HM2 Joshua Simson: “Taking care of my brothers on the battlefield.”


HM2 Joshua Simson (DOD)

At about the time the surge was kicking in in Iraq, HM2 Joshua Simson was in Afghanistan with coalition forces comprised of American and Afghan forces when they came under violent attack by small arms and rocket propelled grenades. They had stumbled into an ambush.

The coalition forces were in the kill zone, but because an advance team had triggered the ambush earlier than planned, they still had an escape route. A few yards further and they would have been completely surrounded.

For seven and a half hours the patrol fought its way back the way it had come in, taking several casualties along the way. All through the day Petty Officer Simson repeated the same actions: “See or hear somebody need help, put out suppressive fire, move the man to cover if possible, and render lifesaving aid.” (

Eventually the American and Afghan forces reached a clearing where the wounded could be evacuated. Miraculously, despite being exposed to enemy fire time and again, he escaped uninjured. He received a Silver Star for his actions that day.

He had joined the Navy in 2005 “to pay back a small part of the debt towards the cost of freedom.”

I think he did that. HM2 Joshua Simson is our hero of the week.

To read the whole story and hear several interviews, click here.


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