LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Kentucky National Guardsman will be awarded the Silver Star for saving the lives of fellow soldiers in Afghanistan.

Capt. Shannon Ison will receive the medal during a ceremony this weekend in Louisville.

The Silver Star is the military's third highest honor for valor.

Ison was a member of the 206th Engineer Battalion when he responded to a vehicle that had struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2008.     Ison pulled wounded soldiers from the vehicle while under attack by the enemy.                                

A citation notes that without Ison's courageous acts, several lives would have been lost.

"ATTENTION TO ORDERS" "THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AUTHORIZED BY ACT OF CONGRESS, 9 JULY 1918 , HAS AWARDED THE SILVER STAR TO FIRST LIEUTENANT SHANNON D. ISON, 206TH ENGINEER BATTALION, FOR GALLANTRY IN ACTION ON 16 AUGUST 2008, DURING COMBAT OPERATIONS AGAINST AN ARMED ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AS PLATOON LEADER, COMPANY A, 206TH ENGINEER BATTALION, IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. FIRST LIEUTENANT ISON WAS RESPONDING TO A VEHICLE THAT HAD STRUCK AN IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE. WHILE ENEMY FIRE WAS IMPACTING THE BURNING VEHICLE AND AROUND HIS OWN, HE LEFT THE SAFETY OF HIS COVER AND RAN TO PULL THE WOUNDED FROM THE DESTROYED TRUCK. WHILE HE WAS MOVING THE WOUNDED UNDER ENEMY SMALL ARMS FIRE, A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE LANDED NEAR THE SOLDIERS, FURTHER WOUNDING ONE OF THEM. FIRST LIEUTENANT ISON APPLIED MEDICAL CARE TO THE INJURED MAN AND THEN LED HIS PLATOON IN FIRING ON THE ENEMY POSITIONS. WITHOUT THE COURAGEOUS ACTS FOR FIRST LIEUTENANT ISON, SEVERAL LIVES WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST. FIRST LIEUTENANT ISON'S DISTINCTIVE ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE IN KEEPING WITH THE FINEST TRADITIONS OF MILITARY SERVICE AND REFLECT GREAT CREDIT UPON HIMSELF, THE 206TH ENGINEER BATTALION, AND THE UNITED STATES ARMY. GIVEN UNDER MY HAND IN THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, THIS 19TH DAY OF JULY, 2012, JOHN MCHUGH, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY."