Ragnar Danneskjold
11-16-2010, 08:20 PM
Salvatore Augustine Giunta was born on January 21, 1985 in Clinton, Iowa. He is the oldest of three children born to Steve and Rose.
“He was born on a very cold day; I think we hit 40 below. We couldn’t get the car started, and Steve kind of went into oh my gosh the car won’t start and you’re in labor,” said Rose. The car did eventually start, and Sal was born without complications at the hospital. Growing up Sal always had a lot of energy and was very athletic. He played football and was known to be a fast runner. His brother Mario said, “You wanted him on your side because that was the usually the winning side, he saw things through until they are finished.” Katie, Sal’s sister, remembers, “He was always really popular, he always had a lot of friends, he was always doing school activities. He was Charlie Brown in the play. He was always really caring and really protective of me, a really good guy.”
Sal graduated high school and joined the Army. He said his inspiration came one night when he was working at Subway and a recruiter appeared on television and said they were giving away free t-shirts. Sal said, “I’m a sucker for a free t-shirt.”
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0011-201x300.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0011.jpg)Steve, Sal’s father said the Army was a good fit for his son, “Adventurous and that’s where the military comes in because airborne that adventure it filled his need, to live life adventurous, in an adventurous fashion, and it focus him up. I just cannot say enough about that. He had such a zest for life and he found a place for it as a Soldier.”
While on deployment in 2007 in Afghanistan, Sgt. Giunta’s team, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, ran into trouble. “We were on a large battalion operation, we were the main effort in an operation to disrupt the enemy called Rock Avalanche,” said Major Dan Kearney. The team was in the village Landigal, and the goal was to find equipment that was stolen from them on a raid the enemy previously conducted. Sgt. William Burns recalls, “The terrain was in such a case where we had to walk pretty much ducks in a row down the top of this mountain.” Major Kearney says the soldiers were going to engage the local elders to find information about who conducted the raid. In no time at all, the platoon leader called out a “TICK” also known as, “Troops in Contact.”
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0026-300x246.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0026.jpg)Sgt. William Burns, another team member said, “It didn’t seem like any time had passed… basically all hell broke loose pretty much on both sides. I just remember Sgt. Perry was in front of me, I remember both of us running up to the next basically cover position with a brim on both sides. I remember our squad leader he had taken a bullet right through his helmet and it just barley grazed his skin, he was pretty lucky.”
“I got shot in the stomach, and I also heard my team leader, Sgt. Brennan says he got hit. I got down and started engaging the area with my squad automatic weapon,” said team member Sgt. Frank Eckrode.
When the team looked up, they saw Sgt. Brennan being dragged away by the enemy. That’s when multiple team members say Sgt. Giunta sprang into action and darted across enemy lines. Sgt. Eckrode remembers specifically, “At that point it was a wall of lead… the first thing I think was Sgt. Giunta was probably going to get killed up there.” Major Kearney said Sgt. Giunta bolted through the ambush and engaged the men who were dragging Sgt. Brennan away.
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0029-231x300.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0029.jpg)Sgt. Giunta shot the enemies, and saved Sgt. Brennan, bringing him back to safety and then helping to assess and treat his wounds. Sgt. Giunta said, “I saw two people carrying one person kind by the hands and by the feet, but as I ran closer I kind realized more of what was going on, and it was two ACM carrying Sgt. Brennan, so I just started shooting, that’s what we do, and I grabbed Sgt. Brennan and dragged him back a little bit, but he was still alive and he was talking about how his face hurt, he was shot in his face and in his arms. (I) just tried to reassure him you know that everything was going to be okay, everything is fine.”
Sgt. Brennan was flown out along with the teams Captain who was hit, but sadly, Sgt. Brennan didn’t make it.
“It started sounding like some story I heard about or read about in World War I or World War II, you don’t hear about single individuals taking on the responsibility to lead their squad when they are a specialist, treat their squad leader after they’ve been shot three times, and third, go repatriate their best friend from behind enemy lines that’s being dragged away by the enemy and then to run back into the kill zone to start treating his men,” said Major Kearney.
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0028-300x177.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0028.jpg)Sgt. Giunta told the Pentagon Channel, “I didn’t run on to do anything heroic, I ran on to go fight next to my brother, to go fight next to my friend who I already served one tour in Afghanistan with who we live in the same barracks building for the last four years.”
Sgt. Giunta was nominated for the Medal of Honor, and the President of the United States called him to congratulate him on this award and to invite him to the formal White House ceremony. That ceremony will take place today, November 16, 2010.
The Hall of Heroes ceremony will honor Sgt. Giunta on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, Nov. 17, The Pentagon Channel will air Souls of Valor (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/index.php/2010/11/05/souls-of-valor/), a one-hour special devoted to three recent Medal of Honor recipients.
