American Valor Quarterly Issue 5 - Winter 2008/09 | Page 11

Paul Ray Smith Award
For distinguished service in the United States military during Operation Enduring Freedom and
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Paul Ray Smith was born in Texas in 1969. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1989 and
was deployed with Bravo Company of the 3rd Infantry Division to Kosovo in 2001, rising to the rank
of sergeant first class the spring of 2002. In January of 2003, he was deployed to Kuwait in
preparation for what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. On April 4, 2003, two weeks after the
invasion, Smith’s unit found itself engaged in heavy combat against superior numbers of enemy forces
near Baghdad International Airport. In the heat of the battle, Smith ran under heavy fire to a nearby
mounted machine gun. While maintaining this exposed position, he killed nearly 50 enemy fighters
before he was mortally wounded. His selfless actions saved the lives of more than 100 soldiers and
repelled the enemy attack. For his valor, he posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor—the
first American service member to receive the military’s highest honor for Operation Iraqi Freedom and
Operation Enduring Freedom.

Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, USAF
Operation Enduring Freedom
Previous Recipients: 2006 - SSgt. Anthony Viggiani; 2007 - Maj. Jason Amerine
Following the fall of the Taliban and the routing of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in late-2001, many of the remaining
fighters fled to the Shahi-Kot Valley in Paktia Province, Afghanistan, where they attempted to regroup. To counter this,
the United States military, along with coalition and Afghan forces, launched Operation Anaconda, an attempt to crush
al-Qaeda and Tal