Marine Scout Sniper Sgt. Joshua Moore will receive the Navy Cross later this week.

The Navy Cross is in recognition of heroism, and second to the Medal of Honor which is for combat valor.

Sgt. Joshua Moore will be receiving his Navy Cross during a ceremony on Nov. 1 at Camp Lejeune, NC.

So, what’s the story on Sgt. Joshua Moore?

According to Marine Corps Times:

According to his Navy Cross citation, Moore was a lance corporal when his scout sniper element came under fire while occupying a compound north of Marjah. Two Marines were quickly wounded, and an insurgent tossed two grenades over a wall into the structure.

“Without hesitation, Lance Corporal Moore threw the closest grenade out of the compound before it exploded,” his citation says. “Realizing seconds later that the second grenade was not going to explode he charged out of the compound to aid the wounded. Though instantly taken under fire by an enemy force one hundred meters away, Lance Corporal Moore audaciously stood his ground, returning fire with his M4 rifle and M203 grenade launcher.”

Moore’s effort forced the insurgents to abandon their position, buying his team time to regroup and aid the wounded Marines, the citation says. He then assisted in scouting and securing a landing zone for a medical evacuation.

Moore told the Courier-Tribune of Asheboro, N.C., that he recalls being hit in the back with something, and then turned and saw a fellow Marine staring at a pair of hand grenades at his feet. He threw the first one out the window before it exploded, and saw that the second one had corrosion around its top.

“It’s like my brain was kind of processing everything at hyperspeed,” he told the newspaper. “It really was just a divine moment — something giving me the sense that, hey, this is not a threat to you. I knew I was in the frag radius so I just dropped it and I took cover from the first grenade.”

Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun, while assigned to Headquarters Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism, patriotism, and selfless service between Nov. 1-2, 1950. During the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun was serving with the 3rd Battalion of the 8th Cavalry Regiment. As Chinese Communist forces encircled the battalion, Kapaun moved fearlessly from foxhole to foxhole under direct enemy fire in order to provide comfort and reassurance to the outnumbered Soldiers. He repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to recover wounded men, dragging them to safety. When he couldn’t drag them, he dug shallow trenches to shield them from enemy fire. As Chinese forces closed in, Kapaun rejected several chances to escape, instead volunteering to stay behind and care for the wounded. He was taken as a prisoner of war by Chinese forces on Nov. 2, 1950.

After he was captured, Kapaun and other prisoners were marched for several days northward toward prisoner-of-war camps. During the march Kapaun led by example in caring for injured Soldiers, refusing to take a break from carrying the stretchers of the wounded while encouraging others to do their part.

Once inside the dismal prison camps, Kapaun risked his life by sneaking around the camp after dark, foraging for food, caring for the sick, and encouraging his fellow Soldiers to sustain their faith and their humanity. On at least one occasion, he was brutally punished for his disobedience, being forced to sit outside in subzero weather without any garments. When the Chinese instituted a mandatory re-education program, Kapaun patiently and politely rejected every theory put forth by the instructors. Later, Kapaun openly flouted his captors by conducting a sunrise service on Easter morning, 1951.

When Kapaun began to suffer from the physical toll of his captivity, the Chinese transferred him to a filthy, unheated hospital where he died alone. As he was being carried to the hospital, he asked God’s forgiveness for his captors, and made his fellow prisoners promise to keep their faith. Chaplain Kapaun died in captivity on May 23, 1951.

Chaplain Emil J. Kapaun repeatedly risked his own life to save the lives of hundreds of fellow Americans. His extraordinary courage, faith and leadership inspired thousands of prisoners to survive hellish conditions, resist enemy indoctrination, and retain their faith in God and country. His actions reflect the utmost credit upon him, the 1st Cavalry Division, and the United States Army.

via The United States Army

Editors Note: TSV is involved with supporting the cure for breast cancer, and has done so for many years. Having lost my mother to this horrible disease, and been alongside some close friends while enduring breast cancer, this story hits very close to home.

In the current issue of Airman Magazine, combat photographer Master Sgt. Keri Whitehead turns the camera lens around and tells her struggle with breast cancer.

Click here to download PDF

Keri’s War

by Randy Roughton

3/1/2011 – Airman Magazine March/April 2011 — Master Sgt. Keri Whitehead’s daughter doesn’t understand cancer. The 4-year-old doesn’t yet grasp the battle her mom is facing. Kassidy has one question that bothers her:

“Mommy, what happened to your hair?”

Sergeant Whitehead tells her daughter she’s sick, but eventually will get better, and her hair will grow back. She even showed Kassidy her scars, but wanted something enduring to show her little girl when she’s old enough to understand, something hopeful like one of the lighthouses that decorate the living room in Sergeant Whitehead’s Charleston, S.C., home, and ironically, the walls of her chemotherapy office. The sergeant wanted it to be something that could be a beacon for her daughter if she encounters a storm like the one her mother’s facing now.

The combat photographer and 14-year Air Force veteran found the answer in “Keri’s War,” a series of images and interviews that document her cancer fight from diagnosis through reconstructive surgery. Master Sgt. J.T. Lock, a fellow combat photographer and four-time Department of Defense Military Photographer of the Year, asked her if he could document her story after she asked him to take family photos of her and Kassidy. While aware the project would require some sensitive photos, the decision wasn’t difficult for Sergeant Whitehead, who is the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the 1st Combat Camera Squadron’s combat photography training element at Joint Base Charleston, S.C.

“It was an easy decision because not only would we be able to get the word out there, but it would be a documentation, something I could show Kassidy when she’s older, that she could actually be able to relate to because she’s not going to remember,” Sergeant Whitehead said. “She’ll remember that I didn’t have any hair, but she’s not going to remember any of the details, and this is a way I can give that back to her.

Continue reading . . .

The last American World War I veteran, Frank Buckles, has passed away at the age of 110. May he rest in peace.

America’s last World War I veteran dies

Frank Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. He was 110.

Buckles, who also survived being a civilian POW in the Philippines in World War II, died peacefully of natural causes early Sunday at his home in Charles Town, biographer and family spokesman David DeJonge said in a statement. Buckles turned 110 on Feb. 1 and had been advocating for a national memorial honoring veterans of World War I in Washington, D.C.

Buckles lied about his age to join the army at age 16.The Missouri native was among nearly 5 million Americans who served in World War I in 1917 and 1918.

“I knew there’d be only one (survivor) someday. I didn’t think it would be me,” he was quoted as saying in recent years.

Buckles drove an ambulance during the war. The Washington Post said that with Buckles’ death, only a 109-year-old Australian man and a 110-year-old British woman were believed to survive from the estimated 65 million people who served in the 1914-1918 war.     Continue reading . . .