Highest Honor For Afghan War Hero

Two years after his death in Afghanistan, Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy has become the first person to win the Medal of Honor in Afghanistan and the first sailor recipient of the nation's highest battlefield award for combat since the Vietnam War.

President Bush will present the medal -- a star-shaped bronze emblem suspended from a sky-blue ribbon -- to Murphy's family on Oct. 22 at a ceremony at the White House.

Murphy, 29 of Patchogue, Long Island, N.Y., was one of three Navy SEALs inserted by helicopter into eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border during a fierce firefight in June 2005.

The men were on a secret mission to track a high-ranking Taliban warlord, but were discovered first by an Afghan goat herder who stumbled upon their hiding place in a mountainside forest. Not long after, the SEALs were surrounded by dozens of armed insurgents, and a fierce battle ensued.

The lone survivor of the incident, Petty Officer 1st Class Marcus Luttrell, Murphy said displayed "an extreme act of valor" when he ran into the open -- and suffered a bullet wound -- in a last-ditch attempt to call for help. That call brought tragedy instead, when a rescue helicopter sent to save them was shot down, killing all 16 U.S. troops aboard, including eight SEALs.

Murphy and two other SEALs were killed as they fled down the mountainside in an effort to elude their pursuers.

More here.