Salvatore Giunta Gets Medal of Honor

The White House announced that Army Sergeant Salvatore Giunta will be the first living service member from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s top military honor since the Vietnam War.

Giunta was serving as a rifle team leader with Company B 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment when an insurgent ambush split his squad into two groups on Oct. 25, 2007, in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan, the White House said in a news release.

Giunta went above and beyond the call of duty when he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a fellow soldier back to cover. He engaged the enemy again when he saw two insurgents carrying away a wounded soldier, 22-year-old Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan, of McFarland, Wis. Giunta killed one insurgent and wounded the other before tending to Brennan, who died the next day.

President Barack Obama notified Salvatore Giunta by phone on Thursday at the base in Italy where he’s stationed to tell him he’d be receiving the nation’s highest military honor. Giunta will be awarded his medal at a White House ceremony at a date yet to be determined.