These Stories of Valor are part of an ongoing oral history program of the Honor Project to ensure the experiences of our combat wounded and those who gave their all in the service of America are remembered for generations to come.
Oliver Hickok first enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in June of 1956 at the age of 17, eventually being stationed in Japan and then Hawaii, before finishing his time in Alabama. In December 1960, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and attended boot camp at Paris Island.
Read MoreRobert Olzweski entered the military in April 1967 and was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 64th Armored Infantry Division in Germany.
Read MoreMichael Gawel enlisted into the Army in December 2005 and served seven years, including a tour in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom with the 810th Engineering Company. While doing route clearance escorting Polish forces, Gawel’s patrol had already found and disposed of several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) when it struck an IED along the road.
Read MoreAlbert Walsh was commissioned into the U.S. Army in May 2003 and served for nearly eight years, including three tours in Iraq between 2005 and 2010. During his first tour while based out of Camp Taji, near Baghdad, Walsh was on a patrol when the lead High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle “Humvee” was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED).
Read MoreDuring the Second Tet Offensive, on the first of June 1968, Byers was working with the Battalion Surgeon when they received a call that one of the companies had been ambushed and was engaged in heavy fighting. The company needed extra medical support and Byers volunteered to go and begin administering medical support. Byers was tending to his third soldier when he was hit by small arms fire from the NVA. Byers continued administering aid to fellow soldiers over the course of the next four hours, before being evacuated himself that evening.
Read MoreLeonard Crosby was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1964, serving until 1970. During the Vietnam War, Crosby served two tours of duty, the first as a Platoon Leader with the 4th Infantry Division and the second as a Company Commander with the 101st Airborne Division. His service included action during Operation MacArthur, the Tet Offensive, Operation Nevada Eagle, and more.
Read MoreJack Hanson joined the U.S. Navy Reserves in 1965, during his senior year of high school. After graduating in 1966, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served on active duty for six years. Deployed to Vietnam in November 1967, then-PFC Hanson was awarded the Purple Heart as a results of fragment wounds he suffered from exploding shrapnel and mortar shells during a clash on January 8, 1968, near Thau Thien, South Vietnam.
Read MoreA twenty-year veteran of the U.S. Army, former CSM Edward Evans enlisted in September 1948. His career took him across the country and around the world.
Read MoreMitchell Reed was drafted into the U.S. Army on September 19, 1967. A member of the 25th Infantry Division, on January 1, 1969 while in the area of Dầu Tiếng, Vietnam, Reed was driving the lead armored personnel carrier (APC) escorting a supply convoy.
Read MoreIn June 1970, then-First Lieutenant Buswell was leading a reconnaissance patrol when enemy forces initiated an ambush with a claymore and small arms fire. Buswell and another soldier were wounded.
Read MoreLawrence Rupp served two tours in Vietnam, first between 1968 and 1969 and then again between 1970 and 1971.
In January 1969 then First Lieutenant Rupp received shrapnel wounds during attacks just two days apart.
In May of the same year, Lieutenant Rupp suffered a gunshot wound while pursuing a Vietcong carrier.
Read MoreDuring the later half of his service career, Abbey was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II and III. On February 21, 2005, Abbey was wounded by shrapnel from an IED on Main Supply Route (MSR) Tampa just outside Samarra, Iraq. At the time, he was in command of a tactical movement team escorting a team of engineers to assess damage done by a previous IED on the MSR, when Abbey team was ambushed.
Read MoreAlbert Lirette was drafted into the U.S. Army in July 1967. During his service, Lirette was stationed on a Navy ship that conducted search-and-destroy operations over the course of two years and he was awarded four Purple Hearts.
Read MoreIn July 2012, while deployed to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, Blair was returning from a patrol in Zabul Province when the vehicle where he was the gunner was hit by an improvised explosive device (IED). As the vehicle rolled to the side of the road, insurgents started firing at the Americans, the blasts knocked Blair out and he woke up at the FOB and was airlifted for treatment to Kandahar.
Read MoreOn April 16, 2005, SP4 Horn (Lee) sustained a mortar injury while serving in Iraq. The blast left her with multiple shrapnel injuries, including to her eye, arm, leg, chest and neck.
Read MoreAlong with his Purple Heart, Matthews was awarded numerous medals and commendations during his service, including the Air Assault Badge, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, as well as the Southeast Asia Service Medal.
Read MoreDavid Hugus entered the military in February 1966 and was first assigned to Germany. He joined the 101st Airborne in Vietnam on January 28, 1968, two days before the Tet Offensive started. During his first deployment to Vietnam, Hugus was stationed at a fire base in the vicinity of Phouc Binh.
Read MoreThomas Tanaka was drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1950 and was assigned to the 24th Division, 19th Regiment.
Read MoreIn January of 2004, then-PFC Johnson’s unit’s missions were largely comprised of security runs, accompanying officers during their travels. On one such mission near Mosul, Johnson was serving as a rear gunner when her Humvee encountered an IED (improvised explosive device). She had been struck in the side of the neck with shrapnel, leaving a gaping, fist-sized wound which just missed a major artery – she was only 19 years old at the time.
Read MoreOn September 6, 1969, SPC Edward Gerasimowicz had finished patrolling with his dog and was in camp when the warning sirens sounded and “Rockets in the air” blared out.
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