Category: The Green Machine

Old Abe and the color guard of the 8th Wisconsin at Vicksburg, July 1863 (Photo: U.S. Army)

Eagles are noble birds and have always been popular in heraldry. Numerous historical and modern countries feature an eagle on their flags, and many armies from the Roman legions through Napoleon’s Grande Armée to Nazi Germany’s forces have marched under the banners or other effigies of eagles. Most of the time, however, heraldic animals depict the abstract concept of the beast, rather than an actual specimen that really lived. One notable exception is the eagle depicted on the unit patch of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division, the famous Screaming Eagles, who have distinguished themselves time and time again in World War II, and which unit’s Easy Company was the focal point of the classic HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, which was first broadcast 20 years ago. Unlike most heraldic animals, this particular image refers to a real bald eagle named Old Abe, who rose to fame during the Civil War.

Old Abe’s story began in the spring of 1861, when Native Americans from the Lac du Flambeau band of Ojibwe (also known as Chippewa) Indians set up camp near the South Fork of the Flambeau River, in the area where Chequamegon National Forest is today in Wisconsin. The leader of the group was Ahgamahwegezhig, also called Chief Sky and Old Jackson in his later days, the son of Ah-mous (either “The Little Bee” or “Thunder of Bees”), an influential tribal leader. The group were traders, carrying maple syrup, furs and moccasins and looking to exchange them for supplies with white settlers.

Chief Sky, who captured Old Abe as an eaglet (Photo: U.S. Army)

They’ve set up a hunting and fishing camp, and Ahgamahwegezhig noticed an eagle’s nest in a nearby tree with two young eaglets in it. He tried to climb the tree to steal the chicks, but failed, so he set about chopping down the tree instead. He did so with half a day’s work amid the jeers of his companions, then fought off the old eagles protecting their young. According to most surviving versions of the story, one of the eaglets died from the fall, but the other one was healthy and Ahgamahwegezhig took it with him.

Some time later, the trading expedition made a call at Daniel McCann’s tavern near Jim Falls. McCann was an Irishman who married a half-Ojibwe woman, and who, along with his two brothers, played an important role in the early history of Wisconsin’s lumber industry. The traders offered their maple syrup in exchange for corn, but the McCann household already had enough syrup and didn’t want to buy any more. Chief Sky offered the eaglet next, and McCann agreed to pay a bushel of corn for it.

Daniel McCann (Photo: original owned by descendants of Daniel McCann)

The young bird was kept as a pet with a blue ribbon around its neck, and McCann’s children went hunting for rabbits, partridges and mice to feed it every day. Daniel McCann liked to play the fiddle, and the eaglet seemed to enjoy the music. Whenever Bonaparte’s March was played, he would walk around during the slow parts, then flutter his wings and hop around during the fast parts.

All this, of course, happened in the first spring and summer of the Civil War, and one John C. Perkins set about recruiting a volunteer company for the Union cause from Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties in August, 1861. When McCann heard of this, he decided to either sell or give away the eagle to the volunteers as a mascot. His motivation for this might have been twofold. On one hand, he was a patriot but couldn’t join the company due to a crippling childhood leg injury. On the other hand, it’s also been suggested that he was trying to get rid of the rapidly growing bird whose feeding was starting to become a problem.

Old Abe on an early, unpainted version of his shield-shaped perch. His head feathers have not turned white yet due to his young age. (Photo: U.S. Army)

Either way, he took the eagle to Eau Claire and offered him to the volunteers. They first laughed at the offer, but were quickly impressed when they saw how the bird danced to McCann’s fiddling and agreed to pay $2.50 for it. The soldiers started chipping in, but they then confronted local tavern keeper S. M. Jeffers and asked him to support the cause. Jeffers demurred at first, but a bit of friendly heckling from the volunteers convinced him to pay the entire price with a Quarter Eagle, a $2.50 gold coin, so the soldiers didn’t have to.

The bird thus passed into the possession of the Eau Claire Badgers, who quickly changed their name to the Eau Claire Eagles and named the bird Old Abe after President Lincoln. They made a shield-shaped wooden perch for Old Abe. The perch was seated at the top of a five-foot pole, the other end of which could be placed in a socket on the belt of the bird’s carrier, allowing Old Abe to be carried about three feet above the men’s heads. Old Abe had a leather ring around one leg, and was tethered to the perch with a 20′-long cord of rope that could be wound up to give about three feet of slack during a march or battle.

