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Soldier to receive Medal of Honor posthumously today

The parents of Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti will accept the Medal of Honor in his behalf during a White House ceremony Thursday afternoon.

Monti was killed in June 2006 in Afghanistan. He will become the sixth service member to receive the nation’s highest award for conspicuous gallantry in battle since 2001. He is the first soldier to receive the award for actions in Afghanistan.

Navy Lt. Michael Murphy is the only other service member to receive the award for Afghanistan.

Six Medals of Honor have been awarded in eight years of war, including four for actions in Iraq. They were awarded posthumously to Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith; Navy Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SEAL) Michael Monsoor; Army Spc. Ross McGinnis and Marine Cpl. Jason Dunham.

Monti’s parents, Paul Monti of Raynham, Mass., and Janet Monti, of Winterville, N.C., will join President Barack Obama at 2:05 p.m. in the East Room of the White House for the ceremony.

Both had received phone calls from the president on July 21 to tell them their son would receive the Medal of Honor.

Sgt. 1st Class Monti, 30, was assigned to 3rd Squadron, 71st Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, when he was killed in Afghanistan.

He was a staff sergeant at the time of the engagement in Afghanistan and was the assistant leader for a 16-man patrol tasked with conducting surveillance in the Gowardesh region in Nuristan province.

The soldiers’ mission was to provide current intelligence, interdict enemy movement and ensure early warning for the squadron’s main effort as it moved into the province.

As nightfall approached, the patrol was attacked by a well-organized enemy force of at least 60 personnel. Outnumbered four to one, Monti’s patrol was in danger of being overrun because enemy fighters had established two support-by-fire positions directly above the patrol in a densely wooded ridgeline, the article said.

Monti immediately returned fire and ordered the patrol to seek cover and return fire. He then reached for his radio headset and calmly made calls for indirect fire and close-air support, both dangerously close to the patrol’s position. He did this while simultaneously directing the patrol’s fires.

When he realized that a member of the patrol, Pfc. Brian J. Bradbury, had been critically wounded and was exposed 10 meters from cover, Monti advanced through enemy fire to within three feet of Bradbury’s position. He was forced back by intense fire from rocket-propelled grenades; he tried again but was again forced back. On the third try, the remaining soldiers coordinated cover fires, but this time, after only a few steps, Monti was cut down and mortally wounded by an RPG.

Staff Sgt. Patrick L. Lybert was also killed in the attack, and Bradbury died with medic Staff Sgt. Heathe Craig when the helicopter hoist that was lifting them to the aircraft near the attack site broke.

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