Message from the President
A White House ceremony in December helps to remind us of how blessed we are as Americans. In that ceremony, three U.S. service members were awarded our nation’s highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor. I’ve written about the case of SFC Alwyn Cashe. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, and we are very happy for his family.
Alwyn Cashe has an extraordinary story of heroism in which he saved seven individuals from a burning vehicle in Iraq in 2005. Cashe’s uniform was soaked in fuel, and he was on fire, yet he repeatedly returned to the vehicle to pull others from the flames.
His citation reads in part: ”Without regard for his personal safety, Sergeant First Class Cashe rushed to the back of the vehicle, reaching into the hot flames and started pulling out his soldiers. The flames gripped his fuel-soaked uniform.
Flames quickly spread all over his body.
Despite the terrible pain, Sergeant First Class Cashe placed the injured soldier on the ground and returned to the burning vehicle to retrieve another burning soldier; all the while he was still on fire.
Three weeks after the incident, on November 8, 2005, Alwyn Cashe succumbed to his injuries.
His decoration is a long time coming, but Freedom Alliance is happy for his family and pleased to see this man officially recognized as an American Hero.
Tom Kilgannon
President, Freedom Alliance