Military Officer - March 2009 - (Page 99) pagesofhistory Heroism Honored A group of Green Berets were awarded the Silver Star in December 2008 for beating overwhelming odds in a battle against insurgents in the Afghan mountains. T en Green Berets from the Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 of the 3rd Special Forces Group have earned the Silver Star for their heroism in a battle in the mountains of Afghanistan. On April 6, 2008, the 12-person Green Beret team jumped out of helicopters onto the icy mountainside at 10,000 feet to reach an insurgent stronghold in a remote village in northeast Afghanistan. But the team, along with a few dozen Afghan commandos, immediately began taking fire on all sides from the insurgents, who were armed with machine guns, sniper rifles, and rocketpropelled grenades. The Green Berets were outnumbered and half of them were wounded, four critically. Yet during the seven-hour battle they managed to subdue an estimated 150 to 200 insurgents. While Air Force jets dropped munitions on enemy positions dangerously close to the Green Berets, the team made its way down the mountain to reach a medical evacuation helicopter. On Dec. 12, 2008, the 10 men were awarded the Silver Star at Fort Bragg, N.C. Only about 200 U.S. servicemembers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have received THIS MONTH IN HISTORY I On March 9, 1862, the first battle of the the Silver Star, the thirdhighest combat award. F The Boats That Won the War or ocean-going vessels, they were small — just 36 feet long and about 11 feet wide. But what they lacked in size they made up for in numbers. During World War II, some 20,000 LCVPs (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel) were built and became so instrumental in the war’s amphibious battles that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called them the key to victory. Today just six to eight of the ungainly little craft — sometimes called Higgins boats after their designer — survive in the U.S., with about four more in Europe. Recently, the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort obtained one of the boats from the First Division Museum in Wheaton, Ill., which received the LCVP from a collector. It currently is being restored and will be shipped back to Illinois, where it will go on permanent display in 2010. The boat’s frames and planks are mahogany, which makes it unusual because most were made of plywood. Its armor plating had been removed, but amazingly, museum officials found another Higgins boat in a marsh just four miles from the museum, armor intact. MO — Mark Cantrell MARCH 2009 A group of Green Berets conduct a reconnaissance mission in the Shok Valley of Afghanistan where they later fought in a battle with terrorists. ironclads took place. The two warships, the Monitor and the Merrimac, fought in the harbor near Hampton Roads, Va., for four hours, signaling a new era in naval history. PHOTO: SGT. DAVID N. GUNN, USA MILITARY OFFICER 99
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