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Medal of Honor for hero of Iraq War

Liberty Belle

Well-known member
From yesterday's Wall Street Journal. Thank God for this man and his sacrifice:

Common Name, Uncommon Valor
The story of Paul Smith, the Iraq War's only Medal of Honor recipient so far.
BY RALPH KINNEY BENNETT
Wednesday, March 29, 2006


Since his days growing up in Tampa, Fla., the lanky kid with the slightly mischievous smile had wanted to be a soldier. By this bright morning, April 4, 2003, Sgt. First Class Paul Ray Smith had more than fulfilled his dream. He had served 15 of his 33 years in the U.S. Army, including three tours of duty in harm's way--in the Persian Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Now all his training, all his experience, all the instincts that had made him a model soldier, were about to be put to the test. With 16 men from his First Platoon, B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, Sgt. Smith was under attack by about 100 troops of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
"We're in a world of hurt," he muttered.

That "world" was a dusty, triangular walled compound about half the size of a football field, near the Saddam Hussein International Airport, 11 miles from Baghdad. Sgt. Smith's engineers, or "sappers," had broken through the 10-foot-high concrete-block southern wall with a military bulldozer and begun turning the compound into a temporary "pen" for Iraqi prisoners as U.S. forces pressed their attack on the airport.

While they were working, guards posted at a small aluminum gate in the north corner of the triangle had spotted the large Iraqi force approaching the compound from the north and west. Sgt. Smith had just run up to join the guards when all hell broke loose. They came under furious fire from machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

The lightly armed work detail needed fire support. Sgt. Smith called for a Bradley fighting vehicle. Within minutes the tank-like Bradley roared through the breached wall and broke through the aluminum gate, taking a position just beyond it and opening up on the attackers with its rapid-fire 25mm Bushmaster cannon.

Sgt. Smith's men took positions around the Bradley. He could see Iraqi soldiers north, east and west of him, streaming out along his flanks. He called for a nearby M-133 armored personnel carrier, to give additional fire support with its M2 .50-caliber heavy machine gun.

As the APC passed through the breached wall, its commander, Sgt. Louis Berwald, realized that flanking Iraqi troops had occupied a roofed guard tower to his left, just outside the southwest corner of the compound, and were firing from it. He raked the tower with his M2, then moved on through the compound to a point just outside the north gate behind the Bradley.

By now the Iraqis were concentrating their fire against Sgt. Smith's small force by the gate. An RPG round hit the Bradley, and at almost the same moment a mortar round hit the APC, wounding its three occupants.
Several additional RPG rounds hit the Bradley, which by now had run low on ammunition. The Bradley retreated through the compound, exiting south through the breached wall. With one armored vehicle gone and the other out of action, Sgt. Smith's men had lost any firepower advantage they might have had.

Sgt. Smith could have withdrawn as well, back south through the compound. But beyond it was a lightly defended aid station crowded with 100 combat casualties and medical personnel. To protect it from being overrun, Sgt. Smith chose to fight no matter what the odds.

Under intense fire, Sgt. Smith's men heroically extracted all three wounded crewmen from the APC. Sgt. Smith then entered the vehicle, ordering Spc. Michael Seaman to join him as driver and "keep me loaded" with ammo belts. Sgt. Smith popped up out of the turret hatch and grabbed the grips of the .50-caliber machine gun mounted on top.
The Iraqis were practically on top of him. Coolly grasping the situation, Sgt. Smith ordered Spc. Seaman to back the APC south into the compound to a position half way down the eastern wall. There he could arc the big machine gun back and forth, from the gate entrance to the north, all along the western wall of the triangle, to the Iraqi occupied tower in the southwest corner to his left.

To fire the machine gun, Sgt. Smith had to stand in the APC's main hatch, his body exposed from the waist up to a withering fire coming at him from three directions. On the ground through the blur of combat, Sgt. Matthew Keller saw Sgt. Smith grimly firing measured bursts from atop the APC even as a hail of bullets hit around him.

Sgt. Keller yelled at him to get out. Sgt. Smith looked back at him and with a slight shake of his head, made a cutting motion across his throat with his right hand. Sgt. Keller would always remember the look in his eyes. "There was no fear in him whatsoever."

As Spc. Seaman, crouching in the adjoining hatch, fed him ammunition belts, Sgt. Smith directed an expert and murderous fire with the long-barreled M2, hitting Iraqis who tried to enter the compound through the gate or over the wall. He tried also to suppress renewed fire coming from the Iraqis in the guard tower to his left.

