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View Full Version : Congressional Medal Of Honor, This is FANTASTIC



Psychoblues
07-04-2010, 11:57 PM
More will be forthcoming but this is a great start for truly recognizing our troops for the true heroes that they are!!!!!!!!


US paratrooper set to win highest military honour

Soldier who defied Taliban assault could become first living recipient of Medal of Honor since Vietnam



Peter Beaumont
The Observer
July 4, 2010

A US paratrooper who took part in some of the heaviest fighting in the war in Afghanistan – in the remote Korengal Valley – has become the first living nominee for the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam war.

The highest American decoration for military valour, the Medal of Honor has been awarded only eight times, all posthumously, since 1973. Two were given to snipers for the part they played in the battle of Mogadishu in 1993 in protecting a downed helicopter pilot. Since then, there have been six awarded from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but none of them has been given to a surviving serviceman.

Although the Pentagon has refused to comment on the identity of the soldier, the Army Times reported on Friday that it had established that the proposed recipient was Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. His name is understood to have been put forward after he charged into a wall of fire from Taliban fighters, who were attempting to overrun his position, to drag away another US soldier.

The episode, which took place on 25 October 2007, is described in Sebastian Junger's new book, War, which describes the fighting in the Korengal Valley. A documentary, Restrepo, made by Junger with cameraman Tim Hetherington and covering the same period, is released this weekend.

Describing his attempts to reach a wounded colleague, Giunta told Junger: "I did what I did because that's what I was trained to do. I didn't run through fire to save a buddy – I ran through fire to see what was going on with him and maybe we could hide behind the same rock and shoot together. I didn't run through fire to do anything heroic or brave. I did what I believe anyone would have done."

The award to a living soldier will be seen as helpful to the Obama administration in rallying public support for a bogged-down and costly conflict. It also risks, however, underlining comparisons to Vietnam, with which the war has become increasingly associated in the public imagination.

Much More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/04/us-paratrooper-highest-military-honour

God Bless Our Troops and Our Country

:beer::salute::beer:


Psychoblues