According to the New York Times, the Army has nominated a living recipient for the Medal of Honor:
A young Army specialist, Salvatore A. Giunta, took a bullet to the chest but was saved by the heavy plates of his body armor. Shaking off the punch from the insurgent round, he jumped up and pulled two wounded soldiers to safety before grabbing hand grenades and running up the trail to where his squad mates had been on foot patrol.
There, he saw a chilling image: Two insurgents hauling one of his American comrades into the forest. Specialist Giunta hurled his grenades and emptied the clip in his automatic rifle, forcing the insurgents to drop the wounded soldier. Still taking fire, he provided cover and comfort to his badly wounded teammate until help arrived.
Giunta, 25, was born and raised in Hiawatha, Iowa, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2005, receiving Basic and Infantry training at Ft. Benning, Ga.
He has been deployed for combat to Afghanistan on two occasions, his first in March 2005 until March 2006, and his most recent from May 2007 until July 2008.
Giunta’s past decorations and honors include: The Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, an Army Service Ribbon and the NATO Service Medal. His actions as specialist in 2007 also had him promoted to staff sergeant in August 2009.
SPC Giunta is now a Staff Sergeant and we send him the best of congratulations.
