Female Army Sergeant Repels Ambush, Kills 3, Becomes First Woman to Earn Silver Star Since WWII

Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, of Nashville, Tennessee, went from shoe salesperson to national hero, and today, she has the award to prove it.

Hester first enlisted in the United States Army just before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and was assigned to the National Guard’s Kentucky-based 617th Military Police Company in Baghdad in 2004. She was not afraid of the potential for combat.

“It was that one job where you can get out there and get dirty and be in an infantry-type environment,” she explained of her enlistment, speaking to The Tennesseean. “I guess it was one of the more exciting jobs in the military for women when I enlisted, and it still is now.”

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