Four members of the Nebraska National Guard were presented with the Air Medal with Valor for heroism displayed while rescuing a wounded U.S. Special Forces soldier near Sangin, Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Feb. 9, according to DVIDS.

Family, friends and fellow soldiers gathered at Joint Force Headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Saturday to witness Chief Warrant Office 3 William Score, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Hector Lima-Bermudez, Staff Sgt. Matthew Hawke, and Sgt. Jared Cornell being presented with the award by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts.

"They exemplify the best spirit and standings of the United State Army," Ricketts said during the award ceremony. "They worked together as a team and their cohesion, effort, determination is something you only see in the military… that willingness to sacrifice for each other."

The soldiers — members of Company G, 2-104th General Support Aviation Battalion — were serving a 10-month deployment to Afghanistan assigned to a UH-60 Blackhawk when they were dispatched to evacuate a wounded Special Forces soldier.

The Blackhawk crew came under heavy enemy fire as they approached the landing zone. Despite taking fire from machine guns and mortars, the aviators evacuated the wounded soldier. In the wake of the mission, it was discovered the helicopter had been penetrated by at least one round that passed within inches of the crew.

"The crew could've, quite frankly, made the decision that there was too much risk to the helicopter," said Col. John Cyrulik, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, commander of the U.S. Army's "Task Force Nightmare."

"Without hesitation, so that others might live, the crew swept in at low altitude and at high speed, surrounded by dust and chaos and explosions, and landed in broad daylight in an area that would only fit one aircraft," he said. 

Mackenzie Wolf is an editorial intern for Military Times.

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