Photo: US Navy
We are honored to witness the awarding of the Medal of Honor today to Senior Chief Edward C. Byers Jr. Watch the award ceremony live here today (2/29) at 11:10am during the White House Ceremony.
Victory Media CEO quotes, “Our amazing service members sacrifice so much so that we can live under the umbrella of safety and freedom they provide. It’s an honor to see the intense and selfless heroism of the best of the best, and Senior Chief Byers represents the best of our great nation. It’s an honor to be part of an organization that helps our service members succeed when they leave the military. Thank you all for what you do.”
“In the darkness of a single-room building in Afghanistan, Navy Senior Chief Edward C. Byers Jr. had little time to react: A fellow Navy SEAL had just been shot in the head during a hostage rescue mission, and it wasn’t clear who else in the room wanted to kill the American team.
Byers burst in anyway, shooting a Taliban fighter who had an automatic rifle aimed at him. Another man scrambled to the corner of the room where another rifle was stored, so Byers tackled him and then tried to adjust his night-vision goggles to see whether he was the American hostage. The hostage, lying five feet away, called out in English, so Byers killed the insurgent he was straddling and then hurled himself on top of the hostage to protect him from gunfire. At the same time, Byers pinned another enemy fighter to the wall with a hand to the throat until another SEAL shot the militant.
Byers, 36, will receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony Monday for his actions on Dec. 8, 2012. But he must now do something else difficult for someone in his line of work: Step out of the shadows and in front of news cameras as he receives the nation’s highest award for valor in combat.”
See more about Byers’ heroic actions here at The Washington Post.