President Trump will award the Medal of Honor to three U.S. Army soldiers, two posthumously, who fought in three different wars decades apart, the White House announced Thursday.
Mr. Trump will present the award to Army Command Sgt. Terry P. Richardson, retired, who served in the Afghanistan War. The president will also posthumously award the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Master Sgt. Roderick W. Edmonds, a World War II veteran, and U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis, who was killed in action during the war in Afghanistan.
The three will be honored at a White House ceremony on Monday.
The Medal of Honor is the military’s highest honor and is awarded to service members who demonstrate exceptional valor in combat. Of the 40 million who have served in the Army, only 3,500 soldiers have received the Medal of Honor.
Edmonds will be honored for his bravery after being captured as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany. On Jan. 26, 1945, the Germans ordered all Jewish-American prisoners to report for roll call. Recognizing that it meant those prisoners would be killed, Edmonds ordered all 1,200 American prisoners to present themselves for roll call, creating confusion.
Incredulous that all Americans were standing in formation, the Nazi commandant pressed his pistol against Edmonds’ forehead between his eyes and demanded that all Jewish-American prisoners step forward or Edmonds would be killed.
Edmonds fearlessly held his ground and warned the commandant that if he executed him, he would be charged with war crimes when the war was over. The commandant dropped his pistol without further attempts to segregate the Jewish-American prisoners.
In March 1945, as the Allied forces were advancing on Germany, Edmonds led a prison revolt that forced the Nazis to abandon the camp, leaving the 1,200 American prisoners behind.
Ollis was killed in Afghanistan in 2013 when an insurgent detonated a suicide vest. He positioned himself in between the insurgent and a wounded U.S. Army soldier who was unable to walk, thus saving the service member’s life. The incident took place after his infantry battalion came under attack by insurgents with improvised explosives, suicide vests and small arms.
Sgt. Richardson was on a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam in 1968 when he came under fire from the North Vietnamese army. He braved heavy machine gun fire on three occasions to rescue three severely wounded soldiers.
Upon realizing that his company was completely surrounded, he again braved enemy fire to advance to the top of Hill 222. Once on top of the hill, he realized it was an enemy regiment’s base camp. In the midst of the enemy camp, Sgt. Richardson directed air strikes for close to seven hours until he was wounded by an enemy sniper.
After the enemy had fled, Sgt. Richardson was found alive. He declined medical evacuation to stay with his soldiers. His actions saved the lives of 85 fellow soldiers, according to the White House.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump honored two military veterans with the Medal of Honor during his State of the Union address.
During his prime-time address, Mr. Trump presented the award to U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a helicopter pilot wounded during a January raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Also receiving the medal was retired Navy Capt. Royce E. Williams, 100, who was honored for aerial combat during the Korean War when he shot down four Soviet MiG-15 fighters in blizzard conditions over the Sea of Japan.
