![Ashley White died patrolling alongside Special Forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army veteran was a pioneer for women soldiers.](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/05/27/e016c336-8ab0-415a-bad4-80852cc051df/thumbnail/1200x630/7fe5deb0555847348d6c0ed5e6948ccf/ashley-white.jpg?v=83093a0dd27502f0a52cd68b1c5b8b6e)
Ashley White died patrolling alongside Special Forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army veteran was a pioneer for women soldiers.
CBSN
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
"My daughter was very, very humble," said Ashley's mother, Deborah White, ahead of Memorial Day this year. "She would be appalled at all the accolades that she has received since her death."
Ashley White died on Oct. 22, 2011, around three months into her tour in Afghanistan, when a soldier on the Special Operations task force she was serving alongside accidentally triggered an improvised explosive device that killed her and two other people. She was 24. After her death, White was posthumously awarded a long list of some of the military's highest distinctions, including the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Meritorious Service Medal.
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Just an hour outside Detroit, in the city of Port Huron, Michigan, one resident is making waves with an unusual act of community service. Dressed as a clown, she hits the streets with trash bags and a shopping cart she calls "Carter," cleaning up the city while also trying to shift people's perspectives. What she's doing has caught the attention of her entire city. Hundreds of people have turned out to help her pick up the trash by participating in cleanup events that she holds on Saturdays.
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Manhunt for Kentucky shooting suspect cancels classes as authorities urge people to be on high alert
As a manhunt stretched into a third day Monday for a suspect in a shooting on a Kentucky interstate that wounded five people and struck 12 vehicles, authorities vowed to keep up a relentless search as the stress level remained high for a rural area where some schools canceled classes.
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The federal trial for three former Memphis police officers charged in the death of Tyre Nichols is set to begin jury selection on Monday. The former officers are charged with violating the civil rights of Nichols, a 29-year-old man whose fatal beating was caught on police cameras while also triggering protests and calls for police reform.