would give this back in a second,” said SSG Salvatore
(Sal) A. Giunta, “to have my
friends with me right now. …
If I’m a hero, every man that stands
around me, every woman, in the
military, everyone who goes into
the unknown is a hero. …”
Ben Hider/NYSE Euronext
With those words, the nation’s newest
Medal of Honor recipient confirmed President Obama’s assessment of him as “a soldier
as humble as he is heroic,” during a press
U.S. Army
Medal of Honor
recipient SSG
Salvatore A.
Giunta, 173rd
Airborne Brigade
Combat Team,
rings the opening
bell at the New
York Stock
Exchange in
November in
New York City.
President Obama
applauds SSG
Giunta during a
Medal of Honor
award ceremony
at the White House
in November.
January 2011 ■ ARMY 23
U.S. Army/Monica King
During his November 17 induction into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes, commemorating Medal of Honor recipients, SSG Giunta and his wife, Jennifer, unveil the plaque honoring the Medal of Honor awardees for valor
in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flanking them (from left) are Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Secretary of
the Army John M. McHugh, Army Chief of Staff GEN George W. Casey Jr., and SMA Kenneth O. Preston.
conference following an award ceremony at the White
House in November. SSG Giunta, of U.S. Army Europe’s
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Vicenza,
Italy, is the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor, the
nation’s highest military honor, in nearly 40 years.
In addition to his family—mother, father, wife, sister and
brother—and the President and First Lady, the families of
two of his comrades killed in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley, site of his heroism in October 2007, honored SSG
Giunta with their presence. Among the dignitaries in attendance were previous Medal of Honor recipients; Secretary
of Defense Robert M. Gates; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen; Secretary
of the Army John M. McHugh; Army
Chief of Staff GEN George W. Casey
Jr.; and Chief of Chaplains of the U.S.
Army MG Douglas L. Carver.
SSG Giunta’s Medal of Honor citation reads:
life above and beyond the call of duty in action with an
armed enemy in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, on October 25, 2007. While conducting a patrol as team leader with
Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, Specialist Giunta and his team were navigating
through harsh terrain when they were ambushed by a wellarmed and well-coordinated insurgent force. While under
heavy enemy fire, Specialist Giunta immediately sprinted towards cover and engaged the enemy. Seeing that his squad
leader had fallen and believing that he had been injured,
Specialist Giunta exposed himself to withering enemy fire
and raced towards his squad leader, helped him to cover,
SSG Giunta and Jennifer Giunta
talk with Pentagon Chaplain COL
Daniel Minjares during a visit to
the Memorial Chapel in October.
24
ARMY ■ January 2011
U.S. Army
Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his
U.S. Army/PFC Jeremy Bratt
SSG Giunta and Jennifer Giunta receive a standing ovation at the New York Jets Military
Appreciation Day, November 21, at New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
and administered medical aid. While administering first aid,
enemy fire struck Specialist Giunta’s body armor and his
secondary weapon. Without regard to the ongoing fire, Specialist Giunta engaged the enemy before prepping and
throwing grenades, using the explosions for cover in order to
conceal his position. Attempting to reach additional
wounded fellow soldiers who were separated from the
squad, Specialist Giunta and his team encountered a barrage
of enemy fire that forced them to the ground. The team continued forward and upon reaching the wounded soldiers,
Specialist Giunta realized that another soldier was still separated from the element. Specialist Giunta then advanced forward on his own initiative. As he crested the top of a hill, he
observed two insurgents carrying away an American soldier.
He immediately engaged the enemy, killing one and wounding the other. Upon reaching the wounded soldier, he began
to provide medical aid, as his squad caught up and provided
security. Specialist Giunta’s unwavering courage, selflessness, and decisive leadership while under extreme enemy
fire were integral to his platoon’s ability to defeat an enemy
ambush and recover a fellow American soldier from the enemy. Specialist Salvatore A. Giunta’s extraordinary heroism
and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in
keeping with the highest traditions of military service and
reflect great credit upon himself, Company B, 2d Battalion
(Airborne), 503d Infantry Regiment, and the United States
Army.
26
ARMY ■ January 2011
ecollections of the firefight were blurry, SSG
Giunta explained. Not until the men were back
at the combat outpost—a trek of more than an
hour—did they begin to put the separate pieces
of the puzzle together. The platoon’s medic,
SPC Hugo Mendoza, had been killed in the firefight. SGT Joshua Brennan died on the operating room table. Another five members of the
platoon were wounded.
Company B’s commander, then-CPT Dan Kearney, decided to nominate SSG Giunta for the Medal of Honor the
same night as the ambush.
The day after the White House ceremony, SSG Giunta was
inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes, opened and
dedicated by President Lyndon Johnson in 1968 to honor
Medal of Honor awardees. The names of the more than
3,400 recipients of the Medal of Honor are posted there.
SSG Giunta is a seven-year veteran from Hiawatha,
Iowa. He first deployed to Afghanistan at the age of 18 and
received a Purple Heart during that tour. He contemplated
separating from the Army but, like five other members of
First Platoon, was stop-lossed and returned to Afghanistan
for 15 months. He now says he “became a man in the
Army.” Although reluctant to accept credit, he gives
it freely, lauding the men of “Battle Company” and describing his wife, Jennifer, as his “rock,” who keeps him
grounded.
✭
R