Green Beret Receives Medal of Honor

Take yourself back to April 6, 2008. What were you doing? Was it memorable? Now, was it Medal of Honor worthy?Well, for Master Sgt. Matthew O. Williams, it most certainly was. He and his team, along with some Afghan Commandos, received a mission to capture or kill a High Value Target in the province of Nuristan, Afghanistan- which was actually once known as 'the land of infidels.' From the beginning, they encountered troubles because their Chinooks could not land on the steep mountainside.They had to drop over 10 feet into a river and make their way up the mountain to get to the compound where their target was. And what kind of war story would this be if they didn't immediately encounter enemy fire? Sniper fire, grenade launchers and machine gun fire erupted all around, pinning down a few of the Afghan commandos and injuring a couple of the Green Berets.Williams did not let any of that stop him as he took a group of the commandos, and while under heavy fire with no real cover, went and rescued his buddies. He had the commandos set up a fire position so he could render aid and get them back down to safety, while simultaneously returning fire and killing at least two enemy who were attempting to attack the rescue site.And what does any good hero do? They go back for more until what needs to be done, gets done. And that is exactly what he did. He managed to rescue at 4 critically injured team members and several others while also returning fire during a six-seven hour fire fight.He originally received a Silver Star for his efforts that day, and another team member received a Medal of Honor and one other received the Air Force Cross. It was recently decided that Williams' actions also warranted a Medal of Honor and he will be awarded this prestigious award on Oct. 30.A story like Williams' once again shows the lethality and grit of the American fighting spirit.