A Sky Full of Bullets: SSG Salvatore Agustine Giunta

Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.

Salvatore Augustine Giunta (Joonta) was born on January 21st, 1985. He was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which he describes as the ideal midwestern neighborhood. Giunta enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating highschool, becoming the first member of his family to serve in the American Armed Forces.

Giunta deployed to Afghanistan twice, first in 2005 and again in 2007. On the night of October 25th, 2007, then Specialist Giunta and his team were conducting a patrol in the Korengal Valley where they were stationed. After they left their elevated position and began falling back, they were ambushed by 10-15 enemy personnel. The air was filled with streaks of orange from tracer bullets flying in all directions. In addition to this rifle fire, enemy insurgents fired ten RPGs and three machine guns at the surprised Americans. Two of Giunta’s teammates were injured in the initial barrage. Giunta quickly led his team, taking cover, coordinating sectors of suppressive fire, and directing his gunner to engage the enemy at close range. From cover, Giunta saw his squad leader, fall to the ground after being hit in the head. Giunta sprinted to his leader, braving withering fire to reach him. He flipped him over, and upon seeing he was uninjured, realized that the bullet had only hit his ally’s helmet. Together, they ran back to cover, but that cover was only a 6-8 inch impression in the ground. As they laid in the dirt, Giunta took a round to his back, but it was blocked by his bulletproof vest. Another round from a different direction hit the rocket launcher he had strapped to his back, alerting Giunta to the fact that the enemy was actually in an L formation, attacking from two sides. In this situation, soldiers are always taught to charge the line in order to avoid being hit from multiple angles. Giunta did just that, and his team followed suit. He advanced, throwing grenades to both attack the enemy and conceal his position. Along the way he saw two wounded soldiers who were separated from his team. He moved towards them, but a barrage of enemy fire forced Giunta to take cover. Giunta’s allies caught up with him, and they moved forward, reaching the two wounded Americans at the top of a ridge. Giunta quickly realized they were still down a man, and he scanned his surroundings, searching for the missing soldier. On the other side of the ridge, he spotted two enemies carrying his missing teammate away. Giunta advanced on his own, killing one of the enemies and wounding the other. He then reached his ally, administered aid, and carried him to relative safety where they waited until an evac helicopter could arrive.

On November 16th, 2010, Staff Sergeant Salvatore Augustine Giunta was awarded the Medal of Honor, becoming the first living recipient of the Medal since the Vietnam War. Giunta’s bravery and leadership in the Korengal Valley were crucial to his platoon’s ability to defeat the enemy ambush, and rescue a fellow American from the enemy.

The Medal of Honor podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.

Nathan Corson is our executive producer and mixing engineer, Declan Rohrs is our associate producer, scriptwriter, and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.

We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, go to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.