{"id":21481,"date":"2023-08-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=21481"},"modified":"2023-08-03T06:42:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T06:42:33","slug":"oregon-national-guard-soldier-recognized-for-heroic-actions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=21481","title":{"rendered":"Oregon National Guard Soldier recognized for heroic actions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Oregon Army National Guard Sgt. Colton A. Church, an infantryman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, pauses for a photograph following his presentation ceremony for the Army Soldier\u2019s Medal at the Orchards Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, July 21, 2023. Church was award the Soldier\u2019s Medal for saving the life of a passenger stranded in a burning vehicle Sept. 23, 2020.
\n (Photo Credit: U.S. Army National Guard photo by John Hughel)<\/span>
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BOISE, Idaho \u2014 Maj. Gen. Michael E. Stencel, the adjutant general for the Oregon National Guard, visited the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, during annual training at the Orchards Combat Operation Center July 21 and presented the U.S. Army Soldier\u2019s Medal to one of the Soldiers for an extraordinary act of heroism.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 23, 2020, near Adair, Oregon, Sgt. Colton A. Church disregarded his safety when he entered a burning vehicle to evacuate a stranded passenger. He exposed himself to smoke inhalation and open flames and evacuated the individual to a safe location. His quick thinking and daring action saved the person\u2019s life before the Adair Fire and Rescue team could arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cOftentimes we ask ourselves, would we personally respond to the same situation the same way Sgt. Church did,\u201d Stencel said while addressing unit members gathered in formation. \u201cBut in this case, we know the outcome \u2014 because of Sgt. Church\u2019s actions and immediate response, he ran toward the fire and saved a fellow Oregonian.\u201d<\/p>\n

The awarding of the Soldier\u2019s Medal, introduced in 1926, is rare. It is presented to a member of the Army for heroism in a non-combat event.<\/p>\n

Church has been a member of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment for nearly 13 years as an infantryman Citizen-Soldier with the Oregon Army National Guard. He grew up in Jackson, Michigan, before moving to Salem, Oregon. In his civilian career, he\u2019s been a metal worker for 24 years and recently joined the ironworker union in Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am incredibly humbled by this award, but you don\u2019t do this for the benefits, you don\u2019t do it for pay \u2014 you do this because you believe in a higher purpose, a higher cause,\u201d Church said. \u201cI don\u2019t think for a second any of these guys would have hesitated either and would have done the same thing. Because honestly, you do it because you want to protect your buddies, family, country, and way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church\u2019s three sons attended the ceremony. Two of them are enlisted or preparing to join the National Guard.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son Trace is already in,\u201d he said.\u201d My son Declan is about to join. They\u2019re both 11 Bravos, but my youngest, still too young to join, wants to go in as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church\u2019s family has a long history of serving in the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth my grandfathers served in World War II and their brothers, along with all of my uncles \u2026 nearly every male member of my family has served in some place,\u201d he said, noting that one of his grandmothers was a \u2018Rosie Riveter\u2019 during WWII. \u201cShe was a machinist and later went to work on the Apollo, Mercury and [Project] Orion projects for NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Oregon Army National Guard Sgt. Colton A. Church, an infantryman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, pauses for a photograph following his presentation ceremony for the Army Soldier\u2019s Medal at the Orchards Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, July 21, 2023. Church was award the Soldier\u2019s Medal for saving the life of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21483,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21484,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21481\/revisions\/21484"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}