It is well past two in the morning and I’m still wired. It’s strange to
think that at the beginning of this very long day, I did not have a clue
what pain and pride awaited me. I did not have a medal. And that perhaps is
the strangest part—this thing that I’m still wearing around my neck, it has
a weight to it, a gravity of its own. I have grown so attached to it in the
hours since it was put around my neck, that I find it easy to imagine that
I’ve had it all along.

Read more here:
Lindsey Carmichael an American Hero