A rifle team leader who risked his life in an attempt to save severely wounded comrades during a 2007 firefight in Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley received the Medal of Honor from President Obama in a ceremony in the White House East Room Nov. 16. Staff Sgt. Salvatore A. Giunta, of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, became the first living U.S. service member to receive the nation’s highest award for combat valor since the Vietnam War. According to the citation, Giunta and his unit were ambushed and took heavy fire from “a well-armed and well-coordinated insurgent force.” Noticing that his squad leader was wounded, Giunta braved enemy fire to drag his comrade to cover and tend to his wounds. Giunta then threw grenades to conceal his position, and tried to rescue several other wounded comrades who were separated from his unit. Giunta realized that one fellow soldier was still separate, and set out to help him. Climbing a hill, he saw enemy combatants dragging a soldier away. He killed one, wounded the other, came to the aid of the wounded soldier, and administered medical aid until others in his unit reached their position and thwarted the ambushers. Two of the wounded soldiers Giunta tried to save, Sgt. Joshua C. Brennan and Spc. Hugo V. Mendoza, died from their wounds. “Your courage prevented the capture of an American soldier and brought that soldier back to his family,” Obama said. “You may believe you don’t deserve this honor, but it was your fellow soldiers who recommended it.”