First Female Since WWII To Receive Silver Star Is A Texas Teen

The State

CAMP SALERNO, Afghanistan

A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

After the explosion, which wounded five soldiers in her unit, Brown ran through insurgent gunfire and used her body to shield wounded comrades, as mortars fell less than 100 yards away, the military said.

“I did not really think about anything except for getting the guys to a safer location and getting them taken care of and getting them out of there,” Brown told The Associated Press at a U.S. base in the eastern province of Khost.

Brown, from Lake Jackson, Texas, is scheduled to receive the Silver Star later in March. She was part of a four-vehicle convoy patrolling near Jani Kheil in Paktia on April 25, 2007, when a bomb hit one of the Humvees.

We stopped the convoy. I opened up my door and grabbed my aid bag,” Brown said.

Brown, of the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, said ammunition going off inside the burning Humvee was sending shrapnel in all directions. She said they were sitting in a dangerous spot.

She started running toward the burning vehicle as insurgents opened fire. All five wounded soldiers had scrambled out

“So we dragged them for 100 or 200 meters, got them away from the Humvee a little bit,” she said. “I was in a kind of a robot mode, did not think about much but getting the guys taken care of.”

For Brown, who knew all five wounded soldiers, it became a race to get them to a safer location. Eventually, they moved the wounded about 500 yards away and treated them on-site before putting them on a helicopter for evacuation.

Congratulations Army PSC Monica Lin Brown on your award and bravery! I would also like to thank all our finest and bravest serving in the US Miltary. You guys rock!

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