To ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States accompanied by medal of honor recipient Master SergeantMatthew Williams from the United States army. It is a gentleman in a word of prayer. Almighty god, the liberty and champion here are prayer it is the right just center of justice and we gather here to honor the spirit who through adversity remain focused on the lives which need to be done. You put the safety of others with it much more danger and we thank you for Matthew Williams and is heroism with his heart, soul in the battle in producing a stronger man today. This character, courage in the moment is an example and god bless matthew and his wife kate and son nolan and extended family and his comrades. But matthews life, legacy and very battle around his neck and remind for us all to face our fears and find your own moments to shine. The lap of liberty continue when the United States of america, the army and weepy have piece of our world. The righteous name i pray. Thank you very much i, appreciate that please sit down. This afternoon, its my privilege to present our nations highest revered military distinction and its called the congressional medal of honor and theres nothing like it. Please join me in welcoming todays extraordinary recipient Master SergeantMatthew Williams. applause thank you very much. Were delighted to have a secretary of defense and great job to you and everybody and general milley for the incredible act you performed seven days ago with albaghdadi. He was hit hard the way he should have been and i just want to say to all our military were very proud of you up. The whole world is proud of you. Thank you mark, great job. applause deputy secretary Veterans Affairs jim burn, thank you jim. Ryan mccarthy, thank you. Chairman of the joint chief of staff mark merely, theyve done a great job an incredible job. Chief of staff James Mcconville and Sergeant Major michael grandson, thank you so much for being here. Thank you to some very special warriors, a little bit different kind of war maybe but senator john cornyn, ted cruz and tom tillis thank, you very much. A applause along with representative hudson for being here and another politicians fee cause we want to get on with this one and its a very special thing. Joining that for the ceremony is his wife kate, father michael, mother janet, brother cody and sister me. Please stand up. Thank you. Great family. applause each of you have strengthened our nation to the love and support and we want to thank you and a very special family and we want to be in the presence of eight previous congressional matter all of honor winners and they are here and i thought maybe we should introduce them . I think so. Come on, lets do that. William swanson. applause ronald sure. applause applause robert foley. applause thank you robert. applause fluorescent glow bergh applause david. applause i heard you might be running for office some day. Boy, ill tell you what he has my vote. A brave politician for a change. Right . Nice to see david. Salvatore kim to. applause Matt Williams grew up in a small town of bernie texas a, very small town he met cape for the first time in Elementary School and plan to pursue a career in Law Enforcement after 9 11 he decided his place was on the front lines of the war on terror and he wanted to be the best of the best and work so hard at it so after graduation he enlisted to become he finished his special forces training and deployed to obtain a stand on april 6th 2008 he joined dozens of americans with afghan commandoes with a terrorist leader up and a Mountain Village and then a cold spring morning he jumped ten feet from the shine accent to the rockies for the shock valley. The americans reached the end of the valley, there was a 100 Foot Mountain any special forces and the group was 60 feet up the slope or 200 savagely attacked at was a big surprise. Very unwelcome surprise i might add. Terrorists filled the valley and explosions and the soldiers on the mountain came down and suffering from casualties and the organize the afghan infantry and Counter Assault to stop the advance. As machine gun fire rained down with the fellow american soldiers it was ronald who charged up the mountain. Once they reached their comrades, they realize several of them were to greatly wounded flip. He ran down the mountain to get support and climbed back up with bullets spring all around. Not a good place to be. Again and again, Matt Exchange fire with the enemy and his fellow soldiers guided is injured keep with got for down the mountain when matt noticed to combatants moving towards a group of badly wounded. He includes the enemy fighters and kill them both. Up but math was not done yet. In order to rejoin, he gets up howard skilled a sheer tough completely exposed attack and matt quickly reengage the adversary and shielded the injured from falling rubble with warplanes that bombed and rot the mountain from top to bottom. He then helped evacuate the wounded down to the very steep cliff. As the terrorist continued to try to overrun their position, matt race back into battle and fought for several more hours protecting the wounded and putting his own life in great parallel and service comrades. Mats incredible heroism left to ensure that not a single american soldier died in the battle of shock valley. His ground commander said never saw a troop so poised, focused and incapable and that is without question one of the british soldiers and people ive ever met. Matt wants all americans to know that he is not alone in his heroism that day. Joining us this afternoon our other heroes of shark valley. Please rise when i read your name. Lieutenant colonel kyle walton. A applause applause louis morales. Thank you luis. applause coral royals park. applause sergeants first class howard, deep sanders, john warden, dylan bear and ryan wallin. applause va tv thank you fellows and very importantly afghan translators up inaudible how is that . Okay . Not that . He said it was okay. He said it was okay. Thank you both very much. Fantastic job. I assume you all agree with this choice. They all agree. Thank you very much and i agree to. Staff Sergeant Ronald was with us in reference to the year and its been so long in the ceremony and the middle of honor and are both here together. Each in every one of you i want to thank you for your Fearless Defense and what you have done for our country. You value our bravery and your heart and your soul and its incredible. The battle of shock valleys a testament with the skill and unstoppable might of the United States and their special forces. Behind me that really held a high ground and an element of surprise with everything theyre not supposed to have but they had one major disadvantage and are facing the toughest and strongest and best soldiers and we showed the total what happened i know adversary on earth which had the green berets and the first perilous deployment which married kate did you allow this to. Happen . He definitely have a brave guy. I cant speak for the rest. Hes a bright brave guy and a great guy. Today, they have a young son noaa, will turn three next week which is wonderful. In the years to come, he will learn that his father stance among the ranks of our nations greatest. But more than a decade, but as stared down our enemies from the forces of terror and exemplified the virtue of the american warrior. Hes completed five tours of the deployment in africa and continues to serve our country with active duty with the congressional medal of honor which is very wear and their yielding service and here on tiring solution to our great nation which we all love. Your spirit keeps us waiting high and our family safe at home in our hearts beating with american pride. On behalf of the entire nation, are great usa, are incredible United States of america, we are forever grateful for your life of service and youre outstanding courage. Its not my privilege to represent mr. Sergeant matthew with the medal of honor and asked the military aid to come forward and please read the dissertation. Thank you. A president of the United States of america has issued the medal of honor to Matthew Williams. Sergeant williams is the acts of gallantry beyond the call of duty from april six years unable serving as a weapon sergeant, special forces of three three six. Special Operation Task force three three three and support of operation freedom. Sergeant williams actions are keeping a final traditional military service and reflect great threat upon himself, combined joint special operation tax force and the command central and the United States army. technical problem technical problem technical problem applause applause most holy god as we go from this place and a ceremony be a reminder of faithfulness and the challenge to us all to place the needs of others first. Thank you for the life of Matthew Williams, may his life be an inspiration to each of us and we remember that our nation is best when we put ourselves in front of wisdom and encourage from my heart and protection from my hand. Its for the that we do battle and belongs the victors crown for the kingdom and the power forever a, man. Ladies and gentlemen please remain in your seats until the president has departed. M n. Why are we even here . I will give one example. In 2009, there was a pandemic flu. They called it swine flu. The outbreak infected more than 2 million people. As far as i can tell, the who acted incredibly admirably and rapidly in getting