Camp Mabry soldier receives Purple Heart

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A Camp Mabry-based soldier was presented on Thursday with a Purple Heart for injuries he received while rescuing his fellow soldiers.

It happened during one of the worst attacks on a U-S base in Afghanistan.

On June 1, 2012, dozens of soldiers sat down for lunch in the mess hall on the Forward Operating Base, Salerno in Khost province, Afghanistan.

What the men didn't know was Taliban fighters were minutes away from attacking.

A truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives drove right into the front gate of the base and blew up.

Staff Sgt. Patrick Rogers didn't hesitate. 

Injured and under enemy fire he helped rescue soldiers trapped when the mess hall's roof collapsed.

A month later, recovered and back on duty, Staff Sgt. Rogers was dangling from a Black Hawk helicopter during a rescue training exercise near an Afghan mountain range.

That exercise quickly turned into a real rescue operation when two soldiers, ambushed by enemy fighters, became trapped on a cliff.

• View photos of the scene

Scanning for enemy fire, Rogers and his Medevac team rushed in.

Pictures shot by the U.S. Army show Rogers hooking up the wounded soldiers to a cable from where they laid on a narrow ledge 50 feet above ground. 

Everyone made it out safely, a moment Rogers said he will always remember.