Clinton Romesha On Being Awarded The Medal Of Honor
*THIS STORY AIRED IN AUGUST 2019
The speaker for the Charles H Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center's 2019 fundraiser was Medal Of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha.
We sat down with him and talked about several topics including visiting Chattanooga, the book he has written, and what was he feeling when he realized he would receive the Medal of Honor.
"In that moment it was like why? Why me? I didn't do anything special. At least I didn't believe that. I said there was 8 guys who gave up their lives that day to make sure I came home giving up more than I ever did," Romesha said. "So why not them?"
Staff Sergeant Romesha was awarded the Medal of Honor because of actions from a battle in October 2009 at Combat Outpost Keating in Northeast Afghanistan
Eight U.S. Soliders died that day. It was the deadliest battle of the war in Afghanistan.
Clint Romesha was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013.
He has since written a book called Red Platoon. It tells the story of what happened in the battle.
There's also a Netflix documentary and he travels the country telling his story like he will do Wednesday in Chattanooga.
"I hope as they hear the story and read my book they also see what everyone else, what we did together as a team not just one individual," Romesha said. "I got selected to wear the medal, but if it wasn't for those 52 other guys I wouldn't be here today. It wasn't a one guy effort that did everything."
Clinton Romesha spent part of his day Tuesday touring the Heritage Center that is still under construction and the National Cemetery. He visited places in Chattanooga that has so many ties to the Medal of Honor.
"To see what the Heritage Center is bringing together, To visiting the cemetery. Desmond Doss is right there. Andrews Raiders. The start of it all is right here in Chattanooga," Romesha said. "To know that those men laid down the foundation and the path that shown the way that every generation from then until now that instilled those values that gave us that direction that gave us that purpose it all started here in Chattanooga."
We want to thank the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation for use of their video for this story. Learn more about the recipients of the Medal of Honor on their website.
https://www.cmohs.org