President Honors MOH Recipients

Earlier this year, President Donald J. Trump bestowed the nation's highest military award for valor on five veterans of U.S. conflicts that included World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

On Feb. 24, during his State of the Union address, the President awarded the Medal of Honor (MOH) to Korean War veteran and retired Navy Capt. Elmer Royce Williams and Army Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, who served in Operation Absolute Resolve, the recent mission to remove and indict Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

At a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, less than a week later, on March 2, Trump also awarded the MOH to soldiers Master Sgt. Roderick W. Edmonds, Staff Sgt. Michael H. Ollis and retired Command Sgt. Maj. Terry P. Richardson.

Richardson, a 78-year-old Vietnam War veteran who retired from the Army in 2008, attended the ceremony.

Edmonds, a WWII veteran who died in 1985 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Ollis, killed in 2013 in Afghanistan while shielding a Polish officer from a suicide bomber, received their honors posthumously.

DEFIANT AT GERMAN POW CAMP
A master sergeant with the 106th Infantry Division, Edmonds was captured by the Germans during the infamous Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, after only six days at the Siegfried Line in Belgium.

Edmonds was sent to a POW camp where American soldiers faced harsh conditions and starvation. On Jan. 27, 1945, a month after being captured, he was ordered, as the highest-ranking American NCO at Stalag IX-A, to single out about 200 Jewish soldiers during a roll call.

Edmonds, however, ordered all 1,275 prisoners to stand in solidarity. When the German commander objected, Edmonds famously declared, "We are all Jews."

Later, in March 1945, as the war neared its end, the German troops ordered Edmonds and all other POWs in their camp to march in harsh weather conditions at the inevitable expense of their lives.

Aware of this, Edmonds again defied orders, this time ordering his fellow POWs to run back into the barracks where they had been kept.

This denouncement of German orders led the captors to relent after several hours, leaving Edmonds and all other POWs stranded at the camp, where the Army's 6th Armored Division eventually rescued them on March 30.

SACRIFICING HIMSELF FOR OTHERS
Assigned to the Army's 10th Mountain Division's 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, Ollis, 24, was at Forward Operating Base Ghazni in Afghanistan's Ghazni province on Aug. 28, 2013, when the base was ambushed.

Following an enemy attack that included multiple vehicle bombs, suicide bombers, as well as indirect and small arms fire, Ollis ordered his fellow soldiers to move into bunkers and seek shelter from enemy fire. He then re-entered a building to check for casualties, moving toward the enemy forces that had penetrated the base's perimeter.

Under continuous fire from small arms, rockets and grenade launchers, Ollis and his comrades shifted from position to position, engaging the enemy with accurate and effective fire.

During the battle, Ollis sacrificed himself by stepping in front of a wounded Polish soldier to protect him from a suicide bomber. Ollis's brave actions were credited with saving several lives.

CALLED TO LEAD IN BATTLE
Richardson, a member of A Co., 1st Bn., 28th Inf. Regt., 1st Inf. Div., was serving as squad leader for 1st Platoon on Sept. 14, 1968, near the Cambodian border. He became the platoon leader after his radio telephone operator was killed during a clearing operation.

During a reconnaissance mission near Loc Ninh, Richardson's unit engaged a well-entrenched North Vietnamese battalion with intense automatic weapons and small-arms fire.

Richardson led his troops through a hail of hostile rounds, deploying his men into defensive positions while directing suppressive fire and dragging three wounded soldiers to safety amid the attack.

Surrounded, he recognized that only accurate tactical air strikes could prevent them from being overrun.

Richardson climbed Hill 222 to call in airstrikes from a shallow irrigation ditch protected by rubber trees. He identified the enemy as a large regimental base of the 7th North Vietnamese Army Division.

Communicating directly with pilots, he began calling in airstrikes.

After an hour, Richardson was wounded in the right leg by a sniper but continued guiding pilots for seven more hours, calling approximately 32 airstrikes until the enemy retreated. His actions saved 85 lives.

FIGHTING IN THE SKIES OF NORTH KOREA
Williams joined the Navy in August 1943 as an aviation cadet and became a naval aviator by the end of WWII.

He also served in Korea and Vietnam, flying more than 220 combat missions before retiring as a captain in 1975.

Best known for his actions on Nov. 18, 1952, Williams received the MOH for his participation in a 35-minute dogfight against seven Soviet MIG-15s while serving off the coast of North Korea aboard the USS Oriskany.

When a team aboard the cruiser USS Helena reported that a flight of Soviet MiGs had departed Vladivostok and were headed toward the Oriskany in possible retaliation for a U.S. strike against a North Korean target near the Soviet border, Williams departed from the Oriskany with two other F9Fs to meet the MiGs in the sky. On intercepting the MiGs, Williams engaged in combat with seven of them. He inflicted heavy damage on two before his own aircraft was severely damaged by a direct hit from one of the remaining MiGs.

Williams evaded further enemy attacks while continuing to lead the dogfight. He eventually found cover in a cloud bank, broke off the engagement, and managed to land his nearly uncontrollable aircraft back on the Oriskany.

His exceptional airmanship led to the destruction of three enemy MiG-15s and severe damage to a fourth, which helped save the lives of hundreds of Task Force 77 sailors aboard the Oriskany.

MULTIPLE ROUNDS AT CLOSE RANGE
Slover received the MOH for his actions on Jan. 3, 2026, during a mission in Venezuela in support of Operation Absolute Resolve.

A member of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Slover piloted his MH-47 helicopter as the lead aircraft in a mission to extract Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, tasked with doing so through hostile Integrated Air Defense Systems.

After landing in the designated landing zone, Slover's aircraft was immediately shot at by multiple machine gun positions at close range. The hostile fire resulted in 15 armor-piercing rounds entering his cockpit, with four rounds striking his leg.

Despite intense enemy fire, Slover maintained situational awareness to ensure the safe infiltration of ground forces. After the forces disembarked, he identifi ed the hostile heavy machine gun positions engaging his aircraft and targeting his ground forces. He maneuvered the aircraft to enable his door gunner to fire and neutralize the threats, which he accomplished.

Slover's sacrifice saved soldiers' lives and contributed to the operation's success.

This article is featured in the 2026 July/August issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Ismael Rodriguez Jr., associate editor for VFW magazine.