Ten Silver Stars for the Heroes of Afghanistan

Ten Silver Stars for the heroes of Afghanistan

Soldiers rewarded by Bush all belong to the same unit of U.S. Special Forces, the man force of an epic battle against the Taliban in April/

“Ours is simply the story of a group of American soldiers who fought alongside their allies in Afghanistan and that did not want to surrender. The rewards that arrived after are not so important to me.”

Captain Kyle Walton, leader of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd American Special Forces Group, thinks he has simply done his duty, when, in April this year, for six hours he held up the Taliban, together with his companions, closed in a secluded valley where the U.S. army had never entered before.

But President Bush wanted to honor Walton and his men: today in Washington ten “heroes of Afghanistan” received the Silver Stars, the fourth highest honor that can be awarded to an American soldier and the third highest granted for courage demonstrated in front of the enemy.

In the clash, Walton’s unit had to confront at least 200 militants: a rain of fire coming from every side of the valley, the captain recalled, from guns, grenade launcher, machine gun. “It was surely a coordinated attack, prepared over time”, recounted Walton, while Sergeant Luis Morales recalled the crippling sensation of finding himself without shelter: “We were practically open, without even a tree to hide behind”.

In such a situation, the death toll could have been heavy: instead, all the soldiers survived, even if Morales is forced to walk with a stick and his partner, Sergeant John Walding, lost a leg. But all remember the young Afghan CK, an interpreter, killed in the first minutes of battle, he was only 23 years old, orphaned and dreaming of leaving Afghanistan, when the war would end, and go to the United States. The young soldiers, like him, talked a lot to him about their homeland. In a way C.K. was also part of the heroic undertaking of the Special Forces, recalled Sergeant Seth Howard who made a shield of dead boy’s body, and so could save himself from the enemy, and then it was his turn to shoot, killing 20 members of the Taliban.

For the boys of Walton, the mission has served to demonstrate that there are no truly safe hiding places for terrorists. As for the medals, they have value only as a recognition of brotherhood and mutual aid, not heroism: “When you’re helping your fellow, do not ever think: Oh, give me a Silver Star for this,” assures sergeant Walding, ” When you’re there, (reward or recognition) is of second order in what you do. “