Benjamin Osborn

As a fourth-grader, Benjamin Osborn early on showed a keen interest in Operation Desert Storm. On September 11, 2001, as a high school teen, he watched, horrified, as his home state’s Twin Towers fell and 3,000 people died on United States soil. Benjamin Osborn knew he had to do something, so he volunteered to join the United States Army’s Combat Infantry in April 2007. 

After graduation from basic training, Mr. Osborn went to Vilseck, Germany, and from there he deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Cavalry Stryker Regiment. After his 15 month deployment to Iraq, he returned to Vilseck and trained vigorously for admittance to the Army’s elite Ranger program, but an emergency appendectomy and recovery prevented his timely return to the states. 

Fort Campbell, Kentucky, became Mr. Osborn’s home base in August 2009, where he was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). His second deployment with this Division was to Afghanistan, in April 2010. 

Mr. Osborn earned many medals and awards from 2007 to 2010, including his most prized medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge. He received the Expert Marksmanship Medal, the Army Commemorative Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal, among many others, for his hard work and dedication to his country. 

On June 15, 2010, Mr. Osborn gave the ultimate sacrifice for his nation, during combat in the Shigalwashheltan district of Konar, Afghanistan. He sustained fatal wounds when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires. Mr. Osborn was only twenty-seven years old. Words cannot express the gratitude of our country for his sacrifice and his complete disregard for his own safety in order to protect our freedom. 

Army SPC Benjamin D. Osborn obtained the rank of Corporal posthumously, after paperwork had been started for his promotion in May 2010. His final awards given posthumously were The Bronze Star and The Purple Heart.