Posted on 09/10/2010 9:24:10 AM PDT by centurion316
Thursday, President Obama spoke with Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta to inform him that he will be awarded the Medal of Honor for acts of gallantry at the risk of his life that went above and beyond the call of duty.
Giunta will be the first living servicemember to be awarded the Medal of Honor for service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President thanked Sergeant Giunta for his service and extraordinary bravery in battle.
Further information about the date and time of the ceremony will be released at a later date.
ACTION FROM WHICH THE MEDAL OF HONOR WAS EARNED:
Then-Spc. Salvatore A. Giunta distinguished himself by acts of gallantry at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rifle team leader with Company B, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment during combat operations against an armed enemy in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan on October 25, 2007.
When an insurgent force ambush split Specialist Giunta's squad into two groups, he exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a comrade back to cover.
Later, while engaging the enemy and attempting to link up with the rest of his squad, Giunta noticed two insurgents carrying away a fellow soldier. He immediately engaged the enemy, killing one and wounding the other, and provided medical aid to his wounded comrade while the rest of his squad caught up and provided security.
His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon's ability defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow American paratrooper from enemy hands.
While I, too, honor this brave trooper, am I being too cynical if I offer that it looks to me to be another Obama ham-fisted and obvious effort to pander to the hispanics whose votes he needs to keep his Democrat henchmen on Capitol Hill on November 2nd?
Just askin’.
Probably not, since Giunta is Italian.
Why don’t they call it the Congressional Medal of Honor any more? Does it no longer require an act of congress to award it? Is it something different from the CMoH?
Sorry. But I wonder if the voters will even check deeply enough into the story to learn that.
Because it has never been the Congressional Medal of Honor. The proper name has always been the Medal of Honor. It required an act of Congress to create it, but each award is approved by the President.
Because its correct name is and has from its inception been the "Medal of Honor".
Bravo Zulu..
!! Semper Fi
CM0H means “Coffin with Metal Handles”.
Sounds like Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta obviously deserves the Medal of Honor. I still can’t get rid of the feeling that Obama seeks to use this to bump his own credibility. It just seems like desperation time to me.
Obama is the consummate politician who does not support the war against Islamic terrorism; therefore we do wonder if he has a political angle to his every action, as we should.
That said, God Bless this brave soldier.
If I saw the enemy dragging one of my soldiers away I would do everything I could to prevent such an act; I could not live with myself if I failed to save him.
Exactly right. Thanks for the comments.
Sounds like Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta obviously deserves the Medal of Honor. I still can’t get rid of the feeling that Obama seeks to use this to bump his own credibility. It just seems like desperation time to me.
If I were Sgt. Salvatore Guinta, I’d request the ceremony be put off until the next president takes office.
Hung up in the White House most likely. The cynic in me wonders if this is timed just before the election to put Obama in a positive light vis-a-vis the military.
Just saying.
The Medal of Honor was born in 1862, but it was the act of 9 July 1918 that defined the future of the award, while further eliminated the Certificate of Merit while establishing the new "Pyramid of Honor" providing for lesser awards (The Distinguished Service Cross, The Distinguished Service Medal, and the Silver Star). A key difference between the levels of awards was spelled out, "That the President is authorized to present, in the name of the Congress, a medal of honor only to each person who, while an officer or enlisted man of the Army, shall hereafter, in action involving actual conflict with an enemy, distinguish himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty." The lesser awards were authorized for presentation by the President, "BUT NOT IN THE NAME OF CONGRESS."
The Medal of Honor is awarded by the President in the Name of Congress, but the name of the decoration is the Medal of Honor. The Society is chartered by the U.S. Congress and its name is the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. You will notice on their site that they call the award the Medal of Honor, but call their society the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. They have it right.
No way on Earth anyone will ever mistake Salvatore for being anything but Italian!
Ed
Thanks in advance to the person who can answer this for a civilian:
What does OIF/OEF designate?
OIF = Operation Iraqi Freedom, combat actions in Iraq from March 2003 until September 2010
OEF = Operation Enduring Freedom, combat actions in Afghanistan from 2001 to present
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