Harrison J. Meyer

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Silver Star Medal (Posthumously) to Harrison J. Meyer, Private First Class, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Medical Aidman in Company D, 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry Regiment, 2d Brigade Combat Team, 2d Infantry Division, during combat operations in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 26 November 2004, in Iraq. Around noon on that date, Private First Class Meyer and the rest of 3d Platoon, Company D were in the 20th hour of a patrol extended by clashes with insurgents. They’d just taken up post in an abandoned building in the Mula’ab district when a soldier was hit by sniper fire. Private First Class Meyer rushed up the stairs and treated a gunshot wound to the chest of Private Brian Grant. Though Private Grant later died in a hospital, Private First Class Meyer treated and comforted him until he was evacuated to an aid station. The platoon moved out of the building to find the sniper, but as they sprinted across a street toward the sniper’s perch, heavy machine-gun fire raked the patrol. Four soldiers were hit in the legs and were stuck wounded in the open street. Private First Class Meyer himself had been shot in the calf and lower abdomen, but was able to move back to cover. The platoon couldn’t suppress the incoming fire. Ignoring his own wounds, and without orders, Private First Class Meyer ran out to try to move his wounded colleagues to safety. Placing himself between the wounded soldiers and the enemy, he was struck by machine gun rounds multiple times and mortally wounded.