Finally, one of his fellow sappers, First Sgt. Timothy Campbell, led a small fire team which stole up to the tower and killed all Iraqis inside. But by this time, Sgt. Smith's machine gun had fallen silent. The attack had been broken. Nearly 50 Iraqi dead lay all over the area. Others were in retreat. But Sgt. Smith was now slumped in the turret hatch, blood soaking the front of his uniform.

Spc. Seaman jumped out of the vehicle in tears. "I told him we should just leave," he said. Pvt. Gary Evans drove the APC out of the compound at high speed to the nearby aid station.

But it was too late. When Medic Michelle Chavez tried to remove Sgt. Smith's helmet, she realized that it was holding his head together. A bullet--one of the last fired from the tower--had entered through Sgt. Smith's neck and traveled up into his brain, shattering his skull from the inside. There were 13 bullet holes peppered over his armored vest--the impact from any one of them enough to knock a man down. The vest's ceramic armor inserts, back and front, had been cracked in numerous places.

"Sapper Seven," the wiry, hollow-cheeked guy who had been so hard on his men in training, so exacting, so insistent on "doing it right"; the guy who had led them into battle on the first day of the war with a rock-'n'-roll tape blaring from his Humvee; the guy who had personally got down on his knees in front of their convoy to patiently, carefully extract the deadly mines when they ran into a minefield near the Karbala Gap, was dead.
A chaplain and a sergeant in dress uniforms came to Birgit Smith's home near Fort Stewart, Ga., late on the night of April 4 to break the terrible news. Mrs. Smith, the German girl Paul had met and married during his tour of duty in Western Europe in 1992, listened numbly to her visitors. She fought the growing dread and pain by grasping at a desperate hope:
"Our name is so common," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "Maybe it's a mistake."

There was no mistake. Paul Ray Smith had given his life protecting his men and his position. He had almost single-handedly blunted an overwhelming attack which might well have overrun the nearby aid station.

"There are two ways to come home, stepping off the plane and being carried off the plane," Sgt. Smith had written in an unsent email to his parents. "It doesn't matter how I come home, because I am prepared to give all that I am to insure that all my boys make it home." He had been the only American killed in the courtyard fight.

On April 4, 2005, exactly two years after his selfless action, his wife and their children David and Jessica stood in the White House as President Bush presented them the nation's highest decoration for bravery, the Medal of Honor.

It was the first awarded in the Iraq War. Paul Ray Smith had indelibly marked his "common name" on history's small bright roll of those forever remembered for their uncommon valor.

Mr. Bennett writes the "American Heroes" series for the American Security Council.
 

BBJ

Well-known member
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

There are no words I can add except I pray for his family and wish we had more people in this world like Paul Ray Smith

Thanks to him and his family. :heart:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
What a courageous man!! Helps me to understand and NEVER FORGET the sacrifices that brave men endure for our freedom.

Sad story, but inspiring. Thanks for sharing. :cry2:
 

BBJ

Well-known member
As sad as the story is :cry2:, I have to say it makes me more proud of Paul Ray Smith and his family than it does sad.

The way in which he lost his life has to help ease the pain his loved ones feel everyday. There is no doubt it still hurts them, but I hope the PRIDE and ADMIRATION will overpower the pain.

You only see HERO's like that every once in a while.
 

Steve

Well-known member
You only see HERO's like that every once in a while.

each and every soldier is a hero, a person that put thier life on hold, gave thier country thier best, and some ultamately gave all.....for each of them, from Afganastan to Iraq, all deserve the highest honors this country can muster....Sgt. Smith is but one of the finest among many fine soldiers....

This country should hold then all in our hearts......
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
stevec said:
A soldier is a sucker. He goes out and kills people (and sometimes gets killed) for morons who live fat and comfortable making profits on the war.

The medals are used to sucker him deeper into the illusion.

How is it that you all think the government makes many mistakes, but regarding war is never wrong? That's doublethink.
Stevec, there really isn't much I can say about you but that you are just low and sorry. I wish the world didn't have people like you in it. You just speak the opposite of what any good person would. You are a coward hiding behind silly statements. I wish we could trade people like you for more people like Mr. Smith. The world would be a finer place.
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
On that note, I voted for macon to warn people instead of ban them when they were nutty and wacky, I change my vote. I wish he would ban you . No one should say what you said about a brave man that died for your country and left a family . You should leave. Mr. Smith was not a sucker as you say but rather a hero that cared enough for his country, his fellow soldiers and even morons like you to die ...
 

Steve

Well-known member
I'd only maybe suggested that you do the same because you may be kidnapped, but actually I'd hate to have the military risk their lives and waist their time to save you, especially since you don't think much of them anyway.
http://ranchers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8847&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=12


stevec:
Location: massachusetts

PostPosted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:09 am Post subject: Reply with quote
Its the organization I object to, not the individuals in it.

