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Profiles in Courage

SFC Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army (1989–2003)

SFC Paul Ray Smith, U.S. Army (1989–2003)

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Despite the years of civil war and insurgency that followed, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was a well-planned and well-timed operation, so successful in its initial phases that American and Coalition forces had captured Baghdad within just three weeks. Major combat operations famously ended on May 1, 2003, in less than two months. But despite the speed and skill of the Americans, it was not without considerable effort – or losses.  SFC Paul Ray Smith: A Soldier's Journey One of those losses was SFC Paul Ray Smith, a veteran of both the first Gulf War and the Kosovo War. In April 2003, Smith was leading the men of B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, to capture the international airport in Baghdad. While blocking the highway between the city and the airport, he found himself in a crossfire between counterattacking Iraqi forces. Unable to withdraw, he fought against overwhelming odds, giving his life to prevent an aid station from being...

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PFC Harold Agerholm, U.S. Marine Corps (1942-1944)

PFC Harold Agerholm, U.S. Marine Corps (1942-1944)

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PFC Harold Agerholm had a quiet start to his life. After qualifying from school in Racine, Wisconsin, he worked as a multigraph operator for the Ranch Manufacturing Company. Then in July 1942, he joined the Marine Corps Reserve. Upon completing his recruit training in San Diego, California, Harold Agerholm was sent to the Headquarters and Service Battery, 4th Battalion, 10th Marines, and 2nd Marine Division. He received further training for eleven months with his battalion in Wellington, New Zealand. In January 1943, Agerholm was promoted to Private First Class. In November 1943, a year and a half after first signing up, the young marine took part in the war, engaging with Japanese forces on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll. It was the first time American forces faced serious opposition to a landing. The 4,500 Japanese soldiers on the island were well prepared and fought to the last man. They extracted a high price for their deaths. Throughout the incredibly intense battle, which lasted...

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SgtMaj Daniel J. Daly, U.S. Marine Corps (1899–1929)

SgtMaj Daniel J. Daly, U.S. Marine Corps (1899–1929)

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Only two Marines have received the Medal of Honor for two separate actions: Maj. Gen Smedley Butler and SgtMaj. Daniel J. Daly. And you know it has to mean something when Butler called Daly "the fightingest Marine I ever knew." SgtMaj Daniel J. Daly and the Boxer Rebellion Daly served in the Marine Corps for 30 years, seeing every major Marine Corps campaign between 1899 and 1929. Growing up in New York City as a slender youth, he had to be tough; he even became a semi-pro boxer before joining the Marines at age 25. His first assignment took him halfway around the world aboard the USS Newark, then a cruiser assigned to the U.S. Asiatic Fleet – and it was about to take him to his first Medal of Honor action. Not long after Daly joined up, China was in upheaval. Anti-foreigner and anti-Christian sentiment boiled over into open rebellion against outsiders interfering with life in China. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese peasants, known as Boxers, rose up and began murdering missionaries,...

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SCPO Shannon Kent, U.S. Navy (2003-2019)

SCPO Shannon Kent, U.S. Navy (2003-2019)

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For 15 years, Shannon Kent's job was to gather intelligence against the United States' deadliest enemies. The U.S. Navy Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician worked alongside the National Security Agency (NSA) in some of the world's most dangerous areas. The information she acquired would often lead to surgical strikes from American special operations forces around the world – and she was among the best at her job.  Tragically, her years-long career in gathering intelligence is not the only legacy she leaves behind. Kent would become the first female service member killed in Syria when an ISIS suicide bomber attacked a restaurant in the northern Syrian city of Manbij in 2019. The 35-year-old left behind a husband and two children.   Shannon Kent was a native of upstate New York and was an outstanding student-athlete and scholar as a youth. She enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2003, became a Cryptologic Technician, and was assigned to support the Navy's special warfare operations. Not...

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The Sand Creek Massacre: Silas Soule and Joseph Cramer

The Sand Creek Massacre: Silas Soule and Joseph Cramer

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The Sand Creek Massacre, occurring on November 29, 1864, was one of the most infamous incidents of the Indian Wars. Initially reported in the press as a victory against a bravely fought defense by the Cheyenne, later eyewitness testimony conflicted with these reports, resulting in a military and two Congressional investigations into the event. Two of those eyewitnesses were cavalry officers Capt. Silas Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer who had the courage to order their men not to take part in the slaughter. It was these two that were also the driving force in getting the government to conduct more in-depth investigations on what really happened at Sand Creek.  Conflicts and Tensions Before the Sand Creek Massacre The causes of the Sand Creek massacre and other atrocities inflicted on the Indians were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado and to the river to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Around the same time, gold and silver...

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Adm. David G. Farragut, U.S. Navy (1810-1870)

Adm. David G. Farragut, U.S. Navy (1810-1870)

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We've all heard the phrase, "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" at some point in our lives. We may have even used it ourselves. But do we know what it actually means, aside from being a really cool thing to say right before you do something insane, irrational, or both? If you're a fan of U.S. Navy history, you might know it was the command barked by David Farragut during the Civil War Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. The Legacy of Adm. David G. Farragut Badass orders weren't the only legacy Farragut left behind. He served some 60 years in the U.S. Navy. Farragut was also the reason Congress created new flag officer ranks for the Navy and is also probably the only naval officer that had to be tied down by his crew for his own safety. The life of Admiral David Farragut is a case study in favor of the old axiom "Fortune favors the bold."  Farragut joined the U.S. Navy at age nine, becoming a midshipman in 1810. During the War of 1812, he was aboard the frigate USS Essex, wreaking havoc...

