FORT POLK -- Sgt. /M Joshua Ryan Laughery, assigned to Fort Polk’s Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry, will be awarded a Silver Star in a ceremony at the installation’s Glory Chapel May 1.

The 4th Infantry is part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.

The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the U.S. armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy.

While deployed to Afghanistan, Laughery and his squad found themselves under heavy fire from insurgents. Seeing that his squad and platoon leaders were incapacitated, Laughery left his position as a gunner, had another soldier take his place, and began to conduct medical evacuation procedures while reorganizing the squad.

Laughery engaged the insurgents and held them at bay until relief arrived for his squad. His actions resulted in the survival and extraction of every soldier on his patrol, including the five wounded by insurgents.