December 16, 2021
By News Director Jared Atha
President Joe Biden on Thursday awarded the Medal of Honor — the country’s highest military award for valor — to three U.S. soldiers for their conspicuous gallantry in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One of the recipients is from right here in western Oklahoma.
Master Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee, who was born in Clinton, received the honor for the actions he took as he engaged insurgents at a U.S. base near Ghazni, Afghanistan on August 28, 2013.
Plumlee joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1998, and following his high school graduation from Merritt High School in 2000, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served until 2008. In 2009, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
In Afghanistan, when insurgents blew a sixty-foot breach in the base’s perimeter wall and poured into the base, wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests, Plumlee sprung into action.
Along with five special operations members, Plumlee mounted two vehicles and raced to the detonation site. Plumlee engaged the insurgents — killing two of them, one with a well-placed grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent’s suicide vest using precision sniper fire, according to the White House.
At one point, Plumlee ran to a mortally wounded soldier, with no regard for his own safety, and brought him to safety, rendering first aid.
President Joe Biden recognized Plumlee’s actions during Thursday’s ceremony.
Plumlee currently serves as a Senior Weapons Sergeant with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Forces Group at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Copyright 2021 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
