The story of Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry, the most recent Medal of Honor winner, tells us yet again of the greatness to be found in ordinary Americans. SFC (then-Staff Sergeant) Petry, an Army Ranger, on patrol in eastern Afghanistan in 2008, was shot in both legs during a firefight. He grabbed an incoming live hand grenade which threatened his troops and, in the process of tossing it away from his position, it detonated and his right hand was blown off. I probably would have curled up and died at that point, but SFC Petry is made of sterner stuff. He applied his own tourniquet and continued to call in fire on enemy positions. Did I mention that he did this on his eighth deployment (two to Iraq, six to Afghanistan)?
The Commander-in-Chief presented the Medal of Honor to SFC Petry in a White House ceremony on Tuesday: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/us/politics/13obama.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24
SFC Petry has a prosthetic hand, but was nonetheless allowed to re-enlist in the Army last year. Real or prosthetic hand, he is a leader who will serve as inspiration for young soldiers enduring the deployments out here.
Nine Medals of Honor have been awarded for service in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Only two have not been awarded posthumously.
If this story doesn’t make your eyes mist over, and make your chest puff out with pride at what these young soldiers are doing on the front line, I don’t know what will.
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