New York Army National Guard 1st Lt. Brandon Hall of Lewiston was one of three soldiers who received an award for aiding a distressed Ukrainian civilian in the city of Lviv earlier this month.
Hall, a member of the Lewiston Police Department, is one of 220 New York ANG soldiers from the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team assigned to the Joint Multinational Training Group in Ukraine. Hall serves as Delta Company executive officer. He received an Army Commendation Medal during a ceremony on Dec. 16 in Yavoriv, Ukraine.
Hall belongs to the 2nd Battalion 101st Cavalry, which is headquartered at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station.
The Army Commendation Medal is awarded to soldiers who have distinguished themselves by extraordinary achievement or significant meritorious service.
During a trip to Lviv, the soldiers came across a man unconscious in the street. Hall and the other two soldiers - Sgt. 1st Class Peter Harper from Appleton and Sgt. James Rude of Parish - quickly assessed the situation and took action, administered CPR to the incapacitated man, and kept back the gathering crowd of onlookers. The three soldiers continued to render aid until an ambulance crew arrived on scene and took over the patient's care.
Col. Dennis Deeley, the training group commander, presented the awards during a ceremony at Ukraine's Yavoriv Combat Training Center.
The Army National Guard soldiers assigned to Deeley's training team are responsible for assisting in the training of Ukrainian Army troops at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center. The soldiers mobilized in October and took over the mission from an Oklahoma Army National Guard team on Nov. 22.
The New York National Guard (New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs) is the state's executive agency responsible to the governor for managing New York's Military Forces, which consists of nearly 20,000 members of the New York Army National Guard, the New York Air National Guard, the New York Naval Militia and the New York Guard.
The three soldiers are members of the Syracuse-based 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and will remain in Ukraine until summer 2018.
