Trump awards Medal of Honor to 3 U.S. Army soldiers, 2 posthumously oan

OAN Staff Sophia Flores 
5:16 PM – Monday, March 2, 2026

President Donald Trump has awarded the Medal of Honor to three U.S. Army soldiers whose courage and sacrifice exemplify the highest ideals of service to the nation.

Those honored on Monday include Sergeant Terry P. Richardson, Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis, and Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds, representing generations of service members from World War II, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.

On September 12, 1968, Richardson, the only living recipient among those honored by Trump, repeatedly risked his life under enemy fire during a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam.

Richardson and the 102 men of Alpha Company were deployed to secure Hill 222, deep within enemy territory. They were walking into a trap, unaware the hill was honeycombed with hundreds of hidden bunkers. However, the silence didn’t last long — as they were soon pinned down by a lethal barrage of machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

According to President Trump and U.S. military officials, Richardson showed extraordinary courage, exposing himself to enemy fire three times to drag wounded soldiers back to his unit. Knowing they were surrounded, he also braved heavy fire to reach the top of a hill, where he called in airstrikes to help save 82 of his fellow soldiers. He realized this was their only chance of survival because it was the only area where he could get a radio signal.

After the enemy forces fled, Richardson was found alive and declined medical evacuation so he could remain with his fellow soldiers. Ultimately, his heroism that day saved the lives of 85 men.

Two members from his Alpha Company were in attendance, marking the heartwarming occasion with a solemn show of solidarity for their former unit.

Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds and Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis were both given the award posthumously.

While a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany, Edmonds was ordered by German officers to single out the 200 Jewish American soldiers during morning roll call. The Germans had reduced rations to only one loaf of bread for every 10 men and planned to separate the Jewish prisoners.

However, rather than complying, the master sergeant ordered his fellow 1,275 POWs to assemble outside of their barracks. When confronted, Edmonds reportedly told the commandant, “We are all Jews here,” adding that if he wanted to shoot the Jews, he would have to shoot all of the prisoners — a bold act that saved up to 300 Jewish American soldiers from a likely execution.

For the rest of his life, Edmonds remained silent about the encounter, carrying the secret to his grave in 1985. It wasn’t until his son, Chris, began sorting through his father’s wartime diaries that the extraordinary story surfaced. Intrigued by the brief mentions of his father’s time as a POW, Chris tracked down several of the Jewish servicemen his father had protected. They not only confirmed the account but credited Edmonds with saving their lives.

On August 28, 2013, during a coordinated Taliban assault in Afghanistan, a suicide car bomb breached the perimeter of a coalition base. In the immediate aftermath of the explosion, 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis prioritized his team, quickly accounting for his soldiers and checking for casualties.

Once his men were secure, he sprinted toward the breach and the sound of incoming fire.

Disregarding his own safety, Ollis joined Polish Lieutenant Karol Cierpica to confront the attackers. Both men moved toward the threat without their personal protective equipment, armed only with their rifles. During the engagement, Ollis realized Cierpica had been wounded and was unable to walk.

As an insurgent closed in, Ollis deliberately positioned himself between the attacker and the fallen Polish officer. Though Ollis shot and incapacitated the insurgent, the attacker’s suicide vest detonated as Ollis approached. He was killed in the blast and did not survive.

President Trump invited Cierpica to the podium on Monday to speak about the man who had given his life to save his own.

“A soldier is not something you are from time to time. It is who you are forever,” Cierpica said, later adding, “I am deeply moved, happy and grateful to God.”

Cierpica also told the crowd that he named his own son, Michael, after Ollis, and when addressing members of Ollis’ family by name who were in the audience, he referred to them as “my second family from Staten Island” and described the United States as his “second homeland.”