First living Medal of Honor recipient since Vietnam to speak at annual Chamber dinner | The Wichita Eagle

This year’s featured speaker at the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting is the first living person to receive the United States military’s highest decoration of valor since the Vietnam War.

President Barack Obama awarded Salvatore “Sal” Giunta with the Medal of Honor on Nov. 16, 2010 — three years after Giunta risked his life to save two fellow soldiers who’d been cut off from his squad during an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan.

Immediately after the attack began on Oct. 25, 2007, in the country’s Korengal Valley, Giunta pulled one of the soldiers out of line of fire, exposing himself to danger.

Moments later, while he was trying to catch up with his squad, he noticed two insurgents carrying another comrade away.

Giunta killed one of the abductors and wounded the other, rescuing the injured soldier. He treated the soldier’s wounds until the rest of his squad arrived.

The White House, in remarks describing the attack, called Giunta’s actions “acts of gallantry” that went “above and beyond the call of duty.”

Giunta, then an Army specialist, was serving as a rifle team leader with a company from the Italy-based 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at the time of the ambush. He was on his second combat deployment to Afghanistan.

“His courage and leadership while under extreme enemy fire were integral to his platoon’s ability [to] defeat an enemy ambush and recover a fellow paratrooper from enemy hands,” the White House said.

Giunta later gave his medal to his brigade, saying in a 2017 Medal of Honor walkway dedication ceremony outside of his brigade’s headquarters in Vicenza, Italy, that he wanted the award to stay with “the men and women that earn this every single day through their selflessness and sacrifice.”

The annual Chamber meeting and dinner is scheduled for Nov. 29. Seating is limited. In addition to Giunta’s presentation, attendees will also hear the Chamber discuss its accomplishments for the past year and review next year’s priorities.

For ticket details, go to www.wichitachamber.org/AnnualMeeting.

In addition to being the first living person to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War, Giunta also is the first living Medal of Honor recipient for service in Iraq or Afghanistan and the eighth service member to receive the award for valor in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Army.

He participated in seven training deployments to Germany and two to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.

His combat deployments, during Operation Enduring Freedom, were from March 2005 to March 2006 and May 2007 to July 2008. Giunta holds more than a dozen military awards including the Purple Heart, which is given to those wounded or killed during their military service, and the Bronze Star Medal, which is awarded for heroic acts in a combat zone.

Giunta retired from active duty in 2011. His book, “Living with Honor: A Memoire,” was released the following year.

The Medal of Honor has been awarded 3,522 times since its Civil War-era inception in 1863.