A soldier is a sucker.

Can't get much more objective then calling the individual a suckers....
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
What you just posted stevec, is nothing less than treason.

I vote to BAN all treasonists from this site.
There, they should be easy enough to identify and you are NUMBER 1.

Anybody with me on this? I am PM'ing Macon now. This has gone too far.
 

Steve

Well-known member
This has gone too far.

seems that in a thread honoring a war hero, who died in service

"Sgt. Smith could have withdrawn as well, back south through the compound. But beyond it was a lightly defended aid station crowded with 100 combat casualties and medical personnel. To protect it from being overrun, Sgt. Smith chose to fight no matter what the odds. "...

is not the place or time to call him, or any other soldier names....

StevC ranted again:
A soldier is a sucker. He goes out and kills people (and sometimes gets killed) for morons who live fat and comfortable making profits on the war.

The medals are used to sucker him deeper into the illusion.

What a dispicable thing to say about a soldier recieving a Medal of Honor
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Red Robin said:
Faster horses said:
What you just posted stevec, is nothing less than treason.

I vote to BAN all treasonists from this site.
Agreed.

I'm going to disagree with you two...This young man died and was a hero defending stevec's right to free speach and his right to make an ass of himself....

His rants just enforce my beliefs in what a great country we have- because if he'd have talked like that in Saddam's regime he'd have been hanging by his gonads........
 

Red Robin

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Red Robin said:
Faster horses said:
What you just posted stevec, is nothing less than treason.

I vote to BAN all treasonists from this site.
Agreed.

I'm going to disagree with you two...This young man died and was a hero defending stevec's right to free speach and his right to make an ass of himself....

His rants just enforce my beliefs in what a great country we have- because if he'd have talked like that in Saddam's regime he'd have been hanging by his gonads........
He has that right but there is no right to be obnoxious on a privately owned forum. We have a great country, he has the right to be a fool, Macon has the right to ban him.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Twice in my career I wrestled a gun away from a suicidal person that was attempting to take their own life- one time the 30-30 rifle discharged in the cab of the vehicle we were wrestling in ( the reason now sometimes you have to yell for me to hear you)....After both situations I questioned why I did it-- since one even completed his task and killed himself a few months later anyway....

Stevec leaves me feeling the same way- a complete wasted effort-- but I guess that he has the right to be that.....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
stevec
huh? am i committing suicide, or am i trying to save you from committing moral suicide?

Neither- but you're one of the ones that makes me question whether they are worth putting any effort or risk out for.....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Looks like stevec has disappeared- run out of Dodge :lol: ....Can't say I'll miss him- because usually I couldn't understand him.....
 

fedup2

Well-known member
Oldtimer writes:
[“I'm going to disagree with you two...This young man died and was a hero defending stevec's right to free speach and his right to make an ass of himself....
His rants just enforce my beliefs in what a great country we have- because if he'd have talked like that in Saddam's regime he'd have been hanging by his gonads.....…”]

Exactly right Oldtimer! Well said.
My mother was very proud of her family while she was alive. Her 3 sons all served their country. My older brother died from the injuries he received in Viet Nam & I am dealing with many different disabilities. We never had the luxury of history to tell us whether we were doing the right thing, fighting for the right cause, etc. We fought for our country and our flag! Nothing pisses me off more than someone like that woman who lost a son and is now hounding Bush. He died fighting for his country. Why does she try to cheapen his efforts by saying it was for nothing. BS!

One of the reasons we fought is so people like her, stevec, & other who disagree, had a right to express that disagreement. We don’t have to like what they say or agree with it, but they have a right to say it. You on the other hand have a right to disagree with what they are saying and also express yourself. I have expressed myself physically with a flag burner. I spent the night in jail, but thankfully I was not sued over a few broken bones as my name was lost by a police officer who felt as I did. I probably didn’t express my feelings correctly, but at the time, it was the only way I knew. (yes, I would probably do it again as we both have a right to express ourselves!) (i know, that makes me a hypocrite!)

If we start banning all those on this forum whom we disagree with, the last person here better turn out the lights. Do we also start burning books again? How about checking to see if they are witches by putting them in hot water and if they scream, they die?
I also agree with kolanuraven. Blanket hatred solves nothing.

I commend those who back this countries fighting men and women. You know that freedom isn’t free! My wife never misses an opportunity to donate blood. She has been doing it since I returned from Viet Nam. That is an excellent way of supporting your troops.
But, lets not go back into the dark ages with the witch hunts, banning, burning, etc. Too many good men and women gave their lives to make this country so great. To throw that away, would make it all for nothing!
 
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