Thursday, July 07, 2005
Greatness Recognized
Powerline points us to this Chicago Tribune and this St Petersburg Times about Paul Smith -- this first CMH winner out of Iraq. 
Just before the invasion of Iraq began in March 2003, Smith wrote his family a letter in which he vowed, "I am prepared to give all that I am to ensure that all my boys make it home."That's the short version from the Tribune piece, the PST piece goes into great detail. I lack the words to give proper tribute to such heroism. This will have to do:
Days later, in a firefight at the Baghdad airport, he took over his disastrously outnumbered platoon's .50-caliber machine gun from a wounded comrade and fired while his men scrambled to safety. When it was over, the Republican Guard troops who attacked Smith's unit were roundly defeated. Smith was dead, shot in the neck. He was the only soldier in the unit to die.