Old Abe with handler John F. Hill (Photo: theclio.com)

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The company was mustered into the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Old Abe made a tremendous impression on everyone: the company became the regimental color company with the name Eagle Company and the entire regiment became the Eagle Regiment. Old Abe was a celebrity wherever the regiment went during the war. Gunboat officers and crew regularly came ashore to see him. Generals such as Grant, Sherman, McPherson and other raised their hats whenever they walked past the regiment – this elicited a cheer from the men, and a spreading of the wings from Old Abe.

Old Abe was not always an easy mascot to keep. He refused to eat grain (natural for a bald eagle), so the men in the company were always on the lookout for small prey they could catch and give to their mascot. He was sometimes pampered with a whole chicken or a duck, and he was particularly fond of minnows. He also managed to cut through the cord keeping him on his perch at least a few times. One time, a local policeman caught him and brought him back to the company. On another occasion, the entire regiment got started on a march a full hour late, as they had to get Old Abe out of a treetop first. He also learned to drink from a canteen, which was a great boon during some of the long marches when no natural source of water could be found nearby.

Old Abe spreading his wings for a photo (Photo: State Historical Society of Wisconsin Visual Archives)

Old Abe also accompanied the regiment to the battlefield. He would get visibly excited during battle, spreading his wings and screeching. He also became known to the Confederates, who called him “Yankee Buzzard”, and many Southern officers exhorted their men to capture him dead or alive.

The latter sort of negative publicity almost cost Old Abe his life on October 3, 1862, the first day of the Second Battle of Corinth. Confederate shots came far too close for comfort, and one bullet cut through the cord holding the eagle on his perch. The story of what followed next exists in two versions. Contemporary newspapers reporting on the battle (and not above embellishing facts for a good story) claimed that Old Abe soared over the front lines back and forth. Some recountings went so far to claim that he eventually returned to his place with a Confederate hat in his beak, or that he picked up two stones and dropped them on Southern soldiers.

Artist’s depiction of the Second Battle of Corinth (Image: Library of Congress)

The accounts of actual Union soldiers who were there, including his own handler, paint a less patriotic but no less dramatic picture. Old Abe was shot through the wing as soon as he was airborne, the bullet cutting out three quill feathers but not drawing blood. Unable to fly properly, he landed some 50 feet away and was quickly recovered. His bearer was also shot at the same time, with one bullet going through the left shoulder of his blouse and another through the right leg of his pants; but just like his charge, he too avoided serious injury.

Old Abe accompanied the regiment through all of its battles: Island Number Ten, Corinth, the siege of Vicksburg, the Red River campaign and others. His military service came to an end in the summer of 1864, when the enlistments of the 8th Wisconsin have expired and the men were mustered out of federal service. Old Abe was presented to the governor of Wisconsin, James T. Lewis, who pledged that the state would take care of the famous bird for the rest of his life. Old Abe was classified as a “War Relic” and a special “Eagle Department” was set up to see to his needs. He was given a two-room apartment in the state Capitol building with a custom bathtub and a designated caretaker.

James Taylor Lewis, 9th Governor of Wisconsin (Image: Wikipedia, painter: William F. Cogswell)

Old Abe became a national celebrity in retirement, and made many appearances at various charity events, fundraisers, veterans’ meetings and even the 1867 Centennial Exposition in Pennsylvania, the first official World’s Fair held in the United States.

In February 1881, a fire broke out in the basement of the Capitol, in a room used to store paints and oils. Old Abe raised an alarm with his loud screeching, and the fire was put out before it could spread. However, Old Abe breathed in the toxic fumes of the burning paint, and they took a heavy toll on his health. He died on March 26, 1881, in the arms of George Gilles, his last caretaker.

Old Abe’s remains were preserved and placed in a display case in the Capitol, except for a few years when they were held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. In 1904, however, another fire struck the Capitol, this one razing it to the ground and destroying Old Abe’s remains, except for a few feathers. A replica of his remains is now on display in the rebuilt Capitol, and another at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison. A stone statue of him is also perched on top of the Camp Randall Arch, a memorial at the site of a Civil War era training camp.

