Colonel James H. Coffman Jr., U.S. Army: When Iraqi insurgents overran a police station in Mosul on Nov. 14, 2004, Col. Coffman was the only American on site. Coffman was an advisor to the 1st Iraqi Special Police Commando Brigade when they were attacked, killing or severely wounding all but one of the Iraqi officers. Coffman radioed for reinforcements and organized the defense. An enemy round wounded Coffman his shooting hand, destroying his rifle, but he picked up weapons from the wounded Iraqi commandos and used his other hand to help stave off the insurgents for four hours, until another Iraqi commando unit arrived. Even then, Col. Coffman continued the fight, directing air strikes and overseeing the evacuation of the wounded Iraqi commandos. In July 2005, he told CBS’s Kimberly Dozier that the Iraqi trainees trust him because he stayed and fought with them. "I said to myself, ‘I’m not going to let these men die,’" he told Dozier. For his "exceptionally valorous conduct," Coffman was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on August 26, 2005.
Sergeant Jarrett A. Kraft, U.S. Marine Corps: According to his citation, on the morning of December 23, 2004, Kraft was leading a group of Marines in a dense residential area of Fallujah when his group was attacked by "numerically superior insurgent forces." Sgt. Kraft engineered a counterattack, placing himself between his men and "intense enemy fire." Kraft received shrapnel wounds from an insurgent grenade that killed one of his men, but continued to lead his men. According to an account in the Fresno Bee, "When the gunfight ended, Kraft and his men had retrieved three fallen Marines, killed 28 insurgents and wounded many more. He had also personally saved the lives of several other Marines wounded during the firefight." Awarded the Navy Cross on May 11, 2006, Kraft said, "It is a great honor. But this medal means nothing to me because those Marines are gone....I’ll never forget them."
