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Fallen staff sgt. to receive Silver Star

Even as he lay dying, Staff Sgt. William C. Moore directed rescuers to first go save his men.

Moore had helped repulse a relentless attack on a patrol base in Iraq and saved the lives of fellow paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division. For his bravery, the 82nd was to posthumously award Moore the Silver Star in a March 21 ceremony in North Carolina.

Events that would bring him the nation’s third-highest award for valor began about 3 p.m. April 23 of last year, when the first of two enemy truck bombs penetrated the defensive barriers of the patrol base outside of Baqubah, the award citation states.

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The Silver Star citation

Paratroopers in a rooftop position opened fire on the enemy vehicle just before it exploded.

The blast sent Moore flying out of the building, but he wasn’t down for long.

The reconnaissance troop section leader for B Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, “quickly regained his footing and ignored his own wounds, as well as the enemy fire now impacting around him, and took of charge of several paratroopers at his location,” the citation reads.

“Moore, without regard for his own safety, exposed himself to enemy fire that was now coming from three separate directions on the rooftops surrounding the patrol base, rapidly organized his ad-hoc element, moved them to a covered position ... and then physically directed their fires in order to suppress the enemy.”

Refusing medical attention, Moore then rushed back to the building that had been struck by the truck bomb to check on the safety of several paratroopers who had been occupying that position, the citation states. He ran from his covered position under heavy enemy fire and re-entered the building in an attempt to “rally his paratroopers and move them to a safe location,” the citation reads.

That’s when the enemy launched a second bomb attack.

“As soon as SSG Moore entered the room, the building was struck by a second vehicle borne improvised explosive device, causing the whole building to collapse upon the paratroopers that remained inside,” the citation reads.

Other members of the unit rushed to the site to find a severely wounded Moore still trying to help his men.

“Moore, though mortally wounded, was able to alert the rescuers to his and another paratrooper’s location by calling out and fighting to push the rubble off himself and his buried paratroopers,” the citation reads. “Moore’s heroic actions were directly responsible for preventing further casualties to his platoon, safeguarding his wounded paratroopers and rallying his section until he was mortally wounded.”

It was Moore’s second combat tour in Iraq.