Veterans Voice: Edward Byers, Jr.

Byers is the 6th Navy Seal to receive the Medal of Honor, and the 11th of all personnel in the Iraq-Afghanistan zone.

Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Byers retired from the military on September 19, 2019. He spent 21 years in active duty during which he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor and two Purple Hearts.

 

        Byers came from a patriotic family, and from an early age was intrigued by stories of American Special Forces and decided that was what he wanted for himself.

 

        He joined the U.S. Navy in 1998, initially as a hospital corpsman. He was first deployed on the USS Austin as part of the Marine Expeditionary Unit. But it was his ultimate goal to become a Navy SEAL. At the time, the training program for SEAL s had been suspended. All of that changed with the events of 9-11.

 

      Byers immediately under went BUD training (Basic Underwater Demolition) or SEAL training. Byers says that the SEAL training was the most difficult training he received in life. The men were pushed to the point of exhaustion, and he constantly prayed for the strength to continue. Byers also successfully completed the Special Operations Combat Medic Course.

 

      Byers was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan 11 times, nine of which involved combat. Most of his actions remain classified, but some are currently public knowledge.

 

      He received one of his 5 Bronze Stars for “superior battlefield courage” in a remote enemy stronghold on April 20, 2014. The mission was “time-sensitize” and resulted in the elimination of high-value couriers.

 

      During the operation the combination of the SEAL team and “partner forces” were executing a vehicle interdiction when they came under attack by enemy forces at close range. Byers “skillfully guided his forces to an exposed location to counter the enemy’s attempt to out-maneuver the SEAL team. After elimination of the enemy force, they returned to the vehicle and eliminated the enemy at that location”.

 

      In an operation between October of 2012 and March 2013, Byers and his team was seeking a top Taliban leader. They located him in a guarded compound. Byers’s team, with Afghan forces, assaulted the compound housing the leader. After clearing the compound, Byers and an Afghan solider entered a building where they found 3 guards with AK47’s pointed at them. Byers quickly eliminated the three, and then the Taliban leader.

 

     Byers earned his Medal of Honor in December of 2012. An American physician in Afghanistan on a humanitarian mission, Dr. Dilip Joseph, was captured by the Taliban. American intelligence located where the Doctor was being held, and that he might be executed soon. On the night of December 9th, the SEAL team was transported by helicopter to Qarghah’i Province, then hiked 4 miles over difficult terrain. It was an extremely cold night, and the mission was labeled “no fail”. About 25 meters from the building they were spotted by a guard who rushed inside to alert the other guards. The Americans rushed to the door, and Petty Officer Nicholas D. Checque was the first to enter, followed by Byers. Checque was instantly mortally wounded. Byers immediately shot that Taliban member, tackled another Taliban rushing toward his gun and killing him with his bare hands. He then pinned a third Taliban to the wall with his hand until another SEAL team member could kill him. Byers located the captured doctor and covered his body with his own until the building was secure.

 

       They were picked up by helicopter for the 40 minute ride back to their compound, with Byers struggling to save Checque but was unable to do so. Byers visits Checque’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery.

 

        Byers is the 6th Navy Seal to receive the Medal of Honor, and the 11th of all personnel in the Iraq-Afghanistan zone.

 

        Byers had hoped to resume his combat duties as a Navy Seal, but learned that there is an unwritten rule that Medal of Honor winners are not to be placed back in combat. As a result, Byers finished his tour of duty in the United States and retired from the military on September 19th, 2019.

 

         In addition to the Medal of Honor and two Purple Hearts, Byers received 5 Bronze Stars with valor, Markmanship medals with both rifle and pistol, and various other campaign medals. 

 

         Byers is on the board of the Medal of Honor Foundation, the Navy SEAL Foundation, and the C4 Foundation which supports SEAL’s and their families. He considers the Medal of Honor to be an “opportunity to witness to my faith”.

 

 

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