As his convoy was crossing a large piece of Iraqi desert, Moreira thought he saw some sand flying. He could have easily dismissed it as wind, or any number of natural phenomena. It could have been simply a trick of the eye. Moreira didn’t take any chances. When he had the gunner of his HumVee train the camera in that direction, it revealed shell casings striking the sand around the convoy. While the rest of the convoy drove to safety, Moreira kept the HumVee parked. They continued fire on the sniper to keep him under cover, only to let up when everyone was safe.

“That was actually crazy of me to do, but that’s what we’re trained to do,” Moreira said with a laugh.

In addition to his loyal actions as a convoy commander, this heroic action earned Moreira the Bronze Star. He has been in and out of Iraq since 2003, and is expected to be redeployed in 2010. Best wishes for this brave soldier, and may he continue to listen to that intuition of his.

Read the rest of the article commending Kevin Moreira.

It was a miserable existence all winter long some six decades ago as Morris N. Bishop was among the Allied forces fighting the Germans, hunkering in a freezing foxhole in the mountains of Italy.

Then, when the Army sergeant returned home from World War II in full uniform, he couldn’t even buy a hot dog in Washington.

It was 1946, the U.S. was still widely segregated, and Bishop is black.

A member of the only all-black infantry division in Europe, the 92nd, or “Buffalo” division, Bishop at 21 was deployed to the front lines, where he sprayed machine gun fire toward entrenched enemy lines in August 1944. There he stayed until the following May, when the war ended in Europe.

On Monday, his 86th birthday, Bishop finally got the recognition that was coming to him for his service when city and state officials and the Army honored him as he was presented the Army’s Bronze Star medal, reserved for those who show bravery in combat. Read on…

Morris Bishop didn’t originally think that receiving this medal was necessary, but later changed his mind and accepted it in honor of his fellow soldiers.

“It gets me sentimental, when I think about the buddies that I lost,” he said after the ceremony, noting that most of his comrades were either wounded or killed in the war. “Some of them were very good friends.”

Bishop certainly earned his Bronze Star. Personally I think that he not only was amazingly brave facing the German forces in Italy, but coming home and having to face the racism directed towards him. All of our returning soldiers deserved respect and freedom to enjoy what they could of their lives after having lived in such hellish conditions in war torn Europe.

A 1943 graduate of Toppenish High School, he (Eberhart) served as a first scout in I Company of the 242nd Infantry Regiment of the famed 42nd Rainbow Division, landing in Marseilles in December 1944 and fighting his way through France and Germany along the Maginot and Siegfried lines.

“I always went first,” he says. “It was the loneliest job in the world.”

Some of the units he served with suffered casualties of 80 percent or more. And while there were many close calls, he was never wounded.

“Everybody else was picked off around me,” he says. “You wonder about survival. I just chalk it up to luck. That’s all it is: bad luck or good luck.”

Toting a 9-pound M1 Garand rifle, Eberhart conducted patrols behind enemy lines, dug foxholes, and dodged shrapnel, explosions and artillery fire.

Dee Eberhart certainly was a hero and his actions in WWII commendable. The medals awarded to him are:

* Bronze Star

* Combat Infantryman Badge First Award

* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

* Good Conduct Medal

* American Campaign Medal

* World War II Victory Medal

* Honorable Service Lapel Button

* Expert Badge with carbine and rifle bars

“I didn’t have to think. I just reacted,” said Cooper yesterday. “In training it was always my car that was hit, so I knew exactly what to do, how to react.”

Michael Brown certainly thinks Cooper is a hero, and I would have to say when Cooper was awarded the Bronze Star (complete with a V device for valor) he completely deserved it.

On Oct. 16, 2007, Cooper and his squad were leaving the Al Rashidayah Local Police Station in Mosul when an antiarmor hand grenade exploded in their truck, according to the Army. The driver tried to push through but only traveled 15 to 20 feet before the vehicle caught fire and filled with smoke.

Cooper evacuated his squad, and heard Pfc. Michael Brown yell that he couldn’t feel his foot, the Army said. Cooper ran back into the burning truck and pulled Brown out, away from the blaze. He applied a tourniquet to Brown’s leg and helped his squad get to safety. Read on…