Medal of Honor Recipient, Secret Service Agent Ronald Shurer Dies at 41 of Lung Cancer
Richard Moorhead
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A distinguished U.S. Army Veteran who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the Afghanistan War and went on to serve as a Secret Service agent died on Thursday. Ronald Shurer II, 41, had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017.
Shurer enlisted in the United States Army in 2002 after being initially disqualified from the military due to a medical condition. The Washington native was trained as a special forces combat medic, and rose in rank to Staff Sergeant by the time he deployed to Afghanistan with the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in 2007.
Shurer’s actions during what’s been called the Battle of Shok Valley served as the basis for his eventual Medal of Honor citation. Shurer’s squad came under intense automatic and RPG fire as they were moving through a valley seeking to kill or capture an Islamist warlord. With his squad pinned down, Shurer moved through intense enemy fire to provide medical treatment to several wounded soldiers, suffering injuries from RPG shrapnel and enemy fire. His actions proved critical in evacuating multiple wounded Americans from the battlefield to a medevac helicopter.
Shurer was initially granted the Silver Star in the aftermath of his Afghanistan Service, but an additional Department of Defense review resulted in the upgrade of his decoration for the incident to the Medal of Honor, the very highest award that the American military can bestow on its personnel. Shurer received the decoration in a 2018 ceremony from President Donald Trump.
After leaving the Army in 2009, Shurer began a career with the Secret Service during which he served at the White House and in Phoenix, Arizona. He announced that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, and some recent social media postings suggested that his condition had been worsening. His family confirmed that he died on Thursday morning.
The distinguished veteran is survived by his wife Melinda and two sons.
Today, we lost an American Hero: Husband, Father, Son, Medal of Honor Recipient – Special Agent Ronald J. Shurer II. From a grateful Nation and Agency – your memory and legacy will live on forever. Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/stCRfifoSC
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) May 14, 2020
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