Soldier to receive Medal of Honor after helping save 70 captives from execution by Islamic State

[Mary B]

 

 

Soldier to receive Medal of Honor after helping save 70 captives from execution by Islamic State

Alex Horton 2 hrs ago

 

 

The team of elite U.S. Army soldiers had already freed dozens of captives at the Islamic State compound when an urgent plea crackled over the radio: Another team nearby on the roof of a burning building was taking enemy fire from multiple sides.

Thomas P. Payne, now a sergeant major in the Army, in Afghanistan in 2014. (U.S. Army)

1st Sgt. Thomas P. Payne peered through his night-vision goggles in the predawn hours of Oct. 22, 2015, midway through a daring prisoner rescue in northern Iraq. A fellow soldier had already been shot. “Let’s get into the fight,” he told another soldier before climbing a ladder to reach the rooftop, then dropping grenades and firing down through holes to the floor below.

Then came the earsplitting staccato of detonating suicide vests, shaking the building’s foundation.

The next step, Payne and the team understood, was to enter the building, where dozens more prisoners were still trapped.

Payne, now a sergeant major, will receive the highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, in a White House ceremony Friday for his role in the rescue operation to free about 70 captives, in which he led many out and went back in for one last man.

The award will make Payne, 36, the first recipient of the award in the fight against the Islamic State and the first living Delta Force recipient since the counterterror unit’s creation in the late 1970s.

Army Sgt. Maj. Thomas P. Payne. (U.S. Army)

The Army has said the mission was one of the largest rescue operations in history. It was partially captured on the helmet camera of a Kurdish soldier, which shows Payne in a doorway leading a stream of captives out before going back to look for other survivors.

“I don’t consider myself a recipient,” Payne told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday ahead of the ceremony, describing custody of the award. “I consider myself a guardian.”

In 2015, when Islamic State militants controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria, intelligence suggested freshly dug graves outside the compound were preparations for a mass execution of mostly Iraqi soldiers and police in the northern town of Hawijah.

The U.S. soldiers on the mission were part of the Army’s secretive unit commonly known as Delta Force, The Washington Post previously reported, alongside elite Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers. The Army doesn’t publicly disclose the members of the unit, formally known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, but a defense official confirmed Payne served in the unit when the mission occurred.

The combined team took immediate fire after unloading from a Chinook helicopter, Payne recounted in a video, and his team carried ladders to climb over the compound wall. Soon after, Delta operator Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was shot rushing toward the enemy, and a medic with Payne moved up to care for his wounds.

Payne’s team met some resistance in the first building before finding the padlocked door of a large prison cell. The team snapped the locks with bolt cutters and opened the door to see more than 30 prisoners illuminated by their flashlights.

The call for help blared over the radio from the other team on top of the building in flames. Payne and his team climbed up top and fired through holes at Islamic State fighters, some of whom screamed at him before detonating suicide vests, Payne said. The team climbed back down, snapping the locks off another door while taking fire from barricaded fighters.

A depiction of the 2015 rescue operation in Iraq. (Staff Sgt. Jerrod Sullivan/U.S. Army Special Operations Command)

After killing the fighters, the team found another cell with dozens more captives. Then came a warning over the radio. The building was beginning to collapse, and a mandatory evacuation order was given.

The next moments were captured on the helmet camera of a Kurdish soldier, who fired into a window as the fire raged. Coalition soldiers emerged out of the doorway followed by several hostages running toward the waiting helicopters. But the stream of men abruptly stopped, blocked by a disoriented captive in the hall.

Payne burst through the doorway and waved the rest of the captives through “like a third base coach,” he said, with at least 30 men sprinting to safety, including some with blood on their clothing. Payne reentered the building to grab one final prisoner.

There were so many now-freed captives on the helicopters that the team had to stand during the flight back to Irbil, Payne said.

About 70 captives were freed and 20 enemy fighters were killed, the Army said. Wheeler died of his injuries, becoming the first service member to be killed in combat in Iraq after the 2011 troop pullout.

