Born and raised in Azle, a local veteran is getting renewed recognition for his actions overseas. Jerry Orsburn, a 1983 Azle High School graduate, will receive a Distinguished Flying Cross medal for a mission which began at the start of the Persian Gulf War in January 1991. Orsburn was said to have fired the first shot in the war and has been featured in “Soldier of Fortune” magazine. He was a chief warrant officer two and an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter pilot with an attack helicopter battalion in the 101st Airborne Division. The award ceremony presentation will be at the Army Aviation Association of America conference from May 1416 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Orsburn currently lives in North Richland Hills with his family and is a practicing chiropractor in Bedford; he still has family in Azle and is the son of a longtime Azle school teacher.
“When I got that email, it really surprised me. I thought it was really an honor,” Orsburn said of the recognition in an interview with the Tri-County Reporter. “What an honor that somebody went back and looked at that and upgraded us. We originally got Air Medals with Valor, but now what it is, it’s an upgraded award from an Air Medal with Valor to a Distinguished Flying Cross, which is kind of like going from a Bronze Star to a Silver Star for an aviator.
I just thought it was really, really neat. It really surprised me. My family was really shocked, too. They didn’t really know it, and they didn’t really even know I did much.
I was hardly even in the military. I really don’t talk about it or anything.”
Orsburn remembers thinking at the time that his service was the most important things he would do in his life. The operation itself came as a surprise as Orsburn and his fellow pilots were not briefed on the war’s start until the night before his first air battle. He remembers former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, President George H.W. Bush and other high-level officials entering the room to make the formal announcement.
