ND Celebrates Favorite "Adopted" Son: Former Staff Sgt Clint Ro - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

  From soldier to oil field worker to international celebrity.  North Dakota honors former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha upon receiving the nation's highest honor -- and joining the exclusive "Medal of Honor" fraternity.

53 Americans versus more than 300 Taliban at an outpost in Afghanistan.  Against all odds, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and his fellow soldiers reclaimed building after building and forced the Taliban to retreat.  In the process, many lives were saved.  Romesha's quick-thinking and calm actions have been credited for the success.  Now, in receiving the Medal of Honor, Staff Sergeant Romesha says his emotions are mixed.

"The humility that your actions were singled out from the heroic actions by your teammates, but it also comes with the helpless feeling that you weren't able to save everyone that day," says former U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Clinton L. Romesha.

This sentiment has been said to be a testament to the kind of soldier -- and person -- that is Staff Sergeant Romesha.  Originally from California, he adopted North Dakota as his home nearly two years ago -- and North Dakota adopted him.

"Clint, we salute you today as an American hero and a favorite son of North Dakota.  We're pleased that you, your wife, Tammy, and your three children, Dessi, Gwen and Colin, now call North Dakota home," said North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple.

"To have a young man like Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha recognized for what he did in October of 2009 means a lot to all of us here in North Dakota," says Major General David Sprynczynatyk, Adjunct General, North Dakota National Guard.

As for Clinton Romesha, he's looking forward to spending time with his family in his new hometown of Minot, North Dakota, but says he'll always be a soldier:  "I kind of owed it to my family to come home and be a dad and a husband again, but you know, I will always in my heart of hearts know that I'm a soldier for life."

The 2009 battle at Outpost Keating for which Romesha's actions were honored has been described as one of the most intense battles of the war in Afghanistan.  The 31-year old Romesha served 12 years in the U.S. Army, and is now employed in the oil field by KS Industries.