Medal of Honor awarded to soldier who fought Taliban

WASHINGTON - The nation saluted its first living Medal of Honor winner of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars Tuesday, an Iowa sergeant who retrieved a wounded comrade under gunfire as the Taliban carried the stricken soldier away.

For Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, the tribute to his heroism was bittersweet, because it was a bloody day in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley and the soldier he brought back died later.

"I would give this back in a second to have my friends with me right now," he said on the rain-soaked White House driveway after President Barack Obama hung the blue ribbon that cradled the medal around Giunta's neck.

Far from the perilous ridge where his unit was attacked on a moonlit night in October 2007, Giunta stood in the glittering East Room, in the company of military brass, past Medal of Honor winners, his surviving comrades and families as the president described the harrowing attack and the sergeant's actions beyond the call of duty.

Giunta "charged headlong into the wall of bullets," Obama said. The sergeant at first pulled a soldier with a leg wound back to safety, then sprinted ahead to find two Taliban fighters carrying his seriously wounded friend, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan, away.

"Sal never broke stride," Obama said. "He leapt forward. He took aim. He killed one of the insurgents and wounded the other, who ran off."

As bullets rained, Giunta dragged Brennan by his vest to cover and worked feverishly to stop the bleeding until the wounded Americans were flown from the ridge. Brennan and another platoon member, medic Hugo V. Mendoza, died. Five were wounded.

"It had been as intense and violent a firefight as any soldier will experience," Obama said.

The standards for the nation's highest military honor are so high that many recipients are so honored only in death.

Giunta was struck twice, one bullet hitting his body armor, the other hitting one of his weapons.

- AP