Sergeant Michelle Suzanne Claire "Chuck" Norris MC is a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

soldier and

medic A medic is a person involved in medicine such as a medical doctor, medical student, paramedic or an emergency medical responder. Among physicians in the UK, the term "medic" indicates someone who has followed a "medical" career path in postgrad ...

noted for heroism in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. She is the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross. Norris was awarded her medal personally by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

on 21 March 2007 as the result of her actions on 11 June 2006 while attached to The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment in Iraq.

Early life

Norris was born at

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

, West Midlands, England.

Military career

On 11 June 2006, Norris saw the most intense and largest battle in Iraq since 2004. A search operation in

Al Amarah Amarah ( ar, ٱلْعَمَارَة, al-ʿAmārah), also spelled Amara, is a city in south-eastern Iraq, located on a low ridge next to the Tigris River waterway south of Baghdad about 50 km (31 mi) from the border with Iran. It lies at the ...

saw Norris's company group come under heavy sustained and accurate fire from a well-organized enemy force of more than 200. Private Norris was serving as a Combat Medical Technician attached to the 1st

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Q ...

, Norris (then aged 19) jumped out of her

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have ...

Patrol vehicle and climbed up the side of it to rescue the vehicle commander, Colour Sergeant Ian Page, who had been shot in the mouth, all while being heavily fired upon by

snipers A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision ri ...

at night. One bullet hit the radio next to her knee while she was treating the wounded soldier. She then helped drag the sergeant back into the vehicle while still being fired upon. Her

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latit ...

recommended that she receive a medal for her bravery, and the award of the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspaper ...

on 15 December 2006. She received the decoration from

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

at Buckingham Palace on 21 March 2007. The scene from 11 June is depicted in an

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest o ...

by artist Stuart Brown. Norris and Page were evacuated by a British Lynx helicopter, which was being flown by Captain William Chesarek of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

as the result of an officer exchange programme. Chesarek was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as a result of his actions on this occasion, receiving the award at the same time Norris received her Military Cross.

Awards

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Norris, Michelle Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British Army personnel of the Iraq War Royal Army Medical Corps soldiers Women in the Iraq War Female recipients of the Military Cross People from Stourbridge Women in the British Army Combat medics Recipients of the Military Cross