Honoring Veterans

One of the core values of Eradico is our commitment to our community. As such,
we wish to recognize one group of citizens with a deep commitment of their own: the service men and women who defend our country's values. It is important to
pay homage to these brave, dedicated individuals who serve in our nation's armed forces, who
use their talents and skills to safeguard our borders, support our allies, and defend democracy throughout the world.

These heroes deserve our attention and our thanks. They are the true celebrities in our society (more so than the entertainers made popular by the media), and they have earned our respect and admiration. We honor their patriotism, their service and the sacrifices they make to their families and friends, including time away from home, and we particularly honor those who, sadly, sacrifice their lives for the greater good.

We would like to share some of their inspiring stories with you. (Please scroll to read them all.)

Army Sergeant First Class Leroy A. Petry
Army Rangers Recount Tale of Medal of Honor Recipient's Heroic Act

Published June 9, 2011
By James Rosen
See the original story and watch a video at: FoxNews.com

When Army Sergeant First Class Leroy A. Petry receives the Medal of Honor from President Obama next month, the Santa Fe resident will have to make sure the batteries are recharged for the prosthetic right hand he extends to friends and strangers alike.

Although custom prohibits medal winners from speaking publicly in advance of their receipt of the honor, three of Petry's Army Ranger comrades held a news conference in Seattle Thursday to recount his extraordinary heroism and selfless sacrifice in the line of duty.

"You see heroes a lot in the combat zone," said 1st Sergeant Steven Walter, an officer who served with Petry, "but this stuck out because he absolutely saved lives."

On the afternoon of May 26, 2008, then-Staff Sergeant Petry was the senior non-commissioned officer on site in Paktia province, about sixty miles south of Kabul, as the 75th Ranger Regiment conducted a daytime helicopter assault on a set of buildings believed to house a dozen or more terrorists. Petry did not have to be present for the raid with his fellow soldiers, but "saw that they needed help and made a conscious decision to go in there," recalled Sergeant First Class Jerod Staidle.

The outer structures were easily cleared, and the Rangers zeroed in on the targeted building. Petry and Private First Class Lucas Robinson were moving from an inner courtyard area to an outer one when two terrorists, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, opened fire. Robinson was hit in his side plate. A separate round struck Petry and penetrated each of his legs.

At that point, the two struggled to take cover behind a chicken coop situated to the northwest of the targeted building. A third man, Sergeant Daniel Higgins, ran to join them, while the wounded Petry managed to lob a grenade at their attackers.

"You could hear the firefight, or the contact that was taking place, with second platoon," recalled Master Sgt. Reese Teakell.

"We exchanged gunfire with [the terrorists] several times," said Walter. "We threw multiple grenades, trying to clear the back corner area. There was no way to do it without completely exposing ourselves."

A fourth American soldier, twenty-one-year-old Specialist Christopher Gathercole of California, suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head during the operation.

Pinned down behind the chicken coop and awaiting help, Petry, Robinson, and Higgins suddenly saw a grenade land on the ground - right in front of their eyes. Petry, wounded in both legs, didn't waver: He grabbed the grenade with his right hand and threw it back at the enemy. But it detonated just as he let go and amputated his right hand on the spot.

Still, the act of valor had saved his life and those of his comrades.

"It was a threat and that he did not consider the long-term repercussions," said Teakell. "So without hesitation, he did what he could to neutralize that threat by grabbing [the grenade] and throwing it away."

Walter said Petry did not have time to think before taking the life-saving action, then added with a laugh, "If he did have time to think about it, he definitely wouldn't have used his right hand. That's his shooting hand."

At the moment, however, there was little to laugh about. Having just lost his right hand, Petry applied a tourniquet to it and radioed for help. "Hey, my hand is gone," he said. Walter replied that backup was on the way. "When I got to him," recalled Staidle, "he was basically sitting up with his back propped up against the wall of this small chicken coop building….He remained cognizant of what was going on. He was yelling at the medic to loosen up the tourniquet on one of his legs, because that was what was the most painful to him. And he was still giving directions to guys, ‘Hey, make sure you do this,' when they were putting dressings on his legs, and telling guys, ‘Hey, go pull security; don't just stand there."

All of the terrorists on the scene were killed by U.S. forces, and all of the American survivors of the battle credited Petry with saving their lives.

Robinson and Higgins have since both left the Army to attend college. Petry remains in the service, and his fellow Rangers said he plans to continue his career in an Army uniform. The married father of four has taken part in 5-kilometer races and walked in a 20-mile march for his old unit. "He's been determined," Staidel said, "to keep Rangering as much as possible."

At the White House ceremony where Petry will receive the Medal of Honor on July 12, he will become only the second living veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive the military's highest honor.

Fox News' Justin Fishel contributed to this report.

Richard Winters
Band of Brothers' Commander Richard 'Dick' Winters Dies

Published January 10, 2011
Associated Press, Photo: AP2005

Richard "Dick" Winters, the Easy Company commander whose World War II exploits were made famous by the book and television miniseries "Band of Brothers," died last week in central Pennsylvania. He was 92.

