White House confirms Medal of Honor

bruno

bruno

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"Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, a fire support specialist who was killed June 21, 2006, in Afghanistan, will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in combat....
Sgt. 1st Class Monti, 30, was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, when he was killed.

He will become the sixth service member to receive the Medal of Honor during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and the first soldier to receive the nation’s highest award for valor in Afghanistan. Navy Lt. Michael Murphy is the only other service member to have received the award for actions in Afghanistan"



http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/07/army_monti_update_072409w/

RIP SFC Monti.
 
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WASHINGTON - SEPTEMBER 17 2009 -- President Obama posthumously awarded on Thursday the nation’s highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, to a Massachusetts soldier who died in Afghanistan in 2006 after repeatedly trying to save a wounded comrade.

The soldier, Staff Sgt. Jared C. Monti, a team leader with the 3rd Squadron, 71st Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, died during a Taliban ambush in the mountains of Nuristan Province on June 21st, 2006.

In a somber White House ceremony attended by Sergeant Monti’s family, Mr. Obama said the 30-year-old soldier was twice driven back by gunfire when he tried to reach the wounded soldier 20 yards away.

“Faced with overwhelming enemy fire, Jared could have stayed where he was, behind that wall,” Mr. Obama recounted. “But that was not the kind of soldier Jared Monti was.”

On his third attempt to rescue the soldier, Sergeant Monti was felled by a rocket-propelled grenade. Three other soldiers died that day.

“I’m told that Jared was a very humble guy; that he would have been uncomfortable with all this attention; that he’d say he was just doing his job; and that he’d want to share this moment with others who were there that day,” Mr. Obama said. “And so, as Jared would have wanted, we also pay tribute to those who fell alongside him: Staff Sergeant Patrick Lybert. Private First Class Brian Bradbury. Staff Sergeant Heathe Craig.”

In an interview, Sergeant Monti’s father, Paul, called the award “a tremendous honor,” but added, “I’d rather have my son, more than anything.”

Sergeant Monti joins a select group of honorees: fewer than 3,500 Congressional Medals of Honors have been awarded since the Civil War. He was promoted posthumously to sergeant first class. A combat outpost in Afghanistan now bears his name.
 
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