Meet Madison Byers
Madison Byers is the proud wife of Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Edward C. Byers Jr.
It is a good day to be U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Edward C. Byers Jr., who was awarded this morning with the Medal of Honor for his actions in Afghanistan in rescuing Dr. Dilip Joseph from the Taliban in December 2012. He engaged the enemy and shielded the hostage with his own body as part of the rescue.
President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Senior Chief Edward C. Byers Jr. saying “We’re so grateful to him.”
The SEAL Team 6 member received the nation’s highest military recognition, though the native of Toledo, Ohio, is no stranger to awards. He has previously received a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor device, among many other medals.
Byers appears in a video, describing the harrowing rescue and remembers fellow SEAL Nicolas D. Checque, 28, who was killed during the dangerous mission.
Edward who grew up in Grand Rapids, Ohio is the son of Edward C. Byers –who served in the Navy during World War II, according to his obituary, he died at age 85, in 2012.
Byers enlisted in 1998 after graduating from high school, initially becoming a Navy corpsman and serving as a medic. He first served at what is now known the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center, a hospital in Chicago run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and as corpsman with the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
He entered the famous Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL school in San Diego, better known as BUD/S, in 2002 a few months after U.S. military operations in Afghanistan began and while the Pentagon was preparing to invade Iraq the following year. He was assigned to his first operational SEAL team in May 2004, and has remained assigned to SEAL teams based in Little Creek, Va., according to biographical information released by the Navy. He has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is married to Madison Byers and together they have a daughter named, Hannah, 11. The couple’s young daughter is a figure skater and an Olympic hopeful.
During combat operations, Byers revealed he’s always wore a St. Michael the Archangel patch on his back, saying it’s an important aspect of what gets him through all those times away from home, his wife, daughter, friends and family.
You can find Madison Byers on Facebook here.
