Edward Byers

Command Master Chief Petty Officer Edward C. Byers Jr. (born August 4, 1979) is a retired United States Navy SEAL who received the Medal of Honor on February 29, 2016, for the rescue of a civilian in Afghanistan in 2012. Byers retired after 21 years of service on September 19, 2019, at the Washington Navy Yard.

Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers, Jr., poses for his official portrait.

Quotes

It's not necessarily anything I welcome, but it's part of my job now. This isn't something we ask for, this is something that is bestowed upon you. And with it comes some obligations.

• It's not necessarily anything I welcome, but it's part of my job now. This isn't something we ask for, this is something that is bestowed upon you. And with it comes some obligations.
  • Statement to Navy Times on 27 February 2016[[1]

• That question is very easy to answer. It's the brotherhood. The camaraderie that we have, I don't think you can replicate that any place else in the world.
  • Statement to Navy Times on 27 February 2016[[2]

Quotes about Byers

• Some seek the spotlight, and others have it thrust upon them.
  Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL/FMF/SW) Ed Byers reluctantly enters that spotlight Monday when he receives the nation's highest valor award for rushing through gunfire to save an American hostage. Byers, 37, will be presented with nation's highest valor award on Monday, for his actions during a 2012 hostage rescue in Afghanistan, and with it the obscurity of his life in the SEAL teams will forever vanish.
  • Meghann Myers, "Navy SEAL Recounts Daring Rescue Mission That Led To Medal of Honor," Navy Times, 28 February 2016

• The award puts Byers in rare company. Since 9/11, 17 service members have received the Medal of Honor. Byers will be just the third sailor, and of them the only one who lived through the action that earned the award.
  • Meghann Myers, "Navy SEAL Recounts Daring Rescue Mission That Led To Medal of Honor," Navy Times, 28 February 2016