Leigh Ann Hester

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Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester.
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Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester.

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Kentucky, received the Silver Star for her actions in Iraq during an enemy ambush on their convoy near the town of Salman Pak.

Hester was the first female soldier to receive the award for exceptional valor since World War II and the first ever to be cited for close combat.

Hester's squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20, 2005 when fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester led her team through the "kill zone" and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. Hester and her squad leader, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle.

When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured. Hester killed at least 3 of the insurgents, according to the citation. Nein was also awarded a silver star.

Hester was 23 at the time of the action. She was born in 1982 in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and later moved to Nashville, Tennessee. She joined the National Guard in April 2001.

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