US Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV was killed in combat on May 3rd after rushing to help military advisors who had been ambushed by ISIS soldiers, however only two months prior Keating led a team fighting against car bomb attacks that led to him being awarded a Silver Star. The third-highest military honor, Keating’s Silver Star citation explains that he “continuously exposed himself to enemy automatic weapon, mortar, and rocket grenade fire” in order to keep Peshmerga in control of the besieged city:
‘This was a gun fight, you know, a dynamic gun fight, so he got hit just in the course of this gun battle. Whether it was a sniper or some fighter with his (AK-47) is unclear,’ Warren said. ‘There were bullets everywhere.’
Warren said that even as the U.S. advisers were being rescued from the fight, a barrage of coalition aircraft — including F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, B-52 bombers, A-10 close air support aircraft and drones — responded and launched airstrikes.
More than 30 locations were hit, killing 60 enemy fighters. Peshmerga regained control of the town.(via)
Keating was shot, however, after ISIS fighters broke through the Peshmerga front lines in armored Humvees and bulldozers. A Black Hawk helicopter rushed him to a hospital within the hour, but he did not survive.
Speaking to the families of fallen soldiers during his final Memorial Day as president, Barack Obama thanked the men and women who have died fighting for their country and said that Keating joined the Navy SEALs “because it was the hardest thing to do.”
[H/T Daily Mail]