C.M.H.
Stand and Recognize.
Medal of Honor winner ran into 'wall of bullets'
By PERRY BACON JR., Washington Post
Last update: November 16, 2010 - 8:56 PM
WASHINGTON - In an emotional ceremony on Tuesday, President Obama presented a Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award for valor, to an Army sergeant who "charged headlong into a wall of bullets" from Taliban insurgents to a try to save his squad mates and to protect and comfort a dying U.S. soldier.
Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta became the first living service member to receive the honor for action during any war since Vietnam. Obama called Giunta of Hiawatha, Iowa, "a soldier as humble as he is heroic."
"He'll tell you that he didn't do anything special, that he was just doing his job, that any of his brothers in the unit would do the same thing," Obama said during the ceremony in the White House's East Room. "In fact, he just lived up to what his team leader instructed him to do years before: 'You do everything you can.'"
Giunta, now 25, was serving as an Army specialist in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in October 2007 when insurgents attacked his unit from three sides, splitting it into two. "It had been as intense and violent a firefight as any soldier will experience," Obama said. "By the time it was finished, every member of First Platoon had shrapnel or a bullet hole in their gear."
Giunta and the other soldiers of Company B, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, were part of a campaign to provide food, winter clothing and medical care to Afghans in remote villages.
In a packed ceremony before Giunta's family, squad mates and the parents of two soldiers who were killed in the ambush, Obama recounted the events on that night.
"The moon was full; the light it cast was enough to travel by without using their night-vision goggles," Obama said, with Giunta standing at his side, looking straight ahead. "They hadn't traveled a quarter-mile before the silence was shattered. It was an ambush so close that the cracks of the guns and the whizzes of the bullets were simultaneous."
The two lead squad men went down. So did a third who was hit in the helmet. Giunta charged into the wall of bullets to pull him to safety, Obama said. Giunta was shot twice. One bullet hit him in the chest, but he was protected by his body armor. The other hit one of his weapons.
The sergeant could see the other two wounded Americans, Obama recounted.
By now, the East Room was silent. One Army officer took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.
Giunta looked down as the president described how he and his squad mates threw grenades, which they used as cover to run toward the wounded soldiers. All this, they did under constant fire, Obama said. Finally, they reached one of the men. As other soldiers tended to him, Giunta sprinted ahead.
"He crested a hill alone with no cover but the dust kicked up by the storm of bullets still biting into the ground," Obama said.
And there Giunta saw "a chilling sight" -- the silhouettes of two insurgents carrying away the other wounded American -- his friend, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan. Giunta leaped forward and fatally shot one insurgent while wounding the other. Then he rushed to his friend. He dragged him to cover and stayed with him, trying to stop the bleeding, for nearly half an hour, until help arrived.
Brennan died later of his wounds. So did Specialist Hugo V. Mendoza, the platoon medic. Five others were wounded.
Obama told Giunta that his "courage prevented the capture of an American soldier and brought that soldier back to his family."
Giunta's actions "embodied the warrior ethos that says I will never leave a comrade," Obama said. "This medal is a testament to his uncommon valor."
'I would give this back'
Giunta, who earlier met with Obama in the Oval Office, did not speak during the ceremony. Afterward he said: "Although this is so positive, I would give this back in a second to have my friends with me right now."
The ceremony, which followed the formal announcement of the honor in September, was also attended by top military officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other Medal of Honor recipients were also present.
Giunta, who served two tours in Afghanistan, is now stationed in Italy. He has also been awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
The standards for earning the nation's highest military honor are so high that many recipients are only so honored for acts in which they died. Both Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, had come under pressure because no living member from the Iraq or Afghanistan wars had been awarded a Medal of Honor. Seven from those wars have received the award posthumously.
The outposts in the Koren-gal Valley were disbanded this spring after months of patrols that cost the U.S. military dearly. Forty-two Americans have died in the deadly sliver of eastern Afghanistan that insurgents use to move weapons and fighters from Pakistan.
