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.
Staff Sergeant Jonathon L. Porter, United States Army, heroically distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous conduct in the face of the enemy during an indirect fire attack while serving as the Weapons Sergeant for Operational Detachment-Alpha 1326, Special Operations Task Force-West, Nahr E Saraj District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan,
Read MoreMichael Perron enlisted into the U.S. Army in 2002 and served for more than four years as a member of the 10th Mountain Division and the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Division. While serving in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, SGT Perron received shrapnel wounds when a suicide bomber struck his platoon.
Read MoreJames Battles enlisted the Army National Guard in 1991, serving for the next 23 years as a member of the 45th Infantry Division, including a deployment to Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2011-12.
Read MoreLuis Martinez enlisted into the U.S. Air Force in November 1996, serving for nearly 16 years as a member of the 820th Red Horse Squadron and the 99th Civil Engineering Squadron, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In February 2009, while deployed to Tikrit, Iraq, Martinez was wounded when the vehicle he was traveling in struck an IED.
Read MoreEd O’Neal first joined the U.S. Army in November 1977, serving in the Army until November 1980. He was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force in July 1986, serving for the next two decades until May 2007, serving with the U.S. Central Command, including time in Saudi Arabia during Operation Enduring Freedom.
Read MoreVanessa (Brown) Schieber enlisted in the Army in April 2007 and served for the next 11 years a member of the 101st Airborne Division and later the 1st Armor Division.
Read MoreJosephine Keller enlisted into the U.S. Air Force in September 1991 and served for more than 26 years, including participation in Operations Southern Watch, Joint Guard, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Noble Eagle, and New Dawn.
Read MoreIn Afghanistan, in 2013, then-Capt. Taylor Walsh was exercising alone on the inside perimeter road of his coalition base, just before sunrise, when he found an insurgent trying to sneak through a gate.
Read MoreIn 2010 he served as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. It was during that deployment, while in Logar Province with the 1-91 Cavalry, 173rd Combat Airborne Brigade, when SSG Livingston’s platoon came under enemy mortar fire.
Read MoreTroy Green enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in May 1989 and served for 27 years, 15 of those years on active duty.
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 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 MoreJustin Burdette joined the Army in March 2006. He had three combat deployments - the first to Iraq and the other two to Afghanistan. Three months into his third deployment, on June 9, 2013, Justin and his platoon were on a dismounted patrol in Wardak province when they received incoming fire. Justin was hit with a 107 mm rocket.
Read MoreJeff W. McIntire served as an infantryman in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2000 to 2012.
Read MoreU.S. Army SSG Andrew Bennett did four tours of duty in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2016.
Read MorePurple Heart Patriot Project Mission #1's representative from Minnesota, Matthew Birr said service, to him, meant having a "sense of pride in himself." Birr was awarded the Purple Heart following injuries suffered in Afghanistan in August 2009.
Read MoreIt was an old, dusty antique store, located at the intersection between the Valley of Ashes and the Garden of Eden. Despite its outward appearance, this forlorn shop held a magnificent valuable. This treasure took the shape of a tarnished and forgotten, yet unadulterated medal, and would lead to the discovery of Captain Zachariah Fike’s true
Read MoreAmanda Martino was born on June 7, 1984 in Lindenhurst, on Long Island. She was born into an Italian family, “very loud and very loving.” Her dad had dropped out of high school to enlist in the military, and served in Vietnam before becoming the head of maintenance for a large company. As the youngest of three siblings,
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