Payne enlisted in 2002, months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and has deployed 17 times, the Army said, including to Afghanistan in 2010, when a grenade shattered his knee. He grew up in small South Carolina towns, including Batesburg-Leesville, west of Columbia.

Two other Delta Force soldiers have received the Medal of Honor, though their awards were given posthumously.

Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and Sgt. 1st Class Randall Shughart asked to be inserted at the site of a helicopter crash in Mogadishu in October 1993 to recover wounded soldiers in the “Black Hawk Down” battle.

Both were killed defending pilot Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Durant. Their actions were credited by the Army for Durant’s survival when he was captured alive and later released.

Read more:

Pentagon poised to award Medal of Honor to Alwyn Cashe, who died after saving fellow soldiers in Iraq

 

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[Mary B]

Army Soldier To Receive Medal Of Honor For Saving Dozens Of ISIS Hostages Facing Execution

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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Kaylee Greenlee Reporter

September 10, 202012:13 PM ET

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An Army sergeant major who rescued around 75 hostages from being executed by ISIS fighters in Iraq will be awarded the Medal of Honor on Friday, the U.S. Army announced on Tuesday.

 

Sgt. Maj. Thomas “Patrick” Payne ran through a burning building and enemy gunfire with a pair of bolt cutters to free the hostages during a rescue mission, according to the Army.

Payne, 36, was sent home from Iraq after a grenade blast shattered one of his knees in the summer of 2010, according to the Army. He made a full recovery while in his parent’s care and returned to the Army in 2015 when he and others rescued the hostages from ISIS fighters.

“There comes a time when sympathy is over,” Payne said, the Army reported. “It’s time to get to work and get back out there.”

 

 

 

Sgt. Maj. Thomas “Patrick” Payne, who risked his life to save dozens of hostages facing imminent execution by ISIS fighters will be awarded the Medal of Honor. #MOH @CJTFOIR https://t.co/r8Hprhm5ll

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 8, 2020

Payne’s unit was deployed in Iraq when they received an alert from the Kurdish Regional Government that Iraqi security forces had been captured and were facing execution by ISIS fighters inside a Hawija prison, according to the Army.

“Our partners came to us for assistance and we’re not going to let them down,” Payne said., according to the Army. “Time was of the essence. There were freshly dug graves. If we didn’t action this raid, then the hostages were likely to be executed.”

The unit was given a week to plan the rescue mission, which took place on Oct. 22, 2015, according to the Army.

Payne’s unit cleared the building and freed around 40 hostages before responding to a request for backup from the other half of the group who faced heavy enemy fire, according to the Army.

 

Payne ran through the burning building under enemy fire with a pair of bolt cutters to free the remaining hostages, according to the Army.

“My focus was the hostages,” Payne said, according to the Army. “That was our mission.”

#BenningsBest Sgt. Maj. Thomas “Patrick” Payne will receive the U.S. military’s highest honor for valor in combat in a White House ceremony on Friday, September 11. To read more about Payne’s heroic actions, visit https://t.co/L1x77dcVrm @PatDonahoeArmy @PaulFunk2 @TRADOC @USArmy

— US Army Fort Benning (@FortBenning) September 9, 2020

Payne attempted to enlist with the Marine Corps shortly after the 9/11 attacks when he was 17-years-old, though his mom would not sign his waiver, the Army reported. (RELATED: 9/11 Moment Of Silence Moved Up Because Obama Was Impatient)

“As a kid, I wanted to be like a G.I. Joe,” Payne said, according to the Army. “I was always fascinated with the military.”

Payne decided to join the Army after seeing highlights from the Army’s Best Ranger Competition on ESPN just before his 18th birthday, according to the Army. His recruiters reportedly told Payne, “you were our last pick, we didn’t expect you to make it.”

“I was given an opportunity and sometimes that’s all you need to prove yourself,” Payne said, according to the Army.

Payne went on to win the Army’s Best Ranger Competition in 2012, according to the Army.

 

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[Mary B]

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