The New York Times, Associated Press and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
Medal of Honor winner ran into 'wall of bullets'
By PERRY BACON JR., Washington Post
Last update: November 16, 2010 - 8:56 PM
WASHINGTON - In an emotional ceremony on Tuesday, President Obama presented a Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military award for valor, to an Army sergeant who "charged headlong into a wall of bullets" from Taliban insurgents to a try to save his squad mates and to protect and comfort a dying U.S. soldier.
Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta became the first living service member to receive the honor for action during any war since Vietnam. Obama called Giunta of Hiawatha, Iowa, "a soldier as humble as he is heroic."
"He'll tell you that he didn't do anything special, that he was just doing his job, that any of his brothers in the unit would do the same thing," Obama said during the ceremony in the White House's East Room. "In fact, he just lived up to what his team leader instructed him to do years before: 'You do everything you can.'"
Giunta, now 25, was serving as an Army specialist in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley in October 2007 when insurgents attacked his unit from three sides, splitting it into two. "It had been as intense and violent a firefight as any soldier will experience," Obama said. "By the time it was finished, every member of First Platoon had shrapnel or a bullet hole in their gear."
Giunta and the other soldiers of Company B, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, were part of a campaign to provide food, winter clothing and medical care to Afghans in remote villages.
In a packed ceremony before Giunta's family, squad mates and the parents of two soldiers who were killed in the ambush, Obama recounted the events on that night.
"The moon was full; the light it cast was enough to travel by without using their night-vision goggles," Obama said, with Giunta standing at his side, looking straight ahead. "They hadn't traveled a quarter-mile before the silence was shattered. It was an ambush so close that the cracks of the guns and the whizzes of the bullets were simultaneous."
The two lead squad men went down. So did a third who was hit in the helmet. Giunta charged into the wall of bullets to pull him to safety, Obama said. Giunta was shot twice. One bullet hit him in the chest, but he was protected by his body armor. The other hit one of his weapons.
The sergeant could see the other two wounded Americans, Obama recounted.
By now, the East Room was silent. One Army officer took out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes.
Giunta looked down as the president described how he and his squad mates threw grenades, which they used as cover to run toward the wounded soldiers. All this, they did under constant fire, Obama said. Finally, they reached one of the men. As other soldiers tended to him, Giunta sprinted ahead.
"He crested a hill alone with no cover but the dust kicked up by the storm of bullets still biting into the ground," Obama said.
And there Giunta saw "a chilling sight" -- the silhouettes of two insurgents carrying away the other wounded American -- his friend, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan. Giunta leaped forward and fatally shot one insurgent while wounding the other. Then he rushed to his friend. He dragged him to cover and stayed with him, trying to stop the bleeding, for nearly half an hour, until help arrived.
Brennan died later of his wounds. So did Specialist Hugo V. Mendoza, the platoon medic. Five others were wounded.
Obama told Giunta that his "courage prevented the capture of an American soldier and brought that soldier back to his family."
Giunta's actions "embodied the warrior ethos that says I will never leave a comrade," Obama said. "This medal is a testament to his uncommon valor."
'I would give this back'
Giunta, who earlier met with Obama in the Oval Office, did not speak during the ceremony. Afterward he said: "Although this is so positive, I would give this back in a second to have my friends with me right now."
The ceremony, which followed the formal announcement of the honor in September, was also attended by top military officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Other Medal of Honor recipients were also present.
Giunta, who served two tours in Afghanistan, is now stationed in Italy. He has also been awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
The standards for earning the nation's highest military honor are so high that many recipients are only so honored for acts in which they died. Both Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, had come under pressure because no living member from the Iraq or Afghanistan wars had been awarded a Medal of Honor. Seven from those wars have received the award posthumously.
The outposts in the Koren-gal Valley were disbanded this spring after months of patrols that cost the U.S. military dearly. Forty-two Americans have died in the deadly sliver of eastern Afghanistan that insurgents use to move weapons and fighters from Pakistan.
The New York Times, Associated Press and Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
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