The replica of Old Abe’s remains in the Wisconsin State Assembly Chamber (Photo: public domain)

Wisconsin’s cherished eagle also became a heraldic animal, and was featured on the logo of the Case Corporation, a now-defunct manufacturer of agricultural machinery and construction equipment.

Old Abe on the logo of the Case Corporation (Photo: public domain)

He is, however, much more famously displayed on the unit patch of the 101st Airborne Division, whose predecessor, the 101st Division, was headquartered in Wisconsin from 1921 onward as part of the Organized Reserves. The black shield on which Old Abe’s head is displayed is also a reference to Wisconsin’s military history: it’s derived from the distinctive black hats of the Iron Brigade, another Civil War-era Wisconsin unit.

The Screaming Eagle insignia on Sergeant Denver “Bull” Randleman’s uniform in the Band of Brothers miniseries (Photo: HBO)

As a final note, here’s a saucy tidbit for conspiracy theorists. While Old Abe is commonly referred to as “he”, there’s a long ongoing argument about the eagle’s actual sex, and some people claim Old Abe was, in fact, a female. Some contemporary written sources refer to the bird as “she”, and there are several unsubstantiated rumors of Old Abe laying eggs. Historians who believe Old Abe was a male point out that the feathers which survived the second Capitol fire were examined and found to be that of a male specimen. In reaction to this, the other camp points out the 1877 Journal of Proceedings of the Wisconsin Legislature. In this journal, a resolution mentions that Old Abe was not actually alone in the Capitol, as he (or she) shared his (or her) home with another bald eagle, “Old Andy,” and that some rumors claimed that Old Abe died in 1876 with Old Andy taking his (or her) place in the public. If this is true, then the unquestionably male feathers might have been from Old Andy, and Old Abe possibly might have been a female. The Wisconsin Senate instructed the Committee on Military Affairs to make a post mortem examination of the deceased eagle to set the matter to rest, but the results of that examination (if it was ever conducted) have been lost, and the truth about Old Abe’s real sex might never come to light.

The Green Machine This great Nation & Its People War

The Screaming Eagles THE HISTORY OF THE 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION

Post author By Grumpy
Post date September 1, 2022
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General Maxwell D. Taylor, commanding officer of the 101st Airborne from early 1944 onward (Photo: The National WWII Museum New Orleans)

This year’s summer marks the 80th anniversary of the activation of a celebrated American Army division. The 101st Airborne Division came into existence on August 16, 1942, and the “Screaming Eagles” quickly soared to legendary status. With a proud service history in World War II, Vietnam, and more recently Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations, they are a shining example of American military excellence.

The history of the 101st arguably began in World War I, when the 101st Infantry Division was set up. Its headquarters was organized 9 days before the end of the war, so the unit didn’t see action, and was reconstituted in the Organized Reserves in 1921. The division was stationed in Wisconsin at this time, and reached back to the state’s Civil War history for its identity. The Screaming Eagle, which appears on the division unit patch today, was adopted during this period. It refers to a real bald eagle named Old Abe (Read our earlier article: Old Abe, the original Screaming Eagle), who was the mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. The black shield on which the eagle is depicted in the unit patch is also a Civil War reference, to the Iron Brigade, another unit with Wisconsin connections whose soldiers wore black hats.

Old Abe, the original Screaming Eagle (Photo: State Historical Society of Wisconsin Visual Archives)

The 101st Airborne was properly formed in the summer of 1942, with some of the initial cadre provided by the 82nd “All American” Airborne Division, who were already established by the time. The division’s first commander, Major General William Lee, is often called the “Father of the U.S. Airborne,” and included these words in General Order Number 5:

“The 101st Airborne Division, which was activated on 16 August 1942, at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny.
Due to the nature of our armament, and the tactics in which we shall perfect ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching military importance and we shall habitually go into action when the need is immediate and extreme. Let me call your attention to the fact that our badge is the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies.” The order gave the division its motto, “Rendezvous with destiny.”

