Article A Nation's Highest Award For Valour

[BravoZulu]

DEVGRU Blue Squadron Member, Medal of Honor Recipient, Command Master Chief Petty Office Edward Byers

Dr. Dilip Joseph is an American citizen, who was abducted with his driver and Afghan interpreter on 5 December 2012. Intelligence reports indicated that Dr. Joseph might be transported to another location as early as 9 December 2012. Dr. Joseph was being held in a small, single-room building.

The target compound was located in a remote area beside a mountain in the Qarghah’i District of Laghman Province, Afghanistan. Chief Byers was part of the rescue team that planned to make entry into the room of guards where the hostage was believed to be located. Success of the rescue operation relied upon surprise, speed, and aggressive action. Trading personal security for speed of action was inherent to the success of this rescue mission. Each assaulter in the rescue force volunteered for this operation with full appreciation for the risks they were to undertake.

With the approval of the Commander of all International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan, the rescue force launched from its forward operating base. The infiltration was an exhaustive patrol across unimproved trails and mountainous terrain. After nearly four hours of patrolling, the rescue force was positioned to make its assault on the target compound.

As the patrol closed to within 25 meters of the target building, a guard became aware of the rescue force. The forward-most assaulter shot at the guard and ran towards the door to make entry as the guard disappeared inside. Chief Byers was the second assaulter in a sprint towards the door. Six layers of blankets securely fastened to the ceiling and walls served as the Afghan door. While Chief Byers tried to rip down the blankets, the first assaulter pushed his way through the doorway and was immediately shot by enemy AK-47 fire. Chief Byers, fully aware of the hostile threat inside the room, boldly entered and immediately engaged a guard pointing an AK-47 towards him. As he was engaging that guard, another adult male darted towards the corner of the room. Chief Byers could not distinguish if the person may have been the hostage scrambling away or a guard attempting to arm himself with an AK-47 that lay in the corner. Chief Byers tackled the unknown male and seized control of him. While in hand-to-hand combat, Chief Byers maintained control of the unknown male with one hand, while adjusting the focus of his night vision goggles (NVGs) with his other. Once his NVGs were focused, he recognized that the male was not the hostage and engaged the struggling armed guard.

By now other team members had entered the room and were calling to Dr. Joseph to identify himself. Chief Byers heard an unknown voice speak English from his right side. He immediately leaped across the room and selflessly flung his body on top of the American hostage, shielding him from the continued rounds being fired across the room. Almost simultaneously, Chief Byers identified an additional enemy fighter directly behind Dr. Joseph. While covering the hostage with his body, Chief Byers was able to pin the enemy combatant to the wall with his hand around the enemy’s throat. Unable to fire any effective rounds into the enemy, Chief Byers was able to restrain the combatant enough to enable his teammate to fire precision shots, eliminating the final threat within the room.

Chief Byers quickly talked to Dr. Joseph, confirming that he was able to move. He and his Team Leader stood Dr. Joseph up, calmed him, and let him know he was safe with American Forces. Once Dr. Joseph was moved to the helicopter-landing zone, Chief Byers, a certified paramedic and 18D medic, assisted with the rendering of medical aid to the urgent surgical assaulter. Chief Byers and others performed CPR during the 40-minute flight to Bagram Airfield where his teammate was declared deceased.

Chief Petty Officer Byers displayed superior gallantry, extraordinary heroism at grave personal risk, dedication to his teammates, and calm tactical leadership while liberating Dr. Dilip Joseph from captivity. He is unquestionably deserving of the Medal of Honor.

 

[BravoZulu]

11th November 2024.
An Australian soldier who ran into enemy fire during the Vietnam War to reach a wounded comrade and retrieve the body of another has been awarded a Victoria Cross for bravery.

Private Richard Leslie Norden posthumously received the award for "most conspicuous acts of gallantry" during the war.

Following a Remembrance Day service at the Australian War Memorial, Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the nation's highest military honour for Private Norden, who died after the war.

During the 1968 Battle of Fire Support Base Coral, the young soldier showed extraordinary bravery by running towards North Vietnamese enemy fire to retrieve his section commander who had been shot.

After managing to drag his commander successfully back to safety, the already wounded Private Norden again placed himself in grave danger trying to save another member of his platoon who had been shot.

"On discovering his comrade had been killed, he fought on, clearing the area so his body could be safely recovered," the prime minister said.

"Such was his courage, that the enemy soldiers abandoned their positions and, as a result, many more Australian lives were saved.

"These deeds are more than worthy of the highest military honour our nation can bestow, the Victoria Cross for Australia."

Ms Mostyn said the king had approved the awarding of the Victoria Cross for Australia to the late soldier from Gundagai, in rural New South Wales.

The Remembrance Day announcement came more than two years after the Defence Honours and Awards Appeals Tribunal recommended Private Norden receive the award for his bravery.

The 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) rifleman returned from the war to serve as an Australian Capital Territory police officer, but died on duty in a 1972 motorcycle accident.

Former governor-general and defence chief Sir Peter Cosgrove, a longtime advocate for awarding Private Norden, said he was delighted at the news.

"Dick Norden was a very brave soldier … he had been involved in an action that was just breathtaking in Vietnam," Sir Peter told the ABC.

"All these years later to hear that it's now been identified, that is fitting. That is a great thing for all of those veterans who would've known Dick Norden."

Sidney James "Jim" McDonnell fought on the battlefield at Coral and grew up with Richard Norden and his older brother Roger.

"He was just a down-to-earth ordinary fella," he said of Private Norden.

"None of us were heroes, but when it came to your turn to get in and have a go, he was in the position where he went forward and did what he had to do."

Australia's four other Victoria Cross recipients were members of the Army Training Team. Private Norden is the first veteran of the 1st Australian Task Force to receive the honour.