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U.S. To Award Highest Medal To Soldier Who Averted Afghan Bombs


Captain Florent A. "Flo" Groberg enjoys the view from a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter traveling over the Kunar province in 2012.
Captain Florent A. "Flo" Groberg enjoys the view from a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter traveling over the Kunar province in 2012.

U.S. President Barack Obama will award the nation's highest military honor to an Army captain for disrupting suicide bomb attacks in Afghanistan in 2012.

The White House announced on October 13 that Obama will award the Medal of Honor to Captain Florent A. "Flo" Groberg on November 12.

The Army credits the French-born soldier with spotting suicide bombers and preventing them from killing most of his patrol in Asadabad in Afghanistan's Kunar Province in August 2012.

Their bomb blasts, which were set off prematurely because of Groberg's actions, still killed four Americans and wounded others in his division, the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Groberg, 32, himself suffered a severe leg injury and was medically retired in July.

Groberg, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2001, will be the 10th living recipient to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Seven troops have been posthumously awarded the medal for their actions in those wars.

Based on reporting by AP and Army Times

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