Throughout his State of the Union deal with Tuesday, President Donald Trump awarded two Congressional Medals of Honor, the nation’s highest ornament for valor in fight — one for heroism from greater than 70 years in the past and the opposite for heroism in the latest U.S. army motion.
One of many recipients was Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, a particular operations helicopter pilot severely wounded within the raid that captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. As Slover’s Chinook swept in, rounds fired from the bottom tore via the cockpit and into his legs and hip.
“Eric was hit very badly within the leg and hip, one bullet after one other. He absorbed 4 agonizing photographs, shredding his leg into quite a few items,” Trump stated as Slover stood with the help of a walker.
Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover receives the Congressional Medal of Honor throughout President Donald Trump’s State of the Union deal with throughout a Joint Session of Congress on the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
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Slover was offered the award by Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, the commander of U.S. Particular Operations Command, a break from custom during which the president personally presents the award.
In latest many years, the assessment and awarding the Medal of Honor comes after exhaustive critiques and interviews with witnesses that may drag on for years. That had change into the norm with heroic actions that occurred within the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
However the announcement of Slover’s award marks a break with that sample as he was awarded the medal simply 52 days after his mission, a brief turnaround just like what was seen in World Struggle II.
First woman Melania Trump offered the second Medal of Honor to retired Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams, a 100-year-old retired Navy captain whose extraordinary dogfight in the course of the Korean Struggle remained labeled for many years, even to his spouse, because the encounter may have ignited World Struggle III.
“At 100 years outdated, this courageous Navy captain is lastly getting the popularity he deserves,” Trump stated. “He was a legend lengthy earlier than this night.”
First Woman Melania Trump presents US veteran Captain E. Royce Williams with the Medal of Honor throughout US President Donald Trump’s the State of the Union deal with within the Home Chamber of the US Capitol in Washington, Feb. 24, 2026.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Pictures
In keeping with Navy data, on Nov. 18, 1952, in the course of the Korean Struggle, Williams launched from an plane provider on what was purported to be a routine patrol. Then got here a warning that seven MiG-15s have been inbound. The three different American plane in Williams’ formation have been unable to have interaction with the MiGs.
The MiGs he confronted have been Soviet plane flown by Soviet pilots at a time when the Soviet Union was not formally a combatant within the battle. Public acknowledgment of the conflict risked escalating into direct confrontation between nuclear powers, a step that, in 1952, many feared may ignite a 3rd world struggle.
What adopted was 30-minutes of aerial fight. By the point it ended, he had shot down 4 enemy jets. His personal plane, a F9F-5 Panther, was riddled with greater than 250 bullet holes, but he managed to information it again to the provider and land safely on deck.
There was no celebration ready for Williams. As a substitute, he was advised he couldn’t talk about what had occurred and the encounter was instantly labeled. He did not even inform his spouse till the Nineteen Nineties, when the data of the combat have been declassified.
ABC Information’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
