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Nov 83 min read

This Day in History: Alwyn Cashe's sacrifice

On this day in 2005, a hero succumbs to his injuries. Sergeant First Class Alwyn C. Cashe had saved several of his fellow soldiers from a burning Bradley Fighting Vehicle mere weeks earlier.

 

Cashe has been described as “an example of what being a Dogface Soldier is all about—selfless service.” His friend, 1st Lt. James “Jimmy” Ryan, would remember Cashe as a man who was “tough and competitive” and “just wouldn’t quit. . . . he cared about the mission, he cared about getting things done, and he cared about taking care of his people.”


Which is exactly what Cashe did on October 17, 2005, near Samarra, Iraq.

 

Our soldiers were then on what should have been a routine, nighttime patrol. Two Bradley Fighting Vehicles—Alphas 12 and 13—and their crews were working together.

 

Suddenly, Alpha 13 came under attack. Enemy small-arms fire rained down, and an improvised explosive device struck the vehicle. Alpha 13 caught fire as it rolled to a stop.

 

Alpha 12 returned the enemy fire, but Alpha 13 was in trouble. The ammunition aboard the vehicle had ignited, too.

 

Cashe was in Alpha 13’s gun turret that night. He suffered only minor wounds at first, but he could see that the rest of the crew was in trouble. For starters, the driver of the vehicle was trapped and engulfed in flames. Cashe leapt into action, working to extract the driver with the help of another soldier, Sergeant Daniel Connelly.

 

Together, the two men pulled the driver to safety. Connelly stayed to help the driver, but Cashe turned back to the fiery vehicle. The rest of the crew was caught in the payload compartment, and they needed help. Unfortunately, Cashe’s uniform was drenched in fuel, making it extra dangerous for him to go back.

 

Naturally, he went anyway.

 

“During the course of extinguishing the flames on the driver and extracting him from the vehicle,” Cashe’s Medal citation describes, “Sergeant First Class Cashe’s fuel soaked uniform, ignited and caused severe burns to his body. Ignoring his painful wounds, Sergeant First Class Cashe then moved to the rear of the vehicle to continue in aiding his fellow soldiers who were trapped in the troop compartment.”

 

In the end, Cashe went in and out of that burning vehicle multiple times, pulling six soldiers to safety.

 

“Again and again, he continues to go back, soaked in fuel, on fire, with no regard for his own safety to get everybody out,” the company commander, Col. Jimmy Hathaway, marveled.

 

Medical evacuation helicopters soon arrived, but Cashe would not board until the others had been evacuated. He was eventually transported to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He was badly injured, with second and third-degree burns over 72% of his body.

 

The medical team in San Antonio tried to save him, but he'd been burned too badly. Cashe passed away on November 8, 2005, but he died knowing that he’d saved several of his fellow soldiers. (Of the men pulled out, three died, but the rest survived.)

 

Astonishingly, Cashe’s action was initially awarded a Silver Star, but that award was upgraded to a Medal of Honor in 2021.

  

“No one wins this award,” Cashe’s friend, Jimmy Ryan, concluded, “they earn it by their performance in situations no one would ever want to be in. They demonstrate a willingness to die so that others can live.”

 

He and others knew that Cashe’s selfless action had been in keeping with the character of the man.

 

“Nobody expected anything different. That’s just how he was,” one 3rd ID officer concluded.

 

Another hero, giving all that he has to give. Rest in peace, Sir.


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