CNS STORY: Medal of Honor for US soldier killed in battle called bittersweet

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, pictured in an undated photo, was killed by enemy fire in 2006 while helping another soldier to a waiting medevac helicopter in Afghanistan. Monti will be honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military honor, in September. (CNS/courtesy Sgt. Gary Hunsucker)

By Jessica Weinstein
Catholic News Service

MAYDEN-SHA, Afghanistan (CNS) -- Over his military career, Sgt. 1st Class Jared Monti, 30, won dozens of awards for valor, for achievement, and for sheer grit and ability -- but this one will be his last.

Monti, a Catholic who was confirmed at St. Ann Church in Raynham, Mass., will be honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor in September. It is the crowning measure of an American military hero. It is the United States' highest military honor.

Many of Monti's fellow soldiers have been redeployed back to Afghanistan -- where he died. In interviews gathered on the battlefield, they remembered a lighthearted, fun-loving man who could whip soldiers into a unified fighting force capable of handling any situation with confidence.

For these men, the award is a bittersweet but well-deserved honor.

"Those are the awards no one wants because it hurts," said 1st Sgt. Gary Hunsucker, 44, in an interview in eastern Afghanistan.

Hunsucker was Monti's commanding officer in the Army's 371st Cavalry, 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division. He is an imposing man, with a gruff manner and a quick wit, but his voice softened slightly when he recounted the evening of June 21, 2006.

"We were planning to go into a hornet's nest of insurgents," he said.

According to Hunsucker, Monti led a group of 15 scouts on a reconnaissance mission in Gowardesh. Hunsucker was in charge of planning the mission, watching back at the base. Monti was in charge of the soldiers.

Suddenly Hunsucker's radio crackled loudly. It was Monti -- call sign "Chaos 35."

"He says, 'We're being pinned down by RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), and we're getting our butt handed to us because of the amount of fire,'" recalled Hunsucker.

Hunsucker radioed back, asking for a location to send help.

"The last comment I got from him was, 'I can't raise my head or I'll get it blown off,'" he remembered.

It was the last time anyone heard from Monti.

According to accounts gathered from other soldiers who were present that night, Hunsucker said Monti and another sergeant fought hard to keep the enemy from advancing. Monti then pulled Pvt. Brian Bradbury to a waiting medevac helicopter. But in the process, he was exposed to enemy fire. An RPG landed close to him, killing him.

When he died, Monti held the rank of staff sergeant, and was promoted to sergeant first class posthumously.

According to his father, Paul Monti, in his last moments, he said the Lord's Prayer and told the men around him to "tell my family I love them."

"We lost a leader," said Hunsucker. "Society lost a good human being."

Hunsucker described Monti as a man who didn't talk much about his faith, but poured himself into his soldiers.

"He was everything to his guys -- to any soldier he came in contact with," he said.

"He treated every last one of them (soldiers) better than what they were. Doing that, they got motivated to do bigger and better things," said Master Sgt. Gary Young, 37. "All the soldiers that he touched -- he changed their lives in so many ways."

"He was one of those leaders that soldiers didn't want to disappoint," added Staff Sgt. Christopher Grzecki who was with Monti when he died.

"Monti's priorities were on the men under him. This was evident on June 21 when he gave up his own life in order to save the life of one of his subordinates," he added.

It was the ultimate sacrifice from a man who was generous off the battlefield too.

Monti's father said that, while his son was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., he and his roommate bought a $500 kitchen set, but after seeing the children of one of his soldiers eating on the kitchen floor, Monti gave the table and chairs to them.

"He felt that they needed the kitchen set more than he did, so he gave it to them," recalled Paul Monti in an e-mail.

"His boys always came first," wrote the soldier's mother, Janet Monti, in an e-mail.

On Sept. 17 President Barack Obama will present Monti's family with his award. Monti's fellow soldiers will be watching and participating in a parallel ceremony in Afghanistan at the site of his death.

Hunsucker hopes it will provide closure for the men who knew Monti. But he believes that the best way to honor Monti's sacrifice is to continue his care and commitment to American soldiers.

"I'd take him before I'd take the award," said Hunsucker.

END

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