Army veteran Sgt. Kyle White will become the only the seventh living service member from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to receive the Medal of Honor, when President Barack Obama awards White the nation's highest military award May 13 at a White House ceremony.
The president is awarding White the Medal of Honor, a White House statement reads, for courageous actions in combat at Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007.
Six Americans died in that battle.
According to an Army news release:
White will receive the Medal of Honor for his disregard of his own life while trying to save the lives of a Marine and two fellow Soldiers after his team of 14 U.S. Soldiers and squad of Afghan National Army soldiers were set up and ambushed by a much larger and more heavily armed Taliban force, who engaged in a three-prong attack from elevated ground.
White was on his first and only deployment to Afghanistan when he performed his heroic duties. He was serving as a Platoon Radio Telephone Operator assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade.
White now works as an investment analyst in Charlotte, N.C., having left the army in 2011.
Here's a little more background on White, courtesy of The Pentagon Channel:
