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The Medal of Honor sits on a table before President Obama presented it to Army Staff Sgt. Ty M. Carter for conspicuous gallantry, Aug. 26, 2013.(Photo: Carolyn Kaster, AP)
WASHINGTON<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— President Obama will present the Medal of Honor to a Navy SEAL for his role in a dramatic nighttime raid of a Taliban compound<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that led to the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rescue of an American doctor in Afghanistan in 2012, the White House said Tuesday.
Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Edward Byers, a member of SEAL Team Six, will be presented the nation's highest military honor in a ceremony in the White House Feb. 29. Byers, 36, was part of an elite special forces operation that rescued an American doctor who had been kidnapped for ransom by Taliban fighters while trying to establish medical clinics in the war-torn country.
Byers was second in line as a team of SEALs assaulted a Taliban hideout when he saw an unknown man darting for the corner of the room,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to an unclassified summary of the operation obtained by USA TODAY. Not knowing whether the man was a militant or a hostage, Byers tackled him to the floor.
Once he identified the hostage, Byers threw his body over the civilian doctor to protect him, all the while<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pinning the enemy combatant to the wall with his hand around the enemy's throat.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>enemy was then shot by Byers' team.
Byers’ actions were so clearly beyond expectation, even for a Navy SEAL, that the Navy had no hesitation in nominating him for the Medal of Honor, according to a Defense official familiar with his case but not authorized to speak publicly about it.
“There’s no margin of doubt or possibility of error in awarding this honor,” the Defense official said. “His actions were so conspicuous in terms of bravery and self-sacrifice that they clearly distinguished him to be worthy of the award, including risk of his own life.”
But even with the announcement of his Medal of Honor, much about the mission<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— and Byers' role in it<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— remains secret. Byers commendation cites only "his courageous actions while serving as part of a team that rescued an American civilian being held hostage in Afghanistan, December 8-9, 2012."
It was sometime after midnight on the 9th that Dr. Dilip Joseph<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>medical director for the faith-based nonprofit Morning Star Development<span style="color: Red;">*</span>going into his fifth day of captivity by ransom-seeking Taliban<span style="color: Red;">*</span>fighters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— heard dogs barking and sheep bleating outside the small, stone-and-mud shack where he was held in the mountains east of Kabul.
Two of his captors went out to investigate, but came back and conferred quietly, evidently seeing nothing outside.
Joseph had a runny nose, and was trying to clear it with a well-used handkerchief quietly, so as not to offend Afghan sensibilities about blowing one's nose in public. He<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was on the edge of sleep when he heard the first gunshots, he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>recounted in a 2014 book,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Kidnapped by the Taliban: A Story of Terror, Hope, and Rescue by SEAL Team Six.
"Is Dilip Joseph here?" shouted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>one of the heavily armed men, wearing night-vision goggles and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>speaking English. When Joseph identified himself, one of the SEALs<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— now known to be Byers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— immediately laid down on top of him to protect him from the fighting, asking about his welfare. Amid the gunfire, Byers calmly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>asked if he had been fed, if he could walk, and if he had been mistreated.
Five Taliban fighters were killed. One Navy SEAL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— the first one in the door, who the others called Nic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— had been shot in the forehead.
As they waited for a helicopter 12 minutes out, the SEALs<span style="color: Red;">*</span>protected Joseph by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"sandwiching" him between two team members. The one in front of him kept calling to the one behind him, named "Ed," the only other name he heard that night or since.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>That man, he now knows for the first time, was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Byers.
"What are you doing?" asked the one in front.
"Praying for Nic," said the one named Ed. "Praying that he'll be O.K."
Later, Joseph learned 28-year-old Petty Officer 1st class Nicolas Checque, of Monroeville, Pa., had been killed. Byers and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>other medics had attempted to perform CPR on Checque during the 40-minute<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to Bagram Airfield, where his teammate Checque<span style="color: Red;">*</span>declared dead.