William Carey Lee (center), first commanding officer of the 101st, receiving an honorary degree of Doctor of Military Sciences in 1945. (Photo: NC State University Libraries)

The 101st first saw action on the night before D-Day, when they were dropped behind enemy lines alongside the 82nd on the Cotentin Peninsula (Read our earlier article: Jumping into chaos). The division had multiple objectives, all revolving around preparing the ground for the amphibious landings in the morning. Jumping in three drop zones, the 101st was to secure causeway exits from Utah Beach, destroy a German coastal battery, capture several buildings believed to be barracks and a command post, capture a river lock, and capture or destroy several bridges. All of these actions, combined with similar missions carried out by the 82nd, were to hamper German efforts to push back against the vulnerable beachheads in the early hours of the operation, and to help Allied troops at different beaches link up and move further inland.

Two members of the Filthy Thirteen, officially the 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, applying war paint before departing for Normandy. (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration)

Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, applying war paint before departing for Normandy. (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration)

As you can read in our article linked above, most paratroopers misjumped. Once on the ground, the men had to link up with whomever they could find and act on their own initiative. Though inexperienced, the 101st accomplished many of their objectives, and the paratroopers appearing all over the place sowed a great deal of confusion among the Germans.

One trick that helped the paratroopers recognize each other was the use of helmet marks unique to the 101st. Each of the four French card suits (spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds) was assigned to one of the division’s four regiments (one only attached later on in the war) and painted on every helmet to ease identification. Additionally, a tick mark was painted around the suit symbol, the location representing the soldier’s battalion. Other symbols marked support units and artillery, engineer battalions and the like, and the 187th Regiment, added to the division after the war, was assigned the Torii symbol representing traditional gates at Japanese Shinto shrines.

Ed Pieczatowski showing the hole put in his helmet by an SS grenadier. The club symbol marks him as a member of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. (Photo: 101airborneww2.com)

As the first days of the Allied landings unfolded, the 101st was involved in several actions not originally planned but now a part of the division’s history. Among these were 1st Lieutenant Dick Winters’ assault on the Brécourt Manor battery (Read our earlier article: Dick Winters’ first battle) and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole’s path down an exposed highway and his bayonet charge against a German-held farm (Read our earlier article: Cole’s bayonet charge).

101st Airborne paratroopers in Saint-Côme-du-Mont (Photo: U.S. Army)

These fierce days also brought along the division’s first loss of a general officer. Brigadier General Don F. Pratt was touching down in Normandy in a glider on D-Day, when the vehicle crashed into a hedgerow. Sitting in his jeep, Pratt broke his neck from whiplash, becoming the highest-ranking Allied officer to die on the first day of the Allied landings.

Wreckage of the Fighting Falcon, Don F. Pratt’s glider (Photo: The Don F. Pratt Museum)

The division’s next great test was Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944. The doomed operation tried to capture a large number of bridges in the Netherlands with airborne troops, and then use those bridges to cut across the country with tanks. The largest airborne operation in history, Market Garden was a bold but ultimately failed attempt to rapidly reach Germany’s industrial heartland and possibly end the war before winter.

Both the 101st and the 82nd captured several bridges early on in the operation, but the 101st hit a snag when one of their primary objectives was blown up by the Germans. The division then tried but failed to capture another bridge a few miles away. This contributed to the delay of the British XXX Corps, but it should be noted that Market Garden suffered from many problems and localized failures, which all added up to eventually defeat. During the operation, the 101st managed to hold a narrow corridor 16 miles (26 km) long in enemy territory for ten days, a stretch of which was nicknamed Hell’s Highway due to the intensity of fighting.

101st Airborne paratroopers with Dutch civilians during Operation Market Garden (Photo: U.S. Army)

The failure of Market Garden meant that the war was definitely not going to end before the Christmas of 1944. However, the 101st had no way of knowing just how quickly they’ll be needed again. On December 16, Hitler launched a carefully and secretively prepared offensive in the Ardennes in Belgium, starting what is now called the Battle of the Bulge. Available Allied units in the area were hurriedly called up and thrown in the way of the German advance with essentially no time to prepare. The 101st was lacking some vital equipment such as winter coats, but needs must when the Devil drives: the division boarded a truck convoy (the weather was unsuitable for parachute drops) and headed for the town of Bastogne, where they met up with a tank destroyer battalion, elements of an armored division, and three artillery battalions. Their orders were simple: hold Bastogne at all cost. Bastogne was a local transportation hub where several roads and railways met. Capturing the town would have allowed the Germans to move their forces around much more quickly in a region dominated by forested mountains. The longer the division could deny Bastogne to the enemy, the easier it would be for other Allied units to stop and beat back the German offensive.

