Got this at work from a friend who’s cousin was one of the four soldiers behind SSG Giunta in this picture. Having been a soldier for over 20 years, this story spoke to me. There are really a lot of heroes who never get a medal. So it’s nice to see one of these folks get recognized. His recognition, the Medal of Honor, is the highest award in the military and is shared by the whole U.S. Army.
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 15, 2010) — Don’t call Staff Sgt. Salvatore “Sal” Giunta a hero. Don’t say that he went above the call of duty when he single-handedly stopped two terrorists from kidnapping his wounded buddy during a ferocious firefight in Afghanistan in 2007.
Because as Giunta sees it, he was just doing his job. He didn’t do anything that any other paratrooper in 1st Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team — or anyone in the United States military for that matter — wouldn’t have done, and he can’t quite understand what all the fuss is about.
He certainly doesn’t think he deserves the Medal of Honor, which President Barack Obama will present to Giunta in a White House ceremony Tuesday afternoon — making the seven-year Army veteran the first non-posthumous recipient of the medal since Vietnam.
“This could be any of us,” Giunta said of receiving the nation’s highest award for valor. “Right now, the Medal of Honor, I’m the one sitting here, but it could be any one of my buddies. It could be anyone in any of the services who are out there doing it every day.
“As for someone calling me a hero, I try not to think about it. I let the words fall away. It seems strange.”
Here’s the 60 Minutes report of the story: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7054225n
Hooah, SSG Giunta.
The Bis Key Chronicles 