Book Falls Short in Honoring Unsung Heroes

Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith is credited with saving dozens of lives. His family received his posthumous Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony last month. (U.s. Army Via Associated Press)

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By Ann Scott Tyson

Thursday, May 18, 2006

HOME OF THE BRAVE

Honoring the Unsung Heroes in the War on Terror

By Caspar W. Weinberger and Wynton C. Hall

Forge. 320 pp. $26

In this posthumously published book, former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger has a worthy aim -- to illuminate heroic acts by U.S. soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen decorated for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, its execution is disappointing.

A few of the 19 service members profiled here have been written about extensively -- such as Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, a Medal of Honor recipient who was killed by enemy fire in a battle in which he saved the lives of more than 100 fellow soldiers near Baghdad in April 2003, and Army National Guard Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, the military police soldier who fought off an ambush on her convoy in March 2005, becoming the first woman in decades to be awarded a Silver Star.

Many others, however, are less familiar to most Americans despite their uncommon acts of courage under fire, and their stories deserve to be told.

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