The mission has been controversial. In a report on SEAL Team Six last year, The New York Times<span style="color: Red;">*</span>highlighted discrepancies between Joseph's recollection and the official account. Joseph said that after the shooting stopped,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he saw one of the Taliban fighters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— a 19-year-old he called<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wallakah, who he had tried to bond<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with during his captivity<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>alive,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>unhurt and apparently subdued. When he returned inside to wait for the helicopter,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wallakah was dead. The Pentagon has disputed that account.
In an interview with USA TODAY,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Joseph betrayed mixed feelings in an attempt to reconcile his overwhelming<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gratitude to the SEALs with the surgical, fatal nature of the operation. It's that contradiction —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>compassion and selflessness of these highly-trained special forces —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that's left the most lasting impression of SEAL Team Six.
"It was amazingly clinical how they handled the whole situation," Joseph said. "They’re just amazing. They’re very good at what they're trained to do.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But they're human too."
Dr. Dilip Joseph, who was rescued by a group of a Navy SEAL Team 6 operators in Afghanistan after being held hostage by Taliban militants, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Dec. 17, 2014.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: © Leslye Davis/ZUMA Press/Corbis)
Joseph caught a rare glimpse of that humanity the next day, when he was granted special access to the "ramp" ceremony for Checque. As he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>watched<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the SEAL team<span style="color: Red;">*</span>solemnly load<span style="color: Red;">*</span>their fallen comrade's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>body onto a C-17 cargo plane, Joseph saw tears running down their cheeks.
Only five Navy SEALs have ever been awarded the Medal of Honor, three in Vietnam and one each — posthumously<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Byers is the first living sailor to be awarded the Medal of Honor since 1998, when President Bill Clinton awarded one retroactively for action in the Vietnam war.
Navy Sea,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Air and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Land Teams, known as SEALs, are one of the military's most elite, secretive and storied special forces units.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was a similar SEAL Team Six unit that found and killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
While the Pentagon did not confirm that Byers was a member of SEAL Team Six — a unit designation not officially acknowledged<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Joseph said his rescuers gave him a rare SEAL military coin with the numeral VI on it.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "strongly recommended" Byers for the Medal of Honor in December<span style="color: Red;">*</span>2014, according to a memo obtained by USA TODAY under the Freedom of Information Act.
The unusual delay in awarding the medal stems in part from a recent deployment that prevented him from traveling to Washington, according to a senior Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Under a 1905 executive order by President Teddy Roosevelt, Medal of Honor recipients are ordered to Washington to have the medal presented by the president. Since 1984, every Medal of Honor ceremony has been at the White House, according to data from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
High school yearbook photo of Edward Byers, a 1997 graduate of Otsego High School in Tontogany, Ohio.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Otsego High School)
For Byers, the Medal of Honor caps an already impressive array of military decorations, including<span style="color: Red;">*</span>five Bronze Stars with valor, two Purple Hearts, the Joint Service Commendation Medal with valor, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals (one with valor), two Combat Action Ribbons, three Presidential Unit Citations, two Joint Meritorious Unit Awards, two Navy Unit Commendations, and five Good Conduct Medals.
He was promoted to senior chief special warfare operator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>just two weeks ago, a rank equivalent to master sergeant,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to Department of Defense records.
Since being trained as a Navy SEAL and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>combat medic in 2003, he's had eight deployments as a Navy SEAL — seven in combat. While the exact locations of those assignments are secret, his commendations suggest service in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Edward Carl Byers Jr. was born in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Otsego High School in the small town of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tontogany, Ohio, in 1997. He joined the Navy in September 1998.
For years, most of what his hometown knew about his military service was a line in the church bulletin of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Toledo, asking parishioners to pray for those currently serving the country. While others were listed by rank, the bulletin<span style="color: Red;">*</span>describes Byers only as a Navy serviceman.
Byers is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the 11th living service member to be awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan. The White House said Tuesday that he would be joined by his family for the White House ceremony later this month.
He will graduate early this year from Norwich University, a Vermont military college, with a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Studies and Defense Analysis.
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