04/10/2025
Excerpts: In 2022, French special forces attacked and killed a contingent of militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. Among items that the French troops found at the militant camp were body cameras taken from some of the soldiers in the 2017 ambush, including one from Jeremiah Johnson.
Based on the footage, Johnson’s Bronze Star was changed to a Silver Star. In the summer, an additional review of the film led to the decision to upgrade Black’s Bronze Star to a Silver Star as well.
Hank Black, who served as a Marine in the earlier days of the War on Terrorism, recalled his son would write often while he was deployed in Iraq to update him on his latest interests back home.
“He became a successful entrepreneur, stock trader, ski instructor, soldier, Green Beret,” Hank Black said. “But beyond that, Bryan excelled at being a husband, a father, a son, a friend.”
The ceremony ended with the audience standing in silence as a recording of “The Ballad of the Green Beret” was played.

https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/honor/2025/april/green-berets-family-receives-silver-star-seven-years-after-his-death-in-niger-ambush
A Green Beret killed in a 2017 ambush by Islamic militants in Niger was awarded the Silver Star on Tuesday, the culmination of an about-face by the Army over the controversial incident in the War on Terrorism.