First published 2012
Salvatore Giunta was seventeen and working at Subway when he walked into an Army recruiting center for a free T-shirt. He walked out enlisted. Deployed to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Giunta found himself stationed in what soldiers called the "Valley of Death" near the Pakistan border. When Taliban insurgents ambushed his company with thousands of bullets filling the air, Giunta watched his squad leader fall. He charged through enemy fire to reach the wounded soldier, covering him with his own body while administering first aid. Hit by bullets himself, Giunta continued fighting and discovered two insurgents carrying away an American soldier. He killed one attacker and wounded the other, then provided medical care to his fellow soldier. For these actions, Giunta became the first living person since Vietnam to receive the Medal of Honor. In this memoir, he tells the story of that October day in Afghanistan and the lessons he learned about courage, sacrifice, and what it means to serve. Giunta insists he is not a hero, just a soldier doing his job.
Genres: biography, american, military-fiction, autobiography, action, biography-memoir, 21st-century, military-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: heroic-protagonist, military-service
Setting: Afghanistan, Korengal Valley, Pakistan
Period: 21st-century
304 pages · Hardcover · Threshold Editions