By CHAD GARLAND | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 29, 2021 Under fire from a charging gunman, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Moriarty stood and fired his handgun at the M16-wielding assailant who minutes earlier had killed two unarmed Special Forces soldiers. His actions during the brazen attack on a convoy of U.S. soldiers at the security gate at Jordan’s King Faisal Air Base allowed another Green Beret to slip around a barrier to flank and disable the attacker. Moriarty was shot twice, including once in the heart, and died on a medical evacuation aircraft over an hour later. On Wednesday, more than four years after the deadly incident and on the day he would have celebrated his 32nd birthday, Moriarty’s family accepted a Silver Star Medal awarded for his courageous last stand.
‘Backbone of steel’: Slain Green Beret receives Silver Star four years after attack in Jordan January 27 Staff Sgt. James F. Moriarty, pictured wearing a closed-circuit underwater breathing apparatus during his combat diver training, posthumously received the Silver Star Wednesday for his courage in Jordan. (Courtesy of Moriarty family)
Army Staff Sgt. James Moriarty shouted in Arabic for the gate guard at the entrance to Jordan’s King Faisal Air Base to stop firing at him and a fellow Green Beret. But the gunman, armed with an M-16 rifle, ignored the pleas and charged the two Americans anyway. Moriarty, crouched near a barricade, leaned forward and was shot twice as he fired his own pistol directly at the Jordanian, who, unlike the Americans, was wearing body armor.