Ronald Shurer, the Green Beret medic awarded the Medal of Honor for aiding the wounded during a six-hour firefight in Afghanistan in 2008, died of lung cancer Thursday. He was 41.
In an Instagram caption accompanying a photo of him and his wife, Miranda, the retired Army Special Forces medic on Wednesday expressed concern about the efficacy of his lung-cancer treatment at the Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC. Shurer said he was unconscious for a week because of his fight with cancer. “Very upset to write this … been unconscious for a week,” he said in an Instagram caption accompanying a picture of him connected to a breathing apparatus. “They are going to try and take it out in a couple hours, they can’t tell me if it will work.” “Today, we lost an American Hero: Husband, Father, Son, Medal of Honor Recipient – Special Agent Ronald J. Shurer II,” the Secret Service said on Twitter. “From a grateful Nation and Agency – your memory and legacy will live on forever. Rest In Peace.” Shurer spent much of his early life in Washington. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from Washington State University and graduated from Rogers High School in Puyallup, which installed a monument in his honor.
Shurer retired from the Army in 2009 but continued serving in the government with the US Secret Service.
In 2017, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Despite the stage 4 cancer diagnosis, Shurer remained in good spirits through numerous pictures on Instagram. “I just put on ‘Extraction’ on Netflix,” Shurer said in a caption of a picture of him in the hospital’s intensive-care unit. “Sitting here, in the icu, in my underwear, eating jello, watching Chris Hemsworth; just how I wanted my Friday evening to go.” Shurer is survived by his wife Miranda and their two sons.