Christopher Palumbo

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star Medal to Christopher Palumbo, Chief Warrant Officer 3, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a UH-60 Blackhawk Pilot with Company A, 3d Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, during combat operations in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, in Afghanistan, on 11 April 2005. Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo, the pilot-in-command, and his crew responded to an Afghan national army convoy that had been attacked by insurgents. He and another aircraft, carrying a Special Forces team, entered the area. The enemies fled into the mountains when the first responders, two AH-64 Apaches, came into view. Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo dropped off the ground forces’ team leader who confirmed that none of the Afghan soldiers had been injured. The ground commander got back on board and said they needed an Aerial Reconnaissance Force and put shooters in the doors. The AH-64s flew to the area and saw three suspected militants and Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo inserted the Special Forces team to neutralize the threat. The Soldiers were successful, but they didn’t realize that most of the insurgents were embedded in the caves. Two of the ground troops were hit and when the Apaches had to leave to refuel, the Black Hawks were left to provide support and protection for their comrades on the ground. Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo tried to land near the two wounded troops to evacuate them, but the rocky, steep cliff the Soldiers were on made it too dangerous for the Black Hawk to land, so he decided to fly figure-eight patterns and try to keep the aircraft between the wounded and the enemies running at them. While providing security, the aircraft was heavily damaged by small-arms fire and RPG explosions and the crew chief was wounded by shrapnel. Still the crew kept the enemy on the ground busy while a medic rushed toward the wounded Soldiers. During the action Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo’s aircraft sustained more than 50 gun shots; the fuel cell was damaged and was leaking gas. Finally he flew the heavily-damaged aircraft to a hospital so the wounded crew chief could receive medical care. Chief Warrant Officer Three Palumbo and the remaining crew members intended to rejoin the fight but when the aircraft was repositioned to refuel and rearm, fuel began spraying out. He performed an emergency shutdown and everyone vacated the area. A medivac helicopter in the area responded to the area and safely evacuated the two wounded Soldiers.