veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

A day after local Veteran hero Ray Pizarro whose funeral was on MLK day it seemed fitting to write about honor.

Robert Augustus Sweeney- Sounds like a local boy born in rural Clay County. He wasn’t. He belongs to a very small category of people to have two Medal of Honors. Nineteen have earned two MOHs. Mr. Sweeney is the only black man to do so. He was born in Montserrat a small Caribbean island in 1853. He was the rank of ordinary seaman. Ordinary seaman was the 2nd lowest rank in the Navy at that time. His citation reads “Serving on board the U.S.S. Kearsarge, at Hampton Roads, Va., 26 October 1881, Sweeney jumped overboard and assisted in saving from drowning a shipmate who had fallen overboard into a strongly running tide.”

 Second citation.

“Serving on board the U.S.S. Jamestown, at the Navy Yard New York, 20 December 1883, Sweeney rescued from drowning A. A. George, who had fallen overboard from that vessel.”

In case you are wondering, the U.S.S. Jamestown is not the namesake of our local town, but Jamestown Virginia.

He died in 1890 at age 37 and deserves to be more than a small footnote in history.

Another man whose honor was rightfully recognized is Alwyn Cashe.

Alwyn has been a recent figure of controversy. He was awarded a Silver Star. Sgt. Cashe in October 2005 was in a vehicle that hit an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The vehicle burst into flames. Cashe lept into the burning vehicle to save 6 fellow soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter. He did this with his uniform soaked in fuel, which caused him to burst into flames. Despite severe burns to 72% of his body he continued to rescue fellow soldiers. Cashe died shortly thereafter from his injuries.

Cashe’s MOH award was missed due to “fog of war”. His command initially did not know how sever his injuries were. Everyone that could have provided stats were severely wounded and evacuated out of the war zone. His battalion commander who rose through the ranks to Lt. General kept pushing as did the injured he saved.

President Biden awarded his widow the MOH on 16 December 2021. In attendance was Andrew Cashe, Alwyn’s son. Andrew is a recent graduate of the army’s infantry school, following in his father’s footsteps.

We are all lucky men of honor like Martin Luther King, Robert Sweeney, Alwyn Cashe and Ray lived.

Story ideas, comments, highlight a veteran or anything contact me at 11btwk@gmail.com.