Story highlights Salvatore Giunta became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam war

President Obama awarded him the medal at a ceremony in 2010

(CNN) On October 25, 2007, Salvatore Giunta and his 173rd Airborne Brigade team went on a night patrol in the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan and stepped into history.

The unit was ambushed and came under Taliban fire from all directions. In the heat of the battle, 22-year-old Giunta did something almost unimaginable.

President Barack Obama described what happened that night at a White House ceremony three years later as Giunta stood ready to become the first living recipient of the nation's highest award for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor, since the Vietnam War.

"Sal sprinted ahead, at every step meeting relentless enemy fire with his own. He crested a hill alone, with no cover but the dust kicked up by the storm of bullets still biting into the ground. There, he saw a chilling sight: the silhouettes of two insurgents carrying the other wounded American away -- who happened to be one of Sal's best friends. Sal never broke stride. He leapt forward. He took aim. He killed one of the insurgents and wounded the other, who ran off."

But almost immediately Giunta felt the weight of the honor. And last week, he took another extraordinary step. At a ceremony in Vicenza, Italy honoring the storied history of the brigade, Giunta pulled out his medal and handed it to the brigade, saying he wanted the medal to be with them: "I want this to stay here in Vicenza, Italy with the 173rd to the men and women that earn this every single day through their selflessness and sacrifice," he told the audience, which was full of young troops.

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