Free Republic

An Air Force chaplain has been awarded a Bronze Star for his service in crafting an especially good PowerPoint about how to treat Islamic religious materials with sensitivity, according to Ohio’s Dayton Daily News. After U.S. troops in Afghanistan accidentally burned copies of the Koran, sparking riots that took over 30 lives, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Trainer came to the rescue: After the accidental burning last year of Qurans by U.S. troops in Afghanistan sparked deadly rioting, an Air National Guard chaplain from Springfield stepped in and potentially saved countless American lives. For his effort, Lt. Col. Jon Trainer received the...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — Staff Sgt. Philip Crosby was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with combat distinguishing device for heroic achievement and sustained meritorious service during combat operations at a ceremony, here, June 10. Crosby, who is now assigned to 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was the assistant effects advisor for Military Transition Team 133, Multinational Force West from Nov. 2007 to Oct. 2008 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Crosby and his MTT embedded with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, to protect the Iraqi people and support the local government in...

Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division and Multi-National Division - Baghdad, presents an impact Bronze Star Medal to Sgt. Shawn Griffith, a native of Richwood, W.Va. Griffith, who serves with 769th Engineer Battalion, 35th Engineer Brigade, was one of six of the battalion's Soldiers recognized for their hard work and dedication in installing approximately 130,000-square feet of rocket-propelled grenade fencing and sniper-screen material over a 1,200 foot distance, with heights measuring up to 40 feet, at Joint Security Station Ur in the Sadr City District of Baghdad to veil the aerostat and its docking...

Al Felsen, left, who served most of World War II as a prisoner of war, talks on Friday about his experiences with George Timmons and Brig. Gen. Warner Sumpter. Sumpter presented Felsen with a Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal and the Philippines Defense Medal. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review)FORT HUACHUCA - For more than three years in the 1940s, Al Felsen suffered under the brutality of Japanese guards in a number of camps after he was captured in the Philippines. Felsen has been trying for years to receive a Purple Heart Medal for the wounds he received while a prisoner of war....