The Military Inexperienced Beret Sergeant First Class Daniel H. Petithory Award was established in honor of the primary Bay State soldier to die in the course of the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In response to his Silver Star medal quotation awarded posthumously, Petithory was deployed to Afghanistan shortly after the terrorist assaults of September 11 and was assigned to the third Battalion of the U.S. Military’s fifth Particular Forces Group when he was killed by pleasant fireplace on December 5, 2021.
The Cheshire, Massachusetts, native was among the many first U.S. navy members to die in the course of the early days of the struggle in Afghanistan.
Petithory died after demonstrating “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action in the face of overwhelming odds and direct hostile aggression as the Communications Sergeant of Operational Detachment Alpha 374,” based on the medal quotation.
“Sergeant First Class Petithory’s exceptional courage, dedication to mission and personal sacrifice directly contributed to the current success of both Chairman Hamid Karzai and the Northern Alliance’s defeat of Taliban Forces. Sergeant First Class Petithory’s remarkable performance and selfless commitment to his fellow comrades in arms serves as the standard for others to emulate,” the award quotation reads, partially.
Petithory, a Inexperienced Beret, was already serving abroad in Kazakhstan when the Sept. 11 assaults occurred. He was 32 when he was killed Dec. 5, 2001, simply north of the Arghandab River in Kandahar, after a misguided 2,000-pound U.S. bomb was dropped on high of his unit’s command put up.
Modern reporting signifies that the GBU-31 Joint Direct Assault Munition, or J.D.A.M, was erroneously dropped on a pleasant place from a coalition B-52 bomber after the bottom operator calling for shut air help modified the batteries in his GPS gadget, inflicting the goal location to default to his place.
Additionally killed that day had been Grasp Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, of Tennessee and Employees Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28, of California. Now-former, then-future President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was within the midst of a gathering with U.S. Particular Forces on the time, and was injured within the bombing.
“Three of our soldiers were killed by an inadvertent bomb and our prayers and sympathies go to the families. And I want the families to know that they died for a noble and just cause; that the fight against terror is noble and it’s just; and they defend freedom. And for that, we’re grateful,” former U.S. President George W. Bush stated in 2001.
In response to data supplied by the U.S. Military Particular Forces Command Historical past Workplace and located in his obituary, Petithory first enlisted in 1987, signing as much as function a navy policeman. He was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama earlier than task to Fort McClelland, Alabama, and later volunteered for particular forces coaching.
After graduating the Particular Forces Qualification Course in 1992, Petithory was assigned to the fifth Particular Forces Group in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
