WTVM Editorial 12/21/21: Medal of Honor Recipient Alwyn Cashe

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - The story of Medal of Honor winner Alwyn Cashe is a story everyone ought to know. That’s because Cashe refused to let his youth spent in oppressive poverty define him.

He sought purpose in joining the Army fresh out of high school. The Army helped Alwyn Cashe find his calling.

Last week in a White House ceremony, Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, 16 years after he died in a horrific battleground attack.

Sergeant Cashe served for more than two years as a drill sergeant at Fort Benning before deploying to Iraq.

In October 2005, Sergeant Cashe was riding in a Bradley Fighting vehicle like this one you can see at the National Infantry Museum, when it was lit on fire from an explosion. Cashe wasted no time dragging six crew members out of the inferno, suffering fatal burns as a result of his heroism.

Cashe lived the familiar soldier’s creed that says, “I will never leave a fallen comrade.”

In fact, he went back three times to rescue his men.

In doing so, Cashe personified the rest of the soldier’s creed: “I will never quit. I will never accept defeat.” Those are enormously important rules to live by and they apply to a successful civilian life as much as to military service.

Sergeant Cashe is the first black recipient of the Medal of Honor since 9/11. He received dozens of other accolades as he steadily climbed the military ladder.

Sergeant Cashe left his legacy to his wife Tamara, son Andrew and daughters Lajada and Alexis.

Though he is gone, Sergeant Cashe will be remembered not for how he died as much as for how he lived a successful and heroic purpose-driven life.

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