Profiles of Valor: 1SG Leigh Ann Hester (USA)

Leigh Ann Hester, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, was the first female Silver Star recipient since World War II and one of only nine to receive the award in history.

She is the first recipient recognized for engaging the enemy in combat. In her case, she was cited for valor in close-quarters combat for her actions in responding to an ambush on a convoy in Iraq. She was Team Leader for RAVEN 42B in the 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 18th Military Police Brigade, stationed at Camp Liberty.

Hester, now 43, enlisted in the Army in April 2001 at age 19. She says: “I joined the military because it was a childhood dream. I always looked up to seeing anybody in uniform, especially a woman in uniform, because it was rare. Police officer or a female Soldier, I always wanted to be that person.”
On March 20, 2005, the convoy the 617th MP Company was protecting was ambushed by more than 50 insurgent fighters using RPK machine guns, AK-47s, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). In the initial assault, the insurgents also hit and disabled one of the MP Humvees.

After the attack began, then-SGT Hester directed her fire team through intense enemy fire into a flanking position where she and her squad leader, SSG Timothy Nein, began what would be a deadly 30-minute firefight. They first assaulted and cleared two trench lines of insurgents with their M203 grenade launcher and hand grenades. They continued the defense of the convoy on foot, along with platoon medic Specialist Jason Mike, who used both an M4 carbine and an M249 SAW machine gun, and they successfully defeated the insurgents.