US President Barack Obama to bestow Medal of Honor on Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta

September 12th, 2010 - 9:42 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

sgt Washington DC, Sep 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta will become the first living military personnel to serve in the Afghanistan and the Iraqi wars to receive the Medal of Honor award for bravery.

President Barack Obama called the 25-year-old Sgt. Giunta himself and congratulated him on the award telling him that he was grateful to the soldier for his “extraordinary bravery”.

Sgt. Guinta exposed himself to enemy fire in a bid to rescue to colleagues who were ambushed in Afghanistan three years ago. Sgt. Guinta dedicated the award to all the servicemen in are often caught in ambush.

The ceremony will also be used to honor other servicemen. United States Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Miller will be honored posthumously on the day. A statement from the White House says Sgt. Miller will be given the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry” and “heroic action” for paying with his life to save the lives of other American and 15 Afghan soldiers in January 2008.

CNN reported that the Pentagon have for sometime now been looking to honor a living soldier with the award until now. Last year, the United States Defense Secretary, Robert Gates issued a statement that said President George Bush’s real regret was not being able to honor a living serviceman with the honor. It seems President Barack Obama has the honor to do so now.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in World News |

Subscribe