Posthumous Silver Star for Snellville soldier

Metro Atlanta

Posthumous Silver Star for Snellville soldier

silver star for local soldier

On Sunday, the military posthumously awarded Cpl. Jonathan Ayers of Snellville its third-highest medal for valor: the Silver Star. Suzanne Ayers laughs as a humorous story about her late son is told. The event was a celebration of Ayers' life. He loved the structure of the military, which he joined in 2006. He went to Afghanistan with Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

Nearly 300 members of the Patriot Guard, American Legion riders and the Stone Mountain Harley-Davidson group were on hand. They held flags outside and inside the auditorium.

Only 146 soldiers who fought in Afghanistan have been honored with Silver Stars, including 13 others in Ayers' battalion. In Iraq, the military has awarded 396 Silver Stars. Comrades and family said Ayers would have said he was only doing his job.

Cpl. Ayers kept firing amid fierce enemy RPGs and small arms fire. He fought on until an enemy bullet got him. And he fell -- one of nine soldiers who died that day, the largest loss of American life in a single battle in Afghanistan. Above, his parents, brother Josh and his sister-in-law listen to remarks at Shiloh High School in Gwinnett County.

Bill Ayers greets a well-wisher after the Sunday ceremony. In July 2008, his son, Cpl. Jonathan Jonathan Ayers picked up an M-240 machine gun and unleashed a hail of bullets from the observation post of a small base American soldiers had set up only days before. A Taliban bullet grazed Ayers' helmet and knocked him back. But the 24-year-old soldier did not recoil. His paratrooper instincts took over.

Robby Robertson of Hoschton waits with others for the arrival of the Ayers family Sunday at Shiloh High School. Also attending the ceremony was the family of fellow Georgian Matthew Phillips, killed in the same attack.

Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel holds the Silver Star. At left are Ayers' parents, Suzanne and Bill. Hundreds attended the ceremony at Shiloh High School, where Ayers was an officer in Junior ROTC.

Ayers' commander, Capt. Matt Meyer, talks about the desperate Afghanistan battle in austere and inhospitable terrain. Ayers held a machine gun post until he was killed. He received the Army's third-highest decoration for valor in battle.

The parents of Cpl. Ayers, 24, watch a member of the Shiloh JROTC color guard. A speaker at Sunday's event said their son took the Army's "Be all you can be" motto to "Give all that you can give."

The Patriot Guard and other motorcyclists often attend funerals for fallen soldiers.

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On Sunday, the military posthumously awarded Cpl. Jonathan Ayers of Snellville its third-highest medal for valor: the Silver Star. Suzanne Ayers laughs as a humorous story about her late son is told. The event was a celebration of Ayers' life. He loved the structure of the military, which he joined in 2006. He went to Afghanistan with Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

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