In honor of National Medal of Honor Day, the U.S. Navy created an informational graphic depicting the December 2012 hostage-rescue mission that earned Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers Jr. the nation’s highest award for valor.
On Feb. 29, the Navy SEAL received the Medal of Honor for his courageous actions on Dec. 8-9 while serving as part of a team that rescued American aid worker, Dr. Dilip Joseph, a civilian being held hostage in Afghanistan.
Congress has designated March 25 each year as National Medal of Honor Day to commemorate the day the first Medal of Honor was presented in 1863.
The prestigious award has “bestowed on 3,496 men and one woman (a Civil War surgeon) since President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law on Dec. 21, 1861,” according to a Defense Department webpage honoring the 18 Medal of Honor recipients from Iraq and Afghanistan.
A high-resolution version of the info graphic can be found on the Navy’s website at http://ift.tt/1UYWYsG.
Byers, 36, became the first living sailor since the Vietnam War to receive the honor. Two other SEALs, Lt. Michael Murphy and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, received the Medal of Honor posthumously for heroism in Afghanistan and Iraq, respectively.
In all, six SEALs including Byers have received the medal; two of them, Retired Lt. Thomas Rolland Norris and Retired Lt. Michael Edwin Thornton, were present for the ceremony. In 1980, Thornton became the founding member of SEAL Team Six, the elite group of special operators to which Byers also belonged.
The rescue mission started on a cold December night. Byers and his team conducted a four-hour trek over mountainous terrain and primitive roads to where intelligence indicated Joseph was being held, in a compound in the Qarghah’i district of Laghman province.
Another member of the SEAL team, Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas Checque, was the first into the compound, charging bravely to the entrance after a gate sentry was alerted to the presence of the team. He fell wounded from an AK-47 round to the head.
According to his summary of action, Byers was the second into the compound, sprinting in on Checque’s heels. In the darkness, Byers first pulled down six layers of blankets that served as a primitive door, then began taking out enemy guards one by one…..
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