SAN DIEGO — Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Mitchell Hall on Jan. 26 received one of the nation's top medals for heroism in combat.

Navy Capt. Thomas Brown II pinned the Silver Star on Hall in a low-key ceremony in a conference room at Naval Special Warfare Group 1's base in California, the command said in a Jan. 28 statement.

Hall received the medal, the third-highest award to sailors for combat valor (after the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross), for his "conspicuous gallantry and heroic actions against the enemy" during a deployment that included an intense firefight near Habbaniyah, Iraq, on April 2, 2007.

According to the release, Hall, assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Center, deployed with Coronado, Calif.-based SEAL Team 5 and was manning observation posts along the Euphrates River with a squad of Iraqi commandos when they heard radio reports of a Marine unit caught by sniper fire nearby.

Hall's group spotted suspected enemy fighters near their post and soon traded heavy gunfire across alleys and between buildings with the men. Rounds struck one of the SEALs, and Hall ran over to aid him.

"Under heavy fire, Hall repeatedly exposed himself to heavy fire to engage the enemy and provide suppressive fire for his teammates. He and his squad then worked to secure a helicopter landing zone for the wounded SEAL's extraction," the release stated.

Brown said Hall "acted with great skill to save an injured teammate. His heroic actions battling insurgents that day in Albu Bali is part of the Naval Special Warfare's remarkable work in defeating the insurgency in the west part of Iraq."

Hall is also a triathlon competitor who has been in Hawai'i's Ironman event.