SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A Marine based out of Camp Pendleton in Southern California has been awarded the Silver Star for courageous service in the war in Afghanistan.
U-T San Diego reports that Sgt. Philip McCulloch Jr. was honored Friday for his actions in a bloody battle in Sangin, Afghanistan.
The Silver Star is the nation's third-highest medal for valor in combat.
The firefight began while McCulloch's unit was out on a security patrol. McCulloch says they were surrounded.
He was honored for leading his squad in a counterattack that left the fields of Sangin littered with bodies of Taliban fighters. Nicknamed the "prodigy," McCulloch is known as a thorough and thoughtful leader.
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