President Joe Biden awarded three soldiers the Medal of Honor yesterday, including Sgt. First Class Alwyn Cashe, the first Black soldier to receive the award since the Vietnam War, ABC News reported.
Other Black soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan have received high-ranking valor awards, but never the Medal of Honor.
Sgt. Cashe was 35 when he died after rescuing six fellow soldiers and one Iraqi interpreter while under enemy fire after a roadside bomb detonated under the Bradley Fighting Vehicle he was commanding in October 2005, igniting its fuel tank.
After he and another soldier extinguished the flames that had engulfed their driver and pulled him to safety, Cashe’s uniform, which was drenched in gasoline, caught fire.
With second and third-degree burns covering nearly 75% of his body, Sgt. Cashe died from his injuries about three weeks after the attack.
“No soldier is going to be left behind on his watch,” President Biden said at the White House ceremony honoring Cashe and two other troops who saved lives. “A soldier’s soldier, a warrior who literally walked through fire for his troops.”
“We remember the strength and the sacrifices of these military families, caregivers, and survivors,” added the President. “And we remember and renew our sacred obligation to those who served this nation in uniform.”