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Shining star

Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

KABUL, Afghanistan — Army National Guard First Sgt. James Meltz received a Bronze Star Medal with Valor during a Veterans Day ceremony at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan Tuesday. Meltz was born and raised in Columbia County and is a New York State Trooper with Troop G in Rensselaer County.

Meltz was honored for combat actions on May 25 and 26. His unit was providing security for a long range convoy from Kabul to Kandahar when it was ambushed. The first sergeant for Delta Company was credited with “direct actions that lead to the repulsion of enemy forces without the injury or death to U.S. forces.”

The 38-year-old Meltz was involved in a firefight with the Taliban over the course of two days. The first night’s fighting lasted three hours.

“The enemy showed up and stuck around,” stated Meltz.

The Bronze Star Medal with Valor is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces. It was conceived by Colonel Russell P. “Red” Reeder, a soldier and prolific writer, in 1943. The next year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that authorized the medal and backdated it to Dec. 7, 1941 — the day Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese.

Meltz previously served in Iraq and has been a soldier for 18 years. He has been deployed in Afghanistan for eight months.

Meltz is one of 1,700 men and woman from across New York who are members of the New York 27th Brigade Combat team there training and supporting the Afghan National Army.

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