The widow and mother of Army Staff Sgt. Eric B. Shaw accepted the Distinguished Service Cross – the nation’s second-highest award for valor in combat – in his behalf during a Jan. 16 ceremony at Fort Campbell, Ky. Shaw earned the award for his actions during a June 27, 2010 firefight in Afghanistan. According to official records, Shaw and his unit, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) were hit by enemy fire while attempting to seize the Afghan village of Daridam in Kunar province. Shaw was mortally wounded while leading 12 Afghan soldiers who had been cut off back to positions occupied by U.S. troops. Shaw, of Exeter, Maine, was on his third combat tour of Afghanistan at the time. “His soldiers were everything to him. They were his family. He was more worried about them not coming home than himself,” Audrey Shaw, his wife, said. “Obviously, I’m very saddened by my son’s death, but I know that he’s a hero,” said Michelle Campbell, his mother. Shaw was 31 at the time of his death. Besides his wife and mother, he leaves behind three daughters.
