Army SSG Salvatore Giunta becomes the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor in combat, in more than 40 years. Giunta was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama at the White House on November 16, 2010. The 25-year-old paratrooper received the medal for actions “at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” on the night of October 25, 2007, at age 22, while on patrol in the remote and extremely dangerous Korengal Valley of northeast Afghanistan, where he