ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

The nation’s highest award for valor was awarded Dec. 16 to three U.S. soldiers. Only one was alive to accept the Medal of Honor. The two others died from injuries suffered in their selfless acts.  

President Joe Biden described the three soldiers as having displayed “indisputable gallantry” under fire. “It is hard to explain where the soldiers got the courage they got.”  

President Joe Biden on Dec. 16 will award the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, to three soldiers for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House announced.

The men being honored are Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who died in 2005 from severe burns after rescuing his fellow soldiers from a burning vehicle in Iraq; Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Celiz, who was killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan in 2018; and Master Sgt. Earl Plumlee, who fought off suicide bombers in Afghanistan in 2013.

Alwyn Cashe

It started with the realization that Medal of Honor recipients had confronted the most difficult moment in their lives and responded with incredible courage, and it turned into a mission to tell their stories.

In his new book, In the Company of Heroes: The Inspiring Stories of Medal of Honor Recipients from America’s Longest Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, author James Kitfield sets out to tell the stories of 25 of those heroes.

Author James Kitfield will discuss his new book, which tells the stories of Medal of Honor recipients, during an upcoming webinar hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

The event, part of AUSA’s Thought Leaders webinar series, will take place at 2 p.m. Eastern Nov. 16. It is free, but registration is required here.

Retired Col. Roger Donlon, the first person in the Vietnam War and the first Green Beret to receive the Medal of Honor, is the subject of the latest graphic novel in the Association of the U.S. Army’s series on recipients of the nation’s highest valor award.

Medal of Honor: Roger Donlon tells of how then-Capt. Donlon disregarded multiple wounds and successfully led his 12-man Green Beret team as they held off an attack by a reinforced battalion of Viet Cong fighters in July 1964.

The Army will review Distinguished Service Cross medals awarded to African American and Native American troops for their actions in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, the Pentagon announced.

The review, directed by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to all the services, will examine whether the recipients of the Service Crosses warrant the Medal of Honor. The Distinguished Service Cross, which is awarded by the Army, the Navy Cross and the Air Force Cross are the nation’s second-highest valor awards, behind only the Medal of Honor.

The story of Lt. Col. William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the World War I hero who went on to lead the agency that would become the CIA, is featured in the latest graphic novel in the Association of the U.S. Army’s series on Medal of Honor recipients.

Donovan, the only American to have received the nation’s four highest awards, the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal and the National Security Medal, is well known for founding the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA.

Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud Jr., the Korean War hero who single-handedly held off the enemy so his fellow soldiers wouldn’t get overrun, is the subject of the latest graphic novel in the Association of the U.S. Army’s series on recipients of the nation’s highest valor award.