10/25/2020
💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
🎖 HITS will always pay respect to our American Heroes.
🎖 Their life is carried on through our memories and acts of honor that pay tribute to the fallen.
🎖 NEVER FORGET
John 15:13
Specialist Fourth Class Noble Steeley jumped off his huey in a hot LZ to rescue two wounded soldiers. After retrieving one, the enemy fire forced the huey to take off. Rather than leave the last wounded soldier alone on the ground, surrounded by NVA, Steeley elected to stay. For nearly two hours, Steeley fought off enemy soldiers and called in air support, until a friendly unit finally arrived and drove off the overwhelming force. For his incredible heroism and bravery, Steeley was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Steeley remained in the Army, retiring as a Sergeant First Class. In addition to his DSC, he received a Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He passed away from lung cancer at age 49.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
"...serving with Troop A, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Specialist Four Steeley distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous actions on 20 August 1968 while serving as a helicopter door gunner on a combat mission near Quang Tri. When several attempts to evacuate three wounded soldiers had failed, Specialist Steeley volunteered to go to their assistance. Inserted under heavy fire less than twenty meters from the communists, he ran to the men and found that two were still alive. He placed one of the wounded in the helicopter, but intense hostile fire forced the ship to leave before the other injured man could be brought aboard. Refusing to re-enter the helicopter, Specialist Steeley stayed with the remaining wounded man for an hour and forty-five minutes, while under continuous fire from positions as close as fifteen feet. During this time he directed helicopter gunships to the enemy positions and before a ground unit finally reached him, he had killed six of the aggressors."
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