America's North Shore Journal

Meanwhile, Gunnery Sgt. John S. Mosser and Maj. Dan Strelkauskas, then a captain and team leader, were dealing with mounting injuries and relentless fire on the ground near the cave system. Mosser was awarded the Navy Cross and Strelkauskas received a Silver Star Medal for their actions that day. Over the radio, Mosser, ordered no one else enter the draw.

“He was basically saying over the radio, ‘nobody else comes in. If anybody else comes in you’re going to die,’” Torrisi said. Then a bullet ripped through the only other corpsman on the ground, piercing his lungs and other vital organs.

As the two medics continued to work on Clifton, Wanner began to realize the extent of his patient’s wounds. Wanner knew they couldn’t move Clifton unless they had a stretcher, so he ran to the vehicle to retrieve one. As the medic returned, the group began receiving fire from a window about 15 feet away, forcing them to press up against the wall of the building.

As he continued to work on Clifton, Wanner coordinated suppressing fire on the window and told Scheaffer to grab a fragmentation grenade.

Wanner kept on the back of his body armor and tossed the grenade into the room from which they were taking fire. The tactic worked. It subdued the enemy long enough to allow the medics to race Clifton to a vehicle for evacuation.

Mr Key said it was unlikely Corporal Apiata would come back to New Zealand earlier than expected. “I am sure he is not in any more danger than anybody else,” Mr Key said.

“He is a very brave New Zealand soldier and he wants to be on deployment,” Mr Key told a hastily-called press conference as he confirmed Corporal Apiata’s presence in the photograph.

But Mr Key said he was very disappointed the image had been published unblurred. The New Zealand Herald and its website, along with Fairfax owned sites Stuff.co.nz and dompost.co.nz have all published the photo.

“This is for the safety and lives of New Zealand’s elite soldiers we are talking about,” Mr Key said.

He would not take any action against the media who published the images, saying editors “have to live and die by their own actions.”

“It puts at risk the lives of those individual soldiers because they can be recognised,” he said.

When the fighting was over, the team was able to confirm 65 enemy kills.

Siriwardene doesn’t believe he did anything to deserve recognition over his teammates.

“The way the guys in the detachment performed – it was amazing,” he said. “This is what we do.”

The sky was clear. The air had a bite to it, but for Afghanistan it was a beautiful day, said Clarke.

It was Feb. 20. Clarke was the driver of one of four vehicles conducting a joint operations patrol with members of the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police and Czech Special Operation Forces in Khordi, a village in Southern Afghanistan.

Hundreds of maroon-bereted Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team gathered Nov. 30 to honor Staff Sgt. Matthew Matlock, a noncommissioned officer from Company C, 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment for actions he took under fire to save Soldiers in Afghanistan.

Paratroopers stood at attention at Caserma Ederle’s post theater as Maj. Gen. William B. [...]

Then-SSgt. Mosser’s patrol came under heavy fire while conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol under the cover of darkness to apprehend a high value target and an enemy security element. The terrain was restrictive and mountainous with large boulders and rugged terrain along the route.

The team came upon a white sport utility vehicle off to the side of the road and a red pick up truck blocking the path. Mosser’s team dismounted from their ground mobility vehicles, and immediately came under heavy machine gun fire from elevated positions cutting off forward and rear movement.

Here are the stories of ten men who inspired us in 2009.

“You can’t ask for a higher caliber Marine,” said Lt. Col. Ted A. Adams, commanding officer of 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistic Group, III MEF, during the award ceremony.