Trump awards Medal of Honor to Iraq War hero

President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor Tuesday to former Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia for his heroic actions as a squad leader in Fallujah, making him the first living Iraq War veteran to receive the recognition.

During Operation Phantom Fury in 2004, Bellavia’s platoon was pinned down while clearing a block of terrorist-infested houses.

Bellavia, 43 and a native of Buffalo, exchanged his M16 rifle for an M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and entered the house where his squad was trapped to provide cover fire so the soldiers could exit safely.

“Militants on the roof fired down them with round after deadly round. He came to the scene to suppress the enemy and drove them further into the building,” Trump said during an Oval Office ceremony.

“David decided to go back into the house and make sure not a single terrorist escaped alive or escaped in any way. He quickly encountered an insurgent who is about to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at his squad,” he continued.

“He jumped into danger and killed him before he had had a chance to launch that grenade.”

Bellavia was released from the Army in August 2005 after serving for six years and has been awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross.

Bellavia now hosts a radio talk show on WBEN in Buffalo, and said on-air Friday that the experience of being chosen for the Medal of Honor was “very uncomfortable and awkward,” Fox News reported.

But he added that he wanted to represent Iraq War veterans, who have not had a living Medal of Honor recipient.

“When you go to basic training, you clean your weapons and you read the citations of these recipients and it’s like they’re superheroes,” Bellavia said. “They’re not real … I can’t get my head around it. I still can’t.”