Ashley White died patrolling alongside Special Forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army veteran was a pioneer for women soldiers.

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.