Paratroopers of the 101st moving up to Bastogne (Photo: U.S. Army Center of Military History)

Describing the entire battle is far beyond the scope of this article, but one element that became a part of the 101st’s legend must be mentioned. The division’s acting commander was Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, since the division’s commanding officer, Maxwell D. Taylor, was in the United States for a staff conference. The German commander of the siege of Bastogne sent McAuliffe a written message demanding the Americans’ surrender. A frustrated McAuliffe, just woken up to be given the news, responded with “Nuts!,” an exclamation that became the official, written reply after a short deliberation. Of course, the word does not carry the same slang connotation in German, so the officer taking the message back had to be explained that it meant “go to Hell.”

Anthony McAuliffe (center) with two of his officers in Bastogne (Photo: U.S. Army)

The Battered Bastards of the Bastion of Bastogne, as the 101st came to be known, held the town against all comers, including a desperate German attack on Christmas Day, which initially saw several German tanks penetrate American lines. General George S. Patton’s forces arrived the next day to rescue the Battered Bastards, even though the latter maintained they didn’t actually need any rescuing. In January, the 101st went on the counteroffensive and liberated several nearby villages before being relieved. The actions of one particular paratrooper in Bastogne also led to the creation of the famous Airborne Beer (Read our earlier article – A helmet full of beer).

Cobra King, the first tank to reach Bastogne (Photo: U.S. Army)

The Battle of the Bulge was Germany’s last-ditch attempt to turn the tide of war on the Western Front. Once the offensive was blunted, it was relatively smooth sailing into Germany. On the way, the 101st liberated one of the many subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp. They also reached the Nazi resort town of Berchtesgaden and Hitler’s famous Eagle’s Nest, liberating large quantities of Nazi-held champagne and other libations in the process. It should be mentioned in the interest of historical fairness that while the 101st, and more specifically the famous Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, are usually credited with reaching both the town and the mountaintop retreat first, there is some historical evidence that they were beaten to it by the 3rd Infantry Division, who got there first (on the same day, even), but were ordered to move on before they could enjoy their conquest.

Members of the famous Easy Company in Berchtesgaden. (Note that the photo is often inaccurately described as having been taken at the Eagle’s Nest.) (Photo: U.S. Army)

In the late summer of 1945, the 101st began training for redeployment in the Pacific, but the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan and the country’s subsequent surrender ended the war before they could be sent east. The division’s WWII actions were depicted in several movies and series, the most famous being HBO’s Band of Brothers miniseries.

World War II was over, but the 101st Division continued to serve. It was deactivated and reactivated several times in the late 40s and the 50s. In 1957, it was reactivated as the first “pentomic” division of the United States Army. Pentomic divisions were a short-lived experiment to adapt to the Cold War. A pentomic division comprised of not three regiments, but five smaller battle groups. The idea was that this would allow the division to be in more places and do more things at the same time. Additionally, with the five battle groups dispersed over a larger area, it would be harder for the Soviets to destroy an entire division with nuclear weapons.

The pentomic experiment didn’t last, but the 101st achieved another milestone in 1957, though one less military in nature. A group of nine African-American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas, in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education, and the ensuing political crisis placed the students in danger. Soldiers of the 101st were ordered into Little Rock to protect the students of the formerly segregated school from harassment or harm.

Members of the 101st in Little Rock (Photo: Getty Images)

The 101st Airborne were also deployed to Vietnam. Between 1865 and 1967, the division became known as the “Nomads of Vietnam” for always being sent from one crisis spot to another. Among many other locations, the 101st fought at Hamburger Hill and Firebase Ripcord. According to some sources, the North Vietnamese misunderstood the division’s unit patch and started calling them “Chicken Men.”