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Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, U.S. Marine Corps (1959-1979)

Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, U.S. Marine Corps (1959-1979)

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There are few Marine Corps legends like that of Carlos Hathcock. If there's a pantheon of Marine Corps gods somewhere, Hathcock is definitely among them. He served the Corps and his country for 20 years, including two tours as a sniper in Vietnam, where he racked up what was then the world record for confirmed kills at 93 - although he believed the actual number was somewhere around 300. "Carlos just really believed in what he was doing out there. He was saving Marines; that's how he really saw it. He was just doing his job, his duty. Now, Carlos is kind of a folk hero to a tremendous number of people," his boss in Vietnam, retired Maj. Jim Land told Leatherneck Magazine in a 2010 profile. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1942, Hathcock taught himself to shoot as a young boy, just like his boyhood idols Alvin York and Audie Murphy. It was the foundation of what would become his lifelong dream: to join the United States Marine Corps. Little did he know, as he took aim and fired that...

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James E. Williams, U.S. Navy (1947–1967)

James E. Williams, U.S. Navy (1947–1967)

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After serving nearly 20 years in the Navy, many enlisted sailors might opt for an easy assignment for their so-called twilight tour. But that was not why James E. Williams joined the Navy. He joined in 1947 because he thought getting paid to serve your country was possibly the greatest thing he could ever do. Over the course of the next 20 years, Williams would eventually become the most decorated enlisted sailor to ever serve in the U.S. Navy.  Born in 1930, Williams was a South Carolina native who convinced a county clerk to fudge the date on his birth certificate so he could enlist in the Navy at 17. Early Career and Naval Beginnings of James E. Williams After graduating from basic training in San Diego, he became a Boatswain's Mate. He didn't get the adventurous assignment he wanted from his first Navy enlistment, but he did learn a valuable lesson that would carry him through the rest of his career.  "I'd got orders to an [landing ship, tank] that just sat around a buoy in...

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Col Merryl Tengesdal, U.S. Air Force (1994-2017)

Col Merryl Tengesdal, U.S. Air Force (1994-2017)

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Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Merryl Tengesdal is the first African American female U-2 pilot in history and is the first African American woman to fly the Air Force's U-2 Dragon Lady Spy Plane. She is the only black woman alongside five white women and two black men to fly spy planes. Merryl Tengesdal was born Merryl David in 1971 in the Bronx, New York. She excelled in math and science classes in grade school and high school and graduated from the University of New Haven in Connecticut in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. She completed the U.S. Navy's Officer Candidate School in 1994. Merryl Tengesdal: The Trailblazer in Military Aviation and Engineering In her first assignment as a Naval Aviator at Naval Station Mayport in Florida, Tengesdal flew the SH-60B Seahawk helicopter, a derivative of the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk. The SH-60B Seahawk is used for anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, anti-ship warfare, drug interdiction, cargo lift, and special...

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Capt. Larry L. Taylor, U.S. Army (1966–1971)

Capt. Larry L. Taylor, U.S. Army (1966–1971)

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Larry Taylor's family had a long history of military service. His great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, his great-uncle fought in World War I, and his father and uncles served during World War II. When Larry attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, he joined the school's Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and carried on his family's longstanding military tradition.  Larry L. Taylor Begins His Journey in the Vietnam War When he began his studies in 1962, the United States had only a token involvement in the uncertain future of South Vietnam. By the time he graduated in 1966, the U.S. was fully committed, with more than 380,000 ground troops in the country. Initially, he was commissioned as an armor officer. Though he graduated from the Army's armor school, he knew he could do more flying helicopters. Because of his critical moment of self-reflection, he would lead a daring rescue under heavy fire, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers and performing an...

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RADM Roy Milton Davenport, U.S. Navy (1933-1959)

RADM Roy Milton Davenport, U.S. Navy (1933-1959)

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Ask any Marine who was Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller and each would quickly respond by saying. "Why, he was the greatest, bravest and most highly decorated Marine in Marine Corp history." Another would inevitable say, "He was not only a tough, no nonsense Marine he is also the only one awarded five Navy Crosses." Both would be right. During his career, Puller fought guerrillas in Haiti and Nicaragua, and participated in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and the Korean War where he earned his five Navy Crosses, an Army Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star. Now ask any Sailor who was Rear Admiral Roy Milton Davenport and while some submariners might know the answer, the majority of Sailor would not even venture a guess. Yet, like Marine "Chesty" Puller, he too was awarded five Navy Crosses making him the first individual (Puller was the second individual) and only Sailor so honored. A student of Christian Science, Davenport was dubbed the...

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SSgt Salvatore Giunta, U.S. Army (2003-2011)

SSgt Salvatore Giunta, U.S. Army (2003-2011)

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On October 19, 2007, American and Afghan forces loaded up onto UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47 Chinook from Afghanistan's Korengal Outpost. The mission was Operation Rock Avalanche: an insertion into the southern area of the Korengal Valley to prevent Taliban fighters from fleeing the region while reducing their ability to operate against U.S. and friendly troops there. Salvatore Giunta: The Second Deployment to Afghanistan This was Salvatore Giunta's second deployment to Afghanistan. During his first tour in the country in 2005, he was shot in the leg and lost four of his fellow soldiers in an improvised explosive device attack. After a year back at home, he deployed once more. Then-Spc. Giunta was the rifle team leader for B Company, 1st Platoon, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during Rock Avalanche. Less than a week after landing in the valley, Giunta and his platoon were traversing a steep crest out of the valley when the Taliban ambushed them. By the end...

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