Sgt. Paul R. Smith

The medal of honor (www.army.mil/ medalofhonor/medal/)

There have only been 3,459 recipients of the Medal of Honor from the Civil War to the war on Iraq. That may seem like a large number, but from the hundreds to billions of soldiers that have fought and died in those wars, that number is a fairly small. One of those 3,459 was 1st Class Sgt. Paul R. Smith whose courage saved his men, but not his own life, from an Iraqi insurgent group that attacked his convoy. His selfless act saved over 100 men in his convoy and killed 20-50 insurgents.

My hero is Sgt. Paul R. Smith. He was born on September 24, 1969. He was a very strong soldier and was one of the bravest men who has ever lived. He was a Sgt. who fought for his country proudly and with power over his convoy. All of his troops respected him, as he respected them.

Paul siting posing in a picture in Iraq (www.ajc.com/.../news/ stories/0405/irmedal.html)

Sgt. Paul Smith was assigned multiple missions, like "Mission Iraqi Freedom." That is where he was last deployed. When he was in Iraq, he was in charge of the "82nd Engineer Battalion." He was accompanied by over one hundred soldiers with multiple (APC) armored personnel carriers and two Bradley armored vehicles in his division.

Sgt. Paul R. Smith is like one of Barron's heroes because I think of him as a “Hero for All Times.” The reason I think of him as a “Hero for All Times” is because he had courage and because he saved his troops from Iraqi insurgents and other attacks. He also had faith that his troops would protect him as he would protect them. Paul's children loved him very much. They thought of him as a hero for doing all that he could do for his country. They where heartbroken for their loss of him, but they were proud of him for saving most of his convoy.

Paul's Famly (www.sptimes.com/.../ The_family_the_hero_l.shtml)

So we remember Sgt. Paul R. Smith as a hero, a soldier and a father. Paul was loved by his children very much and by his loving wife. He had two children, an 18-year-old daughter named Jessica, and a 10-year-old son named David, and a wife named Bridget. He had written back to them so many times during the war in Iraq. There were so many unsent letters of sorrow and grief. Sgt. Paul R. Smith was a brave man who fought and was a true hero for all Americans like me.