SSG Sal Giunta, Medal Of Honor Recipient

The Sal Giunta Story from Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

When I first head about the possibility of SSG Sal Giunta being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Rock Avalanche in the Korengal Valley, I was with filmmaker Tim Hetherington and MSG La Monta Caldwell. We were excited over the prospect, and wondered if it would be true. The gravity of the circumstances under which he earned it was never lost on us. After all, the events at Rock Avalanche unfold before the viewers of the film Restrepo. Tim was there. Months have passed, and on Tuesday, November 16, SSG Sal Giunta will be the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam war. President Obama will present it to him at The White House. His mates from the 2/503 will be there with him. So will the reporters who were with the platoon.

What strikes everyone is his reluctance to see himself as extraordinary. As Giunta says,

"It sounds really awesome in theory, but it’s not…what’s it worth, Brennan, Mendoza? It’s worth a lot, I don’t want to downplay it, it is the Medal of Honor, the highest award in the country, but … I didn’t do shit, I did what I did because in the scheme of this whole painting the picture of the ambush, that was my brush stroke. It wasn’t the most important brush stroke, I just completed the picture."

It's with a lot of mixed feelings that he accepts this award. A person doesn't become a hero alone, but as the result of circumstance and with the foundation made with the help of others. He is accepting this in honor of the men who were there with him, including SGT Josh Brennan and Medic SPC Hugo Mendoza who died that day. This is reason enough to accept the nation's highest honor.
Join me in wishing the men of the 2/503 Battle Company peace and good will.