The Army Green Beret Sergeant First Class Daniel H. Petithory Award was established in honor of the first Bay State soldier to die during the early days of Operation Enduring Freedom.

According to his Silver Star medal citation awarded posthumously, Petithory was deployed to Afghanistan shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11 and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion of the U.S. Army’s 5th Special Forces Group when he was killed by friendly fire on December 5, 2021.

The Cheshire, Massachusetts, native was among the first U.S. military members to die during the early days of the war in Afghanistan.

Petithory died after demonstrating “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action in the face of overwhelming odds and direct hostile aggression as the Communications Sergeant of Operational Detachment Alpha 374,” according to the medal citation.

“Sergeant First Class Petithory’s exceptional courage, dedication to mission and personal sacrifice directly contributed to the current success of both Chairman Hamid Karzai and the Northern Alliance’s defeat of Taliban Forces. Sergeant First Class Petithory’s remarkable performance and selfless commitment to his fellow comrades in arms serves as the standard for others to emulate,” the award citation reads, in part.

Petithory, a Green Beret, was already serving overseas in Kazakhstan when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred. He was 32 when he was killed Dec. 5, 2001, just north of the Arghandab River in Kandahar, after a misguided 2,000-pound U.S. bomb was dropped on top of his unit’s command post.

Contemporary reporting indicates that the GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition, or J.D.A.M, was erroneously dropped on a friendly position from a coalition B-52 bomber after the ground operator calling for close air support changed the batteries in his GPS device, causing the target location to default to his position.

Also killed that day were Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39, of Tennessee and Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28, of California. Now-former, then-future President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai was in the midst of a meeting with U.S. Special Forces at the time, and was injured in the bombing.

“Three of our soldiers were killed by an inadvertent bomb and our prayers and sympathies go to the families.  And I want the families to know that they died for a noble and just cause; that the fight against terror is noble and it’s just; and they defend freedom. And for that, we’re grateful,” former U.S. President George W. Bush said in 2001.

According to information provided by the U.S. Army Special Forces Command History Office and found in his obituary, Petithory first enlisted in 1987, signing up to serve as a military policeman. He was stationed at Fort Rucker, Alabama before assignment to Fort McClelland, Alabama, and later volunteered for special forces training.

After graduating the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1992, Petithory was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group in Fort Campbell, Kentucky.