| Patriotic Photos June 23, 2005 | | |
 | June 16, 2005... Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, vehicle commander, 617th Military Police Company, Richmond, Ky., stands at attention before receiving the Silver Star at an awards ceremony at Camp Liberty, Iraq. (Hester is the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star.) Photo by Spc. Jeremy D. CrispThe heroic facts... Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester (23), vehicle commander, 617th Military Police Company, Richmond, KY Hester's squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti-Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester led her team through the "kill zone" and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. She and Nein, her squad leader, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle. When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured. (Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike were also awarded the Silver Star, for valor in this action.) |
|  | 2002 Floral Flag... Close to Vandenberg AFB (Aerial photo courtesy of Bill Morson) Dimensions of the flag... 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions, as described in Executive Order #10834. It covers 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars, comprised of White Larkspur. Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; each Stripe is 30 feet wide. This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants, with 4-5 flower stems each, for a total of more than 2 million flowers. You can drive by this flag on V Street south of Ocean Ave. in Lompoc, CA. Note... Between the fields where the flag is planted, there are 9+ miles of flower fields that go all the way to the ocean. (The flowers are grown by seed companies.) |
|  | 06/21/05 Quarter Master 2nd Class Nicholas Povlow from Houston, Texax, photographs the sunset from the bridge of USS Cowpens (CG 63). Accompanying USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) and other ships of the Kitty Hawk strike carrier strike group, Cowpens is a multi-mission, anti-air warfare, anti-submarine, long-range strike and anti-surface warfare combatant. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Bo Flannigan |
|  | 06/22/05 Deck department boat crew Sailors hold all lines steady while their rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) is hoisted back aboard USS Cowpens. A standard shipboard boat, RHIBs can be quickly launched for personnel rescue or for transportation to other ships. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Bo Flannigan |
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