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Old 02-17-2005, 07:08 AM
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Default Army to award Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor to be awarded for airport battle

01:56 AM EST on Wednesday, February 2, 2005

BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer

The widow of a soldier killed during the invasion of Iraq said she was told yesterday that her late husband will receive the military's highest award for valor.

Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith, who was killed fending off an Iraqi counterattack in the battle for Baghdad Airport, would join an elite group who have received the Medal of Honor. He would be the first soldier from the Iraq war to receive it.

"I am so overwhelmed," Smith's widow, Birgit Smith, said in an interview last night.

Birgit Smith, of Holiday, Fla., said she was contacted by her husband's former commander, Lt. Col. Tom Smith, yesterday afternoon and told that the medal nomination had been approved.

The Army said yesterday that no formal announcement has been made.

"There has been no announcement by the White House of any Medal of Honor recipient from Operation Iraqi Freedom," said Paul Boyce, an Army public-affairs official.

Boyce added, "The Army's policy is not to speculate on potential individuals who might be worthy of the ultimate award for valor in serving our nation."

Paul Smith, 33, was killed on April 4, 2003, after defending his vastly outnumbered outfit from a fierce attack at the Baghdad Airport.

A father of two, Smith killed dozens of Iraqi soldiers, preventing them from overrunning the position of U.S. forces at the edge of Baghdad Airport, witnesses said.

Smith's actions were first reported by a Providence Journal reporter who was at Baghdad Airport during the battle.

The last conflict to produce a medal winner was the 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, depicted in the movie Black Hawk Down, according to the Medal of Honor Society, based in Mount Pleasant, S.C.

The medals were awarded posthumously to two special forces soldiers killed in Mogadishu. The Medal of Honor was created by Congress during the Civil War.

After nearly two years of waiting, Birgit Smith said she was shocked when Col. Smith called to tell her the medal nomination had been approved, after an extensive review process.

Related Journal story

05.29.2005: Uncommon valor bound up in red tape

Mrs. Smith said she was told she could "get the word out" about the medal. She started contacting friends and family. She said Smith's former company commander called to congratulate her. Mrs. Smith said that her family would be presented the medal at a ceremony in Washington next month.

Sgt. Smith's sister, Lisa DeVane, said yesterday that she was "overwhelmingly proud."

"Knowing Paul, he was so humble," said DeVane, who lives outside of Atlanta. "They will recognize him as a hero, but he would have said "it was my job.' "

"Nothing will ever replace him," DeVane said. "It's just nice that he's being recognized for this."

DeVane said she e-mailed a soldier who served under Smith's command to tell him the news yesterday. The soldier, like many in Smith's unit -- the 3rd Infantry Division -- has returned to Iraq for another tour.
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Old 02-17-2005, 07:09 AM
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Some details on the events surrounding SFC Smith's nomination:

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, SFC (Sergeant First Class) Smith was a platoon sergeant/acting platoon leader in the 1st Brigade's B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion attached to the 2-7 Task Force. Bravo Company was in contact with Saddam's forces nearly every day during the second phase of the campaign. After a pause below As Samawah and Karbala, the drive on Baghdad from the south carried the 2-7th into Saddam International Airport.

On the morning of April 4, the Task Force was inside of the airport and several enemy soldiers had been captured, so a containment pen had be to quickly built. There was a wall 10 ft tall paralleling the north side of the highway, on the battalion's flank just behind the front lines. Smith (whose callsign was 'Sapper 7') decided to punch a hole in it, so that the inside walls would form two sides of a triangular enclosure and the open third side could be closed off with rolls of concertina wire.

Smith used an armored combat earthmover to punch through the wall and, while wire was being laid across the corner, one of the squad's two M113s moved toward a gate on the far side of the courtyard. The driver pushed open the gate to open a field of fire, revealing between 50 and 100 enemy soldiers massed to attack. The only way out was the hole the engineers had put in the wall and the gate where the hardcore Iraqis were firing.

What happened next was equal to Audie Murphy's legendary World War II heroism. Iraqi soldiers perched in trees and a nearby tower let loose with a barrage of RPGs and there were snipers on the roof. A mortar round hit the engineers' M-113, seriously wounding three soldiers inside. Smith helped evacuate them to an aid station, which was threatened by the attack as well.

Smith promptly organized the engineers' defense, since the only thing that stood between the Iraqis and the Task Force's headquarters were about 15 to 20 engineers, mortarmen and medics. A second M113 was hit by an RPG, but was still operational. Dozens of Iraqi soldiers were charging from the gate or scaling a section of the wall, jumping into the courtyard.

Smith took over the second APC's .50-caliber machine gun and got the vehicle into a position where he could stop the Iraqis. First Sergeant Tim Campbell realized that they had to knock out the Iraqi position in the tower and after consulting with Smith, led two soldiers to take the tower. Armed only with a light machine-gun, a rifle and a pistol with one magazine, the trio advanced behind the smoke of tall grass that had caught fire from exploding ammunition.

Smith yelled for more ammunition three times during the fight, going through 400 rounds before he was hit in the head. Shortly before taking the tower and gunning down the Iraqis inside, Campbell noticed that the sound of Smith's .50-caliber had also stopped. Campbell figured Smith was just reloading again.

The medics worked on SFC Smith for 30 minutes, but he was dead.

According to the citation, his actions killed 20 to 50 Iraqis, allowing the American wounded to be evacuated, saving the aid station and headquarters (as well as possibly 100 American lives). Fellow soldiers credit Smith with thwarting the advance of well-trained, well-equipped soldiers from the Special Republican Guard, which was headed straight for the 2-7 Task Force's headquarters (Tactical Operations Center), less than a half-mile away. The battle captains, commanders and journalists huddled at the operations center were trying to protect themselves against tank fire and snipers in the nearby woods They had no idea about the possible onslaught of Republican Guard from the nearby complex.

Smith, a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, was a 33 year old from Tampa, Florida. He left behind a wife, a son and a daughter.
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Old 02-17-2005, 07:10 AM
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http://www.sptimes.com/2004/webspeci.../default.shtml

Link to more of the story.
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Old 02-17-2005, 08:37 AM
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I have read stories about this man. It seems he deserves it....allot.
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Old 02-17-2005, 01:27 PM
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This NCO deserves the CMH he definetly was one tough fighting solider.
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Old 02-17-2005, 07:06 PM
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Agreed 100%
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