Iraq war hero earns first Medal of Honor

President Bush yesterday awarded Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith the Medal of Honor, exactly two years after the soldier single-handedly killed as many as 50 Iraqi insurgents as he saved the lives of more than 100 Americans.

It was the 615th time in history that the medal was awarded posthumously.

Sgt. Smith’s 11-year-old son accepted the medal in a White House ceremony. It was the first time the nation’s highest award for valor has been bestowed on a soldier from the Iraq war, and only the third time it has been awarded since the Vietnam War.

“On this day two years ago, Sergeant Smith gave his all for his men,” the president said. “Five days later, Baghdad fell and the Iraqi people were liberated. And today, we bestow upon Sergeant Smith the first Medal of Honor in the war on terror. …

“We count ourselves blessed to have soldiers like Sergeant Smith, who put their lives on the line to advance the cause of freedom and protect the American people,” Mr. Bush said in the East Room ceremony.

In the last 30 years, only two U.S. soldiers, both killed during the Somalia intervention in 1993, have received the Medal of Honor, which has been bestowed upon 3,441 men and women since the Civil War. Sgt. Smith’s widow, Birgit, decided that the couple’s son, David, would accept the medal on his father’s behalf.

“It was a very easy decision for me because, after all, he’s the man of the house now,” she said.

The event was attended by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and dozens of military men and women from all branches of the armed services.

The story of Sgt. Smith’s actions on April 4, 2003, is the stuff of Hollywood, although it started off as a routine, even mundane, mission.

The 33-year-old sergeant, who was born in El Paso, Texas, but moved to Tampa, Fla., as a boy, was the senior noncommissioned officer in a platoon of engineers during the 3rd Infantry Division’s northward push toward Baghdad.

U.S. and coalition forces had sprinted to Baghdad and had already captured the international airport, one of the key objectives to securing the city, according to an Army narrative. As troops encircled Baghdad, Iraqi militiamen and special Republican Guard forces were trapped, prompting fierce firefights.

Near the eastern edge of the airport, Sgt. Smith, a veteran of the first Gulf war, had been put in charge of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, while his lieutenant and other soldiers went on a scouting mission.

The sergeant’s task that day was to turn a courtyard into a holding cell for Iraqi prisoners of war. The courtyard, just north of the main road between Baghdad and the airport, was near an Iraqi military compound.

But just as they began their work, armed Iraqis were spotted approaching from beyond the gated walls of the courtyard. Another group of Iraqis occupied a nearby tower. Altogether, there were more than 100 Iraqis, outnumbering the Army troops 4 to 1.

Almost immediately, Sgt. Smith took charge of a Bradley fighting vehicle and positioned it to block the enemy. An M-113 armored personnel carrier joined the fray.

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