WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will bestow the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest decoration for battlefield valor, to Ryan M. Pitts, a former Army staff sergeant who fought off enemy fighters during one of the bloodiest battles of the Afghanistan war despite his own critical injuries.
Ryan Pitts of Nashua, N.H., will be awarded the medal during a White House ceremony Monday. Pitts, 28, will become the ninth living recipient of the medal for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The citation says Pitts fought off enemy fighters on July 13, 2008, in Wanat, Afghanistan. Despite losing blood from wounds in both legs and an arm, he continued to fire at about 200 Taliban fighters and guided air strikes that helped repel the attack.
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