On Oct. 3, 2009, Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha was part of a unit attached to Combat Outpost Keating in the northeastern mountains of Afghanistan. He was following a calling to serve in the military like his father, grandfather and brothers. He would receive the Medal of Honor.
In the early morning, while most were still asleep, Romesha’s unit was attacked. Fifty-three Americans found themselves defending a position the Department of Defense later called “indefensible” from more than 300 Taliban fighters. It soon became one of the most intense battles of the war in Afghanistan. Eight of his friends died in the battle.
Guests gathered at the Huntsville Museum of Art were in ‘rare air’ Thursday night as Romesha spoke about his life story of going from growing up in a small town in California to becoming a hero in the Battle of Kamdesh in 2009 and receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions.
According to Jay Town, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama who introduced Romesha, there have been only 3,536 Medals of Honor awarded in our nation’s history. There are only 62 living recipients. Romesha was the fourth living Medal of Honor recipient from the Global War on Terror.
The event held at the art museum explored Romesha’s experiences, including a talk about his heroic actions during the Battle of Kamdesh, a video, and a town hall session with retired Lt. Gen. Jim Pillsbury. Romesha’s story was portrayed in his book “Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor” and the Netflix documentary series “Medal of Honor.”
“Normally, we got woken up by 0600 with gunfire, we called it our Taliban alarm clock,” Romesha said. “It was not uncommon to get shot at daily at that time of the morning. But as the day went on, we very quickly realized it was going to be something different.”
It turned into one of the most intense battles of the war in Afghanistan and was described by President Barack Obama during the Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room of the White House in 2013.
“With gunfire impacting all around him,” Obama said, “Clint raced to one of the barracks and grabbed a machine gun. He took aim at one of the enemy machine teams and took it out. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded, sending shrapnel into his hip, his arm, and his neck. But he kept fighting, disregarding his own wounds, and tending to an injured comrade instead.
“Despite those heroics, the Taliban advanced, and the American defenders withdrew to a single building. They became convinced that their position would be entirely overrun.” And then, the president told the audience in the East Room, “Clint Romesha decided to retake that camp.”
Even though the odds were against them, and things looked hopeless at times, Romesha never felt alone.
“I can tell you this, I was never alone at any point in that battle,” the retired staff sergeant said. “I always had a guy to my left, I always had some guys right there with me right in (the chaos).”
“They wanted to kill us,” Romesha said. “They hated us. They didn’t like who we are. They didn’t like what we represented. They didn’t like our way of life.”
But Romesha is proud of his way of life.
“I grew up in a tiny town in northern California,” Romesha said. “Ever since I can remember I just wanted to be in the military. I wanted to serve.
“My dad lived through two tours of Vietnam. My grandfather was a combat engineer who survived Normandy Beach and the Battle of the Bulge.
“Both my older brothers had served.”
It wasn’t a prerequisite for the Romesha boys to be in the military, but that’s the way it worked out.
“When I graduated high school, I just wanted to serve. I knew college wasn’t going to be for me,” he said. “My graduation present from my parents was luggage. I realized it was time to go and do what I needed to do. I graduated and went to the recruiter and got all the paperwork set up and ready to go.”
His father was hesitant to sign the paperwork for his 17-year-old son saying, “But if you wear that uniform, you might have to go and do and see things I don’t want you to go and see.”
“Dad didn’t really talk about his time in combat in Vietnam. Grandpa didn’t talk about his time in combat in WWII. But they did talk about the camaraderie and the brotherhood. The shenanigans that he’d get in trouble with and the near misses they had with getting caught and all that. That really resonated with me.”
It was those values which drew Romesha to the Army, and the Army gave Romesha the leadership skills that would one day lead to the Medal of Honor.
“My first NCO taught me, a great leader will change their leadership style to everybody below them and not expect everyone below them to change to them.
“That impressed upon me what a good leader was. Good leadership will show and not just say. You lead by example. You lead from the front. Good leadership is never asking someone to do something you haven’t already done yourself or willing to do with them,” Romesha said.
These values and leadership skills led Romesha to be the kind of Soldier whose actions would bring him to the White House to receive the Medal of Honor.
“Clint gathered up his guys, and they began to fight their way back,” Obama said. “Storming one building, then another. Pushing the enemy back. Having to actually shoot up – at the enemy in the mountains above. By now, most of the camp was on fire. Amid the flames and smoke, Clint stood in a doorway, calling in airstrikes that shook the earth all around them.”
Romesha and his team covered three of their comrades who were pinned down in a Humvee as they made their escape. Then he led a 100-meter charge, under fire, to recover the bodies of others who had died – rather than leave them to the enemy.
“Every time I put this medal on it just ask myself, why me? I don’t feel like a hero,” Romesha said. “I don’t feel like I did anything special. I was there with 50 other Americans and two Latvians. Eight men gave their lives who are no longer here with us.
“I can tell you when I put this blue ribbon and medal around my neck it represents not just those 50 guys that were fighting with me that day but every Soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, Space Force, now, that has ever put on that uniform.”
When Romesha wears the Medal of Honor, he honors those who served and died on a mountainside in Afghanistan so many years ago.
“When I put on the medal and share this story, with the weight that it comes with, I can disperse a little bit about each and every life of those who were with me.”
