As much of the 101st Airborne Division has now returned to Fort Campbell, officers are handing out medals for bravery. Thursday a Silver Star was granted posthumously to a young combat medic named Jordan Byrd.
The citation describes Byrd essentially giving his life to save another. Under a hail of AK-47 fire and rocket propelled grenades, Byrd crossed 30 meters of open ground to reach a critically wounded soldier. He applied a tourniquet and likely saved that soldier’s life becoming a human shield. Byrd was then fatally wounded himself while the other soldier survived.
Fort Campbell spokesman Rick Rzepka says earning a Silver Star is no small feat.
“This is an award that they have earned in blood, and the things they did for their comrades to earn this were superhuman, almost.”
Thursday, the Silver Star was handed to Byrd’s wife as she held their 11-month-old child.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM