through the firefight without a scratch.
When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured.
I'm delighted to report on a true American hero... and one from my outfit, at that! (Trust me, I never did anything remotely that notable when I was in uniform. But hey, we MPs need to stick together.)
It's also a nice companion piece to this story.
