Army Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare

SSG Goare died while conducting combat operations when the MH-47 helicopter that he was aboard crashed in the vicinity of Asadabad, Afghanistan in Kumar Province. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Hunter Army Air Field, Georgia.

Staff Sgt. Shamus Goare tricked his mother into letting him join the military at the age of 17, shortly before his high school graduation.

Twelve years later, he was a member of an elite Army team known as the Night Stalkers, trained to fly special forces commandos behind enemy lines under cover of night.

His military awards and decorations include the Air Medal for valor, the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Multinational Forces and Observers Medal, and the Kuwaiti Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Senior Army Aviator Badge. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal for valor and the Combat Action Badge.