“He was born on a very cold day; I think we hit 40 below. We couldn’t get the car started, and Steve kind of went into oh my gosh the car won’t start and you’re in labor,” said Rose. The car did eventually start, and Sal was born without complications at the hospital. Growing up Sal always had a lot of energy and was very athletic. He played football and was known to be a fast runner. His brother Mario said, “You wanted him on your side because that was the usually the winning side, he saw things through until they are finished.” Katie, Sal’s sister, remembers, “He was always really popular, he always had a lot of friends, he was always doing school activities. He was Charlie Brown in the play. He was always really caring and really protective of me, a really good guy.”
Sal graduated high school and joined the Army. He said his inspiration came one night when he was working at Subway and a recruiter appeared on television and said they were giving away free t-shirts. Sal said, “I’m a sucker for a free t-shirt.”
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0011-201x300.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0011.jpg)Steve, Sal’s father said the Army was a good fit for his son, “Adventurous and that’s where the military comes in because airborne that adventure it filled his need, to live life adventurous, in an adventurous fashion, and it focus him up. I just cannot say enough about that. He had such a zest for life and he found a place for it as a Soldier.”
While on deployment in 2007 in Afghanistan, Sgt. Giunta’s team, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, ran into trouble. “We were on a large battalion operation, we were the main effort in an operation to disrupt the enemy called Rock Avalanche,” said Major Dan Kearney. The team was in the village Landigal, and the goal was to find equipment that was stolen from them on a raid the enemy previously conducted. Sgt. William Burns recalls, “The terrain was in such a case where we had to walk pretty much ducks in a row down the top of this mountain.” Major Kearney says the soldiers were going to engage the local elders to find information about who conducted the raid. In no time at all, the platoon leader called out a “TICK” also known as, “Troops in Contact.”
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0026-300x246.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0026.jpg)Sgt. William Burns, another team member said, “It didn’t seem like any time had passed… basically all hell broke loose pretty much on both sides. I just remember Sgt. Perry was in front of me, I remember both of us running up to the next basically cover position with a brim on both sides. I remember our squad leader he had taken a bullet right through his helmet and it just barley grazed his skin, he was pretty lucky.”
“I got shot in the stomach, and I also heard my team leader, Sgt. Brennan says he got hit. I got down and started engaging the area with my squad automatic weapon,” said team member Sgt. Frank Eckrode.
When the team looked up, they saw Sgt. Brennan being dragged away by the enemy. That’s when multiple team members say Sgt. Giunta sprang into action and darted across enemy lines. Sgt. Eckrode remembers specifically, “At that point it was a wall of lead… the first thing I think was Sgt. Giunta was probably going to get killed up there.” Major Kearney said Sgt. Giunta bolted through the ambush and engaged the men who were dragging Sgt. Brennan away.
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0029-231x300.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0029.jpg)Sgt. Giunta shot the enemies, and saved Sgt. Brennan, bringing him back to safety and then helping to assess and treat his wounds. Sgt. Giunta said, “I saw two people carrying one person kind by the hands and by the feet, but as I ran closer I kind realized more of what was going on, and it was two ACM carrying Sgt. Brennan, so I just started shooting, that’s what we do, and I grabbed Sgt. Brennan and dragged him back a little bit, but he was still alive and he was talking about how his face hurt, he was shot in his face and in his arms. (I) just tried to reassure him you know that everything was going to be okay, everything is fine.”
Sgt. Brennan was flown out along with the teams Captain who was hit, but sadly, Sgt. Brennan didn’t make it.
“It started sounding like some story I heard about or read about in World War I or World War II, you don’t hear about single individuals taking on the responsibility to lead their squad when they are a specialist, treat their squad leader after they’ve been shot three times, and third, go repatriate their best friend from behind enemy lines that’s being dragged away by the enemy and then to run back into the kill zone to start treating his men,” said Major Kearney.
http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0028-300x177.jpg (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/files/2010/11/SSG_Sal_Giunta0028.jpg)Sgt. Giunta told the Pentagon Channel, “I didn’t run on to do anything heroic, I ran on to go fight next to my brother, to go fight next to my friend who I already served one tour in Afghanistan with who we live in the same barracks building for the last four years.”
Sgt. Giunta was nominated for the Medal of Honor, and the President of the United States called him to congratulate him on this award and to invite him to the formal White House ceremony. That ceremony will take place today, November 16, 2010.
The Hall of Heroes ceremony will honor Sgt. Giunta on Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at the Pentagon.
On Wednesday, Nov. 17, The Pentagon Channel will air Souls of Valor (http://tpc.dodlive.mil/index.php/2010/11/05/souls-of-valor/), a one-hour special devoted to three recent Medal of Honor recipients.