173rd, 2-503 Chosen Company Family and Soldiers To Receive Valor Awards For Battle At Wanat, A'Stan

And more From Cow Pastures to Kosovo

Benning soldier's family to accept Silver Star for fallen son

173rd Airborne

Three Fort Benning Soldiers will soon be presented with Silver Stars and another will be given a Bronze Star with "V" device for their actions while deployed to Afghanistan in 2008.

In a ceremony to be held March 30 at 10 a.m. at the Airborne Walk on Eubanks Avenue, Capt. Matthew R. Myer and Spc. Michael T. Denton will receive Silver Stars while Sgt. 1st Class David L. Dwzik will be given a Bronze Star with “V” device for their gallantry in action during the Battle of Wanat, Afghanistan, on July 13, 2008.

At a separate ceremony at 3 p.m. on March 29 at Shiloh High School in Snellville, Ga., the family of Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers will be presented his Silver Star for his actions during the Battle of Wanat, which is being awarded posthumously.

Myer, Denton and Dwzik were members of Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during the Battle of Wanat. Nine soldiers from their company were killed in action that day and 27 more were wounded.

During Chosen Company’s 15-month deployment to the Kunar and Nuristan provinces of Afghanistan, 16 of their soldiers were killed in action and 50 were wounded.

Prior to the award ceremony Denton will be promoted to sergeant.

The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States and is presented to servicemembers who distinguish themselves by extraordinary heroism. It is the third highest award presented for valor.

The 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is based in Vicenza, Italy....

There is much more on the upcoming celebration, about the Battle of Wanat and Chosen Company here. Please go read it.

Let us never forget.

Heroes, every one

I am always in awe of the amazing stories of courage by our guys; the courage they display every single day, often far away from the media scrutiny. Lucky for us, we have sites like Soldiers' Angels Germany, which highlight these men and women regularly. This is one of the latest:

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Leave no man behind

“Words can't describe the thanks I have for them for doing that, for retrieving him.”

- Robert Mersman, on the crew that recovered the body of his son, Sgt. Jeffrey Mersman

Most readers here are familiar with the events of November 9, 2007, in which Captain Matthew Ferrara and five other troops were killed during an ambush near Forward Operating Base Bella, home of Chosen Company, 2-503rd PIR, 173rd ABCT in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan.

Yesterday, Tom Bowman of NPR published an interview with some of the Pave Hawk pilots who participated in the recovery mission. During the course of the firefight one of the Soldiers, Sergeant Jeffrey Mersman, had fallen from the narrow trail they were traversing and landed on a ledge below. Four of the other Soldiers climbed down to him, were unable to carry him out in the rugged terrain, but weren't going to leave without him.

"They were basically trapped," [Air Force Capt. Ed] Blanchet says. "They couldn't get back out of there, they couldn't get back up the terrain. So that's when it was necessary for us to have to go in and try to hoist them out."

A second helicopter flew into the narrow space, shaped like a wedge and tapered like a funnel. They dumped gas to make the helicopter lighter and easier to maneuver....

There is more, and it is a MUST read! I am trying the trackback thing here, so go, now, and read the rest.

*[edit: It seems I still haven't figured out how to do that, so just go over to SAG here, and scroll down. You can't miss this story!]*

Thank YOU, Mary Ann, and many thanks to our heroes.