Hometown Hero

By Patrick Sherman

The Clackamas Review, May 16, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

After the ceremony, Staff Sergeant Earl Covel gave his medal to his son, Connor.

patrick sherman / clackamas review

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In a ceremony marked by all the pomp and honors of military service, and with his family looking on, Air Force Staff Sergeant Earl I. Covel of Oregon City was awarded the Silver Star at McChord Air Force Base on Friday.

An Iraq combat veteran, Coval was honored for his courage during a 36-hour battle that pitted him and a small team of elite Army troops against an overwhelming force of insurgents. Col. Eric Schnitzer began by describing the medal, which is awarded at the direction of the president.

“This is the fourth highest award given by the United States armed forces, and the third highest award given for valor in the face of the enemy,” said Schnitzer. “In that hierarchy, it falls below the Congressional Medal of Honor and the service crosses.

“It is awarded for gallantry, described as heroism in the highest degree, to include the risk of life, and said gallantry must be performed with marked distinction.”

Schnitzer spoke in a hall draped with the flags of all 50 states to a mixed group of more than 200 military personnel and civilians: officers in flight suits, Army and Air Force troops in woodland camouflage. Oregon City’s mayor, Alice Norris, sat in the front row next to Coval’s wife and young son.

Called to the stage, Norris offered her own brief remarks: “In these troubled times, it is so inspiring to remember that bravery, valor, honor and excellence still exist in abundance.

“We don’t have too many true hometown heroes that we can recognize. I just want to say thank you and congratulations – we’re all very proud of you.”

The honor of presenting the award itself fell to Brigadier General Benjamin Bartlett from Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.

“This honor speaks for itself,” he said. “Its importance cannot be overstated. I’ve been in the service for 31 years, and I’ve never seen a Silver Star presentation. What he did over there was beyond heroic. Heroes are those people who are put into a position where there true inner character comes out when it is needed most.”

For Coval, that day was June 18, 2004 – at a safe house in an undisclosed Iraqi city. As a tactical air controller, he was assigned to a team of eight Army special forces soldiers working with the peshmerga – indigenous Kurdish fighters.

When the safe house came under sustained attack, Covel made his way towards the enemy fire, climbing to the top of an adjoining tower so that he could spot the enemy.

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