Army aviator receives Purple Heart 14 years after being wounded in Afghanistan

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jayson Johnson received the Purple Heart in a ceremony Thursday at Fort Rucker, Ala., for his actions while under fire during a deployment to Afghanistan in November 2012.

Brig. Gen. Kenneth C. Cole, the deputy commanding general of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, presented the medal almost 14 years after Johnson was shot while leading a combat patrol in a village in Afghanistan’s Paktika Province, a service news release said.

Cole, recounting the events that warranted the medal, said that even when a burst of machine gun fire sent shrapnel into Johnson’s hand and arm, he moved to a secure position and continued to direct his soldiers in the ensuing firefight. Despite being wounded, Johnson’s coordination ensured another wounded soldier was evacuated first, and he only allowed medics to treat him after air support had neutralized the threat, the release said.

“Wounded under fire, his first instinct was not self-preservation. It was leadership,” Cole said, per the release.

Despite the immediate treatment, a bullet fragment remained lodged in Johnson’s arm until it was discovered during a medical examination in 2025.

Although he is now a tactical officer at Fort Rucker who trains Army aviators, Johnson originally enlisted as an infantryman in 2005, the release said. He deployed three times to Iraq and Afghanistan, serving in several leadership roles in the process.

While Cole presented the medal, it was another Purple Heart recipient, Lt. Col. Matthew Stockton, who pinned the medal on Johnson.

Johnson thanked the soldiers present at the firefight over a decade ago as well as those attending the ceremony, the release said.

Medals