WASHINGTON – Before President Barack Obama placed the Medal of Honor around Ryan Pitts’ neck,the 28-year-old retired sergeant had already decided the honor did not belong to him alone.
Obama read Pitts’ own words Monday that he shared the award with the soldiers who served with him in Afghanistan,as the New Hampshire native received the nation’s highest award for combat valor.
“In Ryan Pitts you see the humility and the loyalty that define America’s men and women in uniform,” Obama said during the ceremony in the White House East Room.
Pitts is the ninth living recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received the award six years and eight days after holding off an enemy assault in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province that killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 27 others.
The Medal of Honor recipient hardly smiled during the ceremony except for when Obama gave him marriage advice. Pitts celebrated his second wedding anniversary with his wife,Amy,on Monday,and the president said Pitts had told him it would be hard to top it after the White House visit.
“Let me just give you a piece of advice as somebody who now has been married for over 20 years: You should try,” Obama said.
The ceremony served as a way to honor the dead as much as the living. Families of the soldiers who died in action in the Battle of Wanat were in the crowd and stood to be recognized by the president.
“This is the story Ryan wants us to remember – soldiers who loved each other like brothers and who fought for each other,and families who have made a sacrifice that our nation must never forget,” Obama said.
Pitts will be inducted Tuesday into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes,a permanent display of the names of all Medal of Honor recipients.