“We talked about how it would be about not just him but about the other men who served that day and that it would be about the eight men who were killed.”
Jack Tapper of ABC News, explaining the condition Medal of Honor recipient Clint Romesha has for granting an in-depth TV interview.
Romesha in Afghan Mtns
Former Staff Sgt. Clinton L. Romesha conducts overwatch in Afghanistan in 2009. Romesha’s unit, Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, was assigned to a small, primitive combat outpost.
Former Army Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha is only the fourth living person to receive the Medal of Honor, (the nation’s highest military decoration) for courage in Iraq or Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha, 31, an Army sergeant who ignored his battle wounds to take out the enemy, rescue the injured and retrieve the dead during an ambush by 300 fighters in Afghanistan received the Medal of Honor on Monday, Feb. 11, 2013.
His citation says he is being recognized for “acts of gallantry and intrepity” when fighters attacked Combat Outpost Keating from all sides with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, mortars and rifles on Oct. 3, 2009, igniting a daylong battle. Romesha left the Army in April 2011 after nearly 12 years of service. He lives in in Minot, N.D., with his wife and three children. (Read the story here.)
THE MEDAL OF HONOR:
- The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government.
- It is bestowed by the President in the name of Congress on members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.”
- Due to the nature of its criteria, it is often awarded posthumously (more than half have been since 1941).
- Members of all branches of the armed forces are eligible to receive the medal, and there are three versions (one for the Army, one for the Air Force, and one for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard).
- The Medal of Honor is bestowed upon an individual by the passing of a Joint Resolution in the Congress; and is then personally presented to the recipient or, in the case of posthumous awards, to next of kin, by the President of the United States, on behalf of the Congress, representing and recognizing the gratitude of the American people as a whole.
- Due to its honored status, the medal is afforded special protection under U.S. law.
- As the award citation includes the phrase “in the name of Congress”, it is sometimes erroneously called the Congressional Medal of Honor; however, the official title is simply the Medal of Honor. (from wikipedia)
