Obama presented the medal Wednesday to the widow of Spec. Leslie H. Sabo Jr. in the East Room. He said the young soldier gave his life to save comrades from a North Vietnamese ambush, and honoring Sabo helps pay tribute to a generation of vets who were too often shunned, not celebrated.
In 1970, Sabo's platoon was surrounded by the North Vietnamese near Se San in eastern Cambodia. Sabo is credited with grabbing an enemy grenade and tossing it away, then pulling the pin on his own grenade and attacking an enemy bunker even though he knew it would cost him his life.
