(Tribune Content Agency) — Army 1st Sgt. William Howard looked puzzled as a roomful of soldiers, family and friends congratulated him at an awards ceremony Friday morning at Fort Eustis, Va.
Col. Donald Fallin had presented Howard with the Soldier's Medal, which is awarded for heroism and is the highest honor a soldier can receive for an act of valor in a noncombat situation.
Howard and a few other men rescued five Afghan soldiers from a fire last July in Afghanistan.
"I appreciate it very much, but it's just not what I expected," said Howard, who just returned from that deployment in February.
On July 3, 2014, Howard pried open a door to free trapped Afghans from the Joint Aviation Facility after a direct rocket attack, according to the citation from the Army that accompanied his award. He twice entered the burning building that was rapidly filling with smoke and heat, located casualties, cleared the building and assisted his fellow first responders.
"I didn't really feel anything," he said. "The incident happened, and I reacted with four other individuals. I never really gave it much thought."
Howard, 44, has been assigned to the 128th Aviation Brigade at Fort Eustis since 2012. He has been in the Army since 1991 and has been deployed six times.
He said the fire that prompted the rescue of the five Afghan soldiers occurred around lunchtime. He and two other soldiers heard a boom, felt a vibration and went to check out what had happened.
They went outside and headed in the direction of smoke. One of the other men heard banging from inside a locked door.
He didn't really think but just acted, he said.
"We just started using anything we could to pry it open — pried it open and got the five Afghans out," Howard said. "That was pretty much it, really. I don't know how else to explain it."
His wife, Staci Viafore, said she was extremely proud of her husband and called the award "a great honor."
"The deployments have been long and difficult, so it's nice to see him recognized," she said.
During the presentation, Fallin lauded Howard's leadership and positive impact on morale as part of his unit in Afghanistan.
"1st Sgt. Howard's one of those guys that whenever you need something, he's the guy you can reach out to," Fallin said. "It was an honor to serve alongside him."
Howard talked about the impact of the rescue on the U.S. soldiers' relationship with the Afghans.
"Over the course of the next couple months, because we were working with them day in and day out, they would come up periodically and thank us and give you a hug and ask you how you were doing," he said.
"It was awesome working with the Afghans. I had a great experience of being able to be with them and to work with them and learn their culture."
Though he said he would like a break from deployments, he is interested in helping them further.
"I would love to experience working with the Afghans, being around that culture and helping them succeed," Howard said. "And that's what it's all about ... helping them build their country back up from the rubble, and continue to move forward and become prosperous."
He called his experience with the Afghans "unreal."
"It was just awesome," Howard said. "One of the greatest experiences I've ever had."
He was assigned to a new unit on Thursday and is looking to get acclimated and relax for a while.
"It feels like since I got back, I've been going 900 miles an hour and I haven't really been able to stop and slow down," Howard said. "So I just want to kind of relax, spend time with my family and enjoy the nice weather."
©2015 the (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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