Wounded members of the 101st being evacuated in Vietnam, May 1969. (Photo: United States Army Military History Institute)

A few men from the 101st were selected for Tiger Force, a special long-range recon patrol unit. Numbering around 45 men, the mission of Tiger Force was to “outguerilla the guerillas.” The unit achieved a fearsome reputation, but paid a high price for it in the moral murkiness of the Vietnam War. An investigation revealed that the force committed numerous war crimes, but the Army decided not to prosecute anyone.

Members of Tiger Force on a North Vietnamese infiltration trail (Photo: National Archives and Records Administration)

It might surprise some readers, but 101st Airborne Division, so famed for their paratrooper operations in World War II, no longer perform jumps, since their jump status was terminated in 1974. Since then, the division has operated first as an airmobile division, then later (and today) as the United States’ only air assault division. (An airmobile division is one that uses air transport to get near a battlefield, then disembarks and proceeds on foot. An air assault division uses helicopters or tiltrotor aircraft to land directly in combat and fight from the very first step onward.)

Jimmy Hendrix during the time when he served in the 101st (Photo: United Service Organizations)

Since their reorganization, the 101st Airborne have continued to serve with pride. In 1991, during the Gulf War, they have struck Iraqi targets 155 miles (249 km) behind enemy lines, executing the deepest air assault in history. They have participated in humanitarian relief efforts and peacekeeping operations in Kosovo, Rwanda, Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia. They have also performed air assaults, counterinsurgency operations and have trained local allied forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A member of the 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne on patrol in Afghanistan, 2013. You can see the Torii symbol, not yet used in World War II, on his helmet. (Photo: U.S. Army)

Most recently, the Screaming Eagles have started returning to Europe. It was announced in the summer of 2022 that the 101st will be a part of a mission to reinforce America’s allies in NATO and help ensure Europe’s safety during and after the war unfolding between Russia and Ukraine. If the 101st truly returns to Europe for the foreseeable future, they will find a warm welcome by friends who remember.

Join us on our tours to follow in the footsteps of the division’s paratroopers from Normandy to the Eagle’s Nest and explore the sites where 101st soldiers, like Ronald Speirs (Read our earlier article – Badass paratrooper or war criminal?), went into battle to restore liberty to Nazi-occupied Europe.

Elements of the 101st arriving in Romania, Europe, in June 2022 (Photo: U.S. Army)

All About Guns Our Great Kids The Green Machine

I see that the “Kids” are at work!

Post author By Grumpy
Post date August 28, 2022
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The Green Machine

The Transformation of U.S. Tank Divisions (2030)

Post author By Grumpy
Post date August 24, 2022
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Meet Sergeant Major Payne:

Post author By Grumpy
Post date August 18, 2022
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He’s a senior NCO in the Delta Force. SGM Payne enlisted in 2002, serving as a sniper in the 75th Ranger Regiment until 2007, when he joined the Delta Force.

(SGM Payne in Afghanistan)

In 2015, then-SFC Payne’s unit was deployed to Iraq to help combat ISIS. His unit advised and trained the newly formed Kurdish Counter Terrorist Group. One day, fresh graves are seen outside of a known ISIS prison. The joint team is given the green light.

Payne’s team arrives with the CTG at night time. Upon arrival, they’re hit with volleys of gunfire. The Kurds not having conducted any operations before, are nervous and don’t move forward. The Deltas lead the way, giving their friends courage to press forward. Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler is killed leading his comrades into battle.

Meanwhile, SFC Payne and his team press into the building. They reach a bolted door that holds in the Iraqi hostages. The team attempts to break it, but there is too much fire coming their way. Payne braves the fire and breaks the bolt. The joint team then starts getting all of the hostages out. As the firefight continues, ISIS terrorists start setting off bomb vests, causing fires which cripple the building’s stability. After securing multiple hostages, they move outside.

(Then-SFC Payne, left or center)

However, plenty of hostages are left. SFC Payne keeps moving back inside to make sure no man is left behind. By doing so, he is risking getting crushed or burnt to death. At one point, a tired hostage believes he is going to die in the fire and can no longer walk to the outside. Payne helps him up and gets him outside.

Overall, due to then-SFC Payne’s actions, over 75 Iraqis are rescued. At first, he is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest American military award. However, on September 11, 2020, SGM Payne was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military award in the US.