Paul Ray Smith – United States Army
From:Wikipedia
“Paul Ray Smith (September 24, 1969 – April 4, 2003) was a United States Army Sergeant First Class who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving with B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, Iraq. Smith’s actions in Iraq were the most recent actions for which a Medal of Honor was awarded. He was also the first recipient of the Medal of Honor Flag.
…As the battle ended, Smith’s machine gun fell silent. His comrades found him slumped in the turret hatch. His armored vest was peppered with 13 bullet holes, the vest’s ceramic armor inserts, both front and back, cracked in numerous places. But the fatal shot, one of the last from the tower, had entered his neck and passed through the brain, killing SFC Smith.
…Sometime before the battle Smith had written, but not sent, an email to his parents. In it he wrote, “there are two ways to come home, stepping off the plane and being carried off the plane… it doesn’t matter how I come home, because I am prepared to give all that I am to insure that all my boys make it home.””