James Suh (2015 New American Hero Award – The Late James Suh, U. S. Navy Seal)
Suh was part of a dedicated Naval Special Warfare team fighting the Taliban. Suh worked to help ensure al Qaeda terrorists could not train in, nor launch strikes from Afghanistan since their lethal attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001.James Suh was a U.S.-born citizen of Korean immigrants. He excelled in math at the University of Florida but decided to join the Navy when he graduated. He was concerned about telling his father that he wanted to be a Navy SEAL rather than pursue a more secure future in business. A friend recounted that Suh wanted to defend a country he loved so much, and that his father took the decision better than James had expected. Suh was one of 16 troops killed when a MH-47 Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005 on a daring daylight mission to reinforce an outnumbered four-man SEAL reconnaissance squad in 8,000-foot mountainous terrain.
