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2019-03-27 -Land of the Free

Medal of Honor for Travis Atkins, a great soldier and father

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Posted by Skidmark 2019-03-27 08:58|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 RIP

On June 1, 2007, Staff Sgt. Atkins was conducting route security in the town of Abu Sarnak. He and his soldiers stopped a pair of suspected insurgents and Atkins was soon engaged in hand-to-hand combat with one who was reaching for his explosive vest.

“Atkins then grabbed the suicide bomber from behind with a bear hug and slammed him onto the ground, away from his soldiers,” according to the Army News Service. “As he pinned the insurgent to the ground, the bomb detonated.

“Atkins was mortally wounded in the blast. With complete disregard for his own safety, he had used his body as a shield to protect his three fellow soldiers from injury. They were only feet away.”

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor, and has only been awarded to 3,504 men and one woman since it was created during the Civil War. More than half since World War II have been awarded posthumously because the recipient made the ultimate sacrifice while acting to save others. The Iraq War is the only conflict in which none of its Medal of Honor recipients – Atkins is the fifth -- survived the act of valor for which they were honored.

Amen

Posted by Woodrow 2019-03-27 14:28|| 2019-03-27 14:28|| Front Page Top

#2 They said we were soft, that we would not fight, that we could not win. We are not a warlike nation. We do not go to war for gain or for territory; we go to war for principles, and we produce young men like these. I think I told every one of them that I would rather have that medal, the Congressional Medal of Honor, than to be President of the United States.
-Harry S Truman

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-03-27 14:35|| 2019-03-27 14:35|| Front Page Top

#3 Where do we find such men?

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-03-27 17:37|| 2019-03-27 17:37|| Front Page Top

#4 I watched the ceremony on FoxNews. Damn dust in here....

Posted by Frank G 2019-03-27 19:14|| 2019-03-27 19:14|| Front Page Top

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