Medal of Honor - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Medal of Honor

A Minot man is about to become one of only four living Americans to be presented the Medal of Honor for bravery in Iraq or Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama will give the nation's highest military decoration for valor to former

Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha. RO-muh-shay
The son of a Vietnam veteran, Sergeant Romesha RO-muh-shay was raised in northeast California and joined the military at 18.
He served nearly 12 years in the Army before retiring in 2011 and moving to Minot.
He declined an on-camera interview for now but we had the pleasure of interviewing him by phone this afternoon.

(Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha, Medal of Honor Recipient) "For me, this isn't an individual award. It's not something you set out to achieve, but it's really the team work from my platoon mates that day. All their actions and their great works. Pulling through and all coming together. It was just a joy knowing those guys and being around them. It's indescribable." 

31-year-old Sergeant Romesha RO-muh-shay was present at Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan in 2009 when one of the deadliest attacks on American forces was carried out.
The attack killed eight US soldiers and wounded two dozen others as the American and Latvian LAT-vee-an troops battled to hold off a much larger enemy force.
Sergeant Romesha's RO-muh-shay bravery was detailed in a book called The Outpost by journalist Jake Tapper who said the sergeant's courage helped the smaller coalition force beat back the attack.
When asked about the experience, Romesha RO-muh-shay says to recount the thirteen hour fight --- he would leave out too much.

(Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha, Medal of Honor Recipient) "Again, you never set out to achieve this award. I don't want the attention to be on me. Sgt. Larson, one of my great buddies, one of my team leaders over there, Sgt. Rasmussen another team leaders great buddy, Lt. Bunderman, my PL over there that day. The eight soldiers we lost, those are the guys that really deserve to be remembered. They're the ones that deserve this great honor and recognition. Not me. I was just doing a job."

Sergeant Romesha RO-muh-shay says it's a great honor to be meeting the President of the United States.
His wife and three children will join him in Washington D.C. on February 11 for the presentation of the Medal of Honor.