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- President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to a US Army Chinook pilot Tuesday night.
- The pilot guided the helicopter into a hostile compound holding then-President Maduro.
- The president said he was hit four times by machine-gun fire.
President Donald Trump shared vivid details Tuesday night of the firefight that erupted as an American helicopter reached Nicolás Maduro's compound during the US raid into Venezuela last month.
As the Chinook helicopter carrying elite US ground troops and piloted by Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover approached what the president had previously described as a fortress, "enemy machine guns fired from every angle," Trump said during his State of the Union Address.
"Eric was hit very badly in the leg and hip," the president said as he awarded the military's top valor award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, to Slover.
Immediately following the January 3 raid to capture the then-president of Venezuela, Trump said that a helicopter got hit "pretty hard" and that "a couple of guys were hit." Official details of the injuries were limited. His speech on Tuesday shed new light on what happened that night.
After numerous American warplanes, including advanced stealth fighters, suppressed Venezuela's air defense network, helicopters carrying ground troops moved in, approaching Maduro's fortified compound.
Slover's helicopter encountered "two machine gunners who escaped the wrath of the previous planes," Trump said. As the bullets hit the aircraft, Slover "absorbed four agonizing shots, shredding his leg into numerous pieces," he continued. "He was gushing blood."
Helicopter pilots rely on both a control stick and floor pedals for maneuvering. Most helicopters have one main rotor and a small tail rotor to keep them from spinning, but a Chinook has two large rotors that balance each other.
Despite his serious wounds, Slover managed to maneuver his helicopter into position so that onboard gunners could "take care of business" and "eliminate the threat," the president said, crediting Slover with "saving the lives of his fellow warriors from what could have been a catastrophic crash, deep in enemy territory."
After landing, Slover told his co-pilot, who was also wounded but not as gravely, to "take over," saying, "I'm about ready to pass out." A total of seven US troops were injured during the raid.
During his State of the Union address, Trump also presented a second Medal of Honor to centenarian US Navy pilot E. Royce Williams, a veteran of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Three years ago, Williams was awarded the Navy Cross for "extraordinary heroism" in a Korean War air battle in which he was outgunned and outmatched in his F9F Panther by Soviet MiG-15 fighters but still managed to shoot down four of them.
The 1952 dogfight was classified for decades.
The Congressional Medal of Honor is usually awarded in solemn, less politically charged ceremonies at the White House. The award can take years, or even decades, as was the case for Williams, to be bestowed. It requires eyewitness accounts and has strict criteria. Other valor awards, such as the Navy Cross or Silver Star, can occasionally be upgraded to a Medal of Honor, a notoriously lengthy process.
The top award is bestowed upon troops engaged against an enemy of the US or an "opposing foreign force," according to the military's awards manual.
That the medal was awarded during the State of the Union elicited reactions from some veterans online who felt that the timing dampened the gravity of the award's significance.
During the event, Trump reiterated his previously stated desire to receive the Medal of Honor.
"I've always wanted the Congressional Medal of Honor, but I was informed, I'm not allowed to give it to myself," Trump told the crowd. "I wouldn't know why I'd be taking it, but if they ever open up that law, I will be there with you someday."
