The United States on Friday, September 9, awarded one of its soldiers for his bravery during the Manda Bay terrorist attack in January 2020.
Air Force Master Sgt. Mathue Snow was presented a Bronze Star Medal - a US Armed Forces decoration that is given to members of the US Armed Forces for their heroic achievement or heroic service among others.
In an interview with a radio outlet, the soldier noted that the attack was sudden and they had to respond immediately.
“We have quick reaction checklists on paper… but there’s really no time to pull out those checklists. You just have to respond and trust your gut.
“It could’ve been way worse down range than it was, but we formed together and we took care of what we needed to take care; and we did a great job,” Snow stated in an interview with 13WMAZ.
At the time, the team was bombarded by 30 al Shabaab members who attacked the base with rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and small arms.
The team was left with no choice but to mount a defence and Snow took it upon himself to sound the address system alerting his colleagues that they were under attack
A citation that accompanied his award noted that the soldier mustered, organized and led a response immediately the attack happened.
Part of the strategy was to scout the airfield and also led multiple convoys between the airfield and Camp Simba and putting himself at grave danger in the process.
“Through his efforts, the airfield was able to return to mission capable status within two hours of the attack,” read the document as per Task and Purpose, a publication dedicated on covering military work worldwide.
Three staffers of the Department of Defence (DoD) in the United States including Specialist Henry Mayfield were killed during the attack.
Mayfield was honoured posthumously when the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker renamed a road in Alabama after him.
During the attack, the terrorist stormed the airstrip at Manda Bay, targeting US aircrafts destroying six in the process. The attack began at 4 a.m. on Sunday, Jan 5, 2020, and lasted for around 4 hours.
A statement that was later released by Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) confirmed that the terrorists who participated in the attack were killed.
