Former Army Sergeant Kyle J. White to Receive Medal of Honor

Former Army Sergeant Kyle J. White will receive the Medal of Honor during a White House ceremony on May 13th, making him “the seventh living recipient of the nation’s highest military honor.”

According to Fox News, White is receiving the Medal of Honor for his courage under fire during a 2007 ambush in Afghanistan. 

White was with “his team of 14 U.S. Soldiers, along with Afghan National Army Soldiers” when they came under fire during a village meeting in Aranas, Afghanistan. The attack was preceded by radio traffic in a language White’s interpreter could not understand.

Once the gunfire began, White was knocked unconscious. He awoke to find that “most of his fellow American soldiers and all of the Afghans traveling with them were gone, having slid 150 feet down a rocky cliff for cover.”

Those who remained were “platoon leader 1st Lt. Matthew C. Ferrara, Spc. Kain Schilling, Marine Sgt. Phillip A. Bocks, and the group’s interpreter.” White ran and crawled “through gunfire” to reach them and assess their conditions.

Ferrara was dead, and “Bocks was badly wounded.” White continued to expose himself to gunfire while trying to pull Bocks to safety, but Bocks succumbed to his injuries.

White then focused on Schilling, “even tying his own belt around [Schilling’s] leg when he ran out of tourniquets.” 

White used the only functioning radio and called for help. That help, a helicopter, did not come until night had fallen, and White would not board until “the wounded were assisted.”

Schilling survived and said he will attend the May 13th Medal of Honor ceremony for White.

Breitbart News salutes the courage White and his fellow soldiers displayed and is humbled by the sacrifice of those who died in the ambush.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.  Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.