Winters died following a several-year battle with Parkinson's Disease, longtime family friend William Jackson said Monday.

An intensely private and humble man, Winters had asked that news of his death be withheld until after his funeral, Jackson said. Winters lived in Hershey, Pa., but died in suburban Palmyra.

The men Winters led expressed their admiration for their company commander after learning of his death.

William Guarnere, 88, said what he remembers about Winters was "great leadership." "When he said 'Let's go,' he was right in the front," Guarnere, who was called "Wild Bill" by his comrades, said Sunday night from his South Philadelphia home. "He was never in the back. A leader personified."

Another member of the unit living in Philadelphia, Edward Heffron, 87, said thinking about Winters brought a tear to his eye. "He was one hell of a guy, one of the greatest soldiers I was ever under," said Heffron, who had the nickname "Babe" in the company. "He was a wonderful officer, a wonderful leader. He had what you needed, guts and brains. He took care of his men, that's very important."

Winters was born Jan. 21, 1918 and studied economics at Franklin & Marshall College before enlisting, according to a biography on the Penn State website. Winters became the leader of Company E, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division on D-Day, after the death of the company commander during the invasion of Normandy. During that invasion, Winters led 13 of his men in destroying an enemy battery and obtained a detailed map of German defenses along Utah Beach. In September 1944, he led 20 men in a successful attack on a German force of 200 soldiers. Occupying the Bastogne area of Belgium at the time of the Battle of the Bulge, he and his men held their place until the Third Army broke through enemy lines, and Winters shortly afterward was promoted to major.

After returning home, Winters married his wife, Ethel, in May 1948, and trained infantry and Army Ranger units at Fort Dix during the Korean War. He started a company selling livestock feed to farmers, and he and his family eventually settled in a farmhouse in Hershey, Pa., where he retired.

Historian Stephen Ambrose interviewed Winters for the 1992 book "Band of Brothers," upon which the HBO miniseries that started airing in September 2001 was based. Winters himself published a memoir in 2006 entitled "Beyond Band of Brothers."

Two years ago, an exhibit devoted to Winters was dedicated at the Hershey-Derry Township Historical Society. Winters, in frail health in later years, has also been the subject of a campaign to raise money to erect a monument in his honor near the beaches of Normandy.

Winters talked about his view of leadership for an August 2004 article in American History Magazine: "If you can," he wrote, "find that peace within yourself, that peace and quiet and confidence that you can pass on to others, so that they know that you are honest and you are fair and will help them, no matter what, when the chips are down."

When people asked whether he was a hero, he echoed the words of his World War II buddy, Mike Ranney: "No, but I served in a company of heroes."

"He was a good man, a very good man," Guarnere said. "I would follow him to hell and back. So would the men from E Company."

Robert Miller
Green Beret to Receive Medal of Honor for Saving 22 Lives in Afghanistan

By Jennifer Griffin & Justin Fishel
Published October 05, 2010
FoxNews.com

Staff Sgt. Robert Miller will receive a posthumous Medal of Honor after he was killed in an ambush in Afghanistan while moving through Kunar Province near the Pakistan border on Jan. 25, 2008.

President Obama on Wednesday will bestow the nation's highest military honor for valor on a soldier who died after saving the lives of 22 men in Afghanistan.

Staff Sgt Robert Miller was the youngest member of his squad. The 24 year-old Green Beret was on his second tour to Afghanistan when his unit was ambushed while moving through Kunar Province near the Pakistan border on January 25, 2008.

On a mission to find high-value enemy insurgents, Miller's team of eight elite American soldiers and 15 Afghan troops were moving along a rocky, snow covered trail when the first shots rang out. Miller's captain was injured almost immediately.

As the squad took cover Robert realized they were badly outnumbered from above. Rather than retreat to safer ground he ran directly at the enemy, killing numerous militants and providing his men with the cover they needed to escape.

His parents were told he saved the lives of 22 men, seven of them fellow members of the US Army Special Forces.

"As they got near the structure there was ambush, they were attacked by over 100 insurgents -- they had hidden behind boulders, it was a very intense situation," his mother Maureen Miller said in an interview with Fox News.

His father Phil Miller was proud of what his son had done.

"He essentially stayed in the kill zone to keep control of the situation and allowed everybody else to get out of the kill zone and basically gave them a chance to reorganize and regroup," he said.

As a boy, Miller loved gymnastics. He was captain of the gymnastics team at Wheaton North High School in Illinois and helped coach at the local gym.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he joined the Army, and became a Green Beret in 2005.

A natural linguist, Robert studied Latin and German in school, learned French in Special Forces training, and later learned the local Pashtu dialect while in Afghanistan. He was said to love drinking tea with the locals.

He died holding his rifle, firing until it ran out of ammunition. He had thrown his last grenade and fought for 25 minutes after having been shot twice in the shoulder and ribs.

 

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