SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Central Florida veteran who died saving his fellow soldiers is a major step closer to receiving the nation’s highest honor.
Introduced by Florida Representatives Stephanie Murphy and Michael Waltz, President Donald Trump signed a bipartisan bill into law Friday authorizing U.S. Army Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe to posthumously receive the Medal of Honor for actions he carried out while deployed in Iraq in 2005.
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The bill waives a federal law that required a Medal of Honor to be awarded within five years of the actions for which the honor is being given.
The next step is for the Department of Defense to formally recommend to the President that he award SFC Cashe the Medal of Honor.
Reps. Murphy, Waltz, and Texas Republican Dan Crenshaw have already written to Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, urging him to move forward with the recommendation. From there, it’s up to the President to award the medal.
On October 17, 2005, SFC Cashe was in a Bradley fighting vehicle just north of Baghdad, along the Tigris River, when his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.
BREAKING NEWS: President @realDonaldTrump has signed the bill to award Alwyn Cashe the Medal of Honor!
— Rep. Michael Waltz (@RepMichaelWaltz) December 5, 2020
Proud to fight for his recognition in Congress with @RepStephMurphy and @RepDanCrenshaw. Thank you, @realDonaldTrump for honoring this American hero. 🇺🇸
Cashe, while on fire himself and open to enemy gunfire, repeatedly returned to the burning vehicle, pulling six men and an Iraqi interpreter to safety.
“He pulled them out as he got to them, because they were his boys...they were his men,” Cashe’s sister Kasinal White recalls.
A month later, Cashe died of his injuries.
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BREAKING: The President just signed into law my bipartisan bill with @RepMichaelWaltz to authorize SFC #AlwynCashe to receive the Medal of Honor. Now all that remains is for the Defense Department to make the formal recommendation and for the President to make the award.
— Rep. Stephanie Murphy (@RepStephMurphy) December 5, 2020
In 2014, the army named its newest Army Reserve center in Sanford after him.
SFC Cashe was born in Sanford and raised in Oviedo, both of which are in Rep. Murphy’s congressional district.
Cox Media Group
