4:57
- ABC News
- Donald Trump
- June 25, 2019
Trump awards Iraq War vet the Medal of Honor
Staff Sgt. David Bellavia receives the award 15 years after his heroic actions.
4:57
Bellavia was able to return fire and killed both of those attackers. When he took fire from an insurgent who appeared from a closet across the room, he pursued that individual up the stairs and killed him.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/david-bellavia-ht-jt-190610_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
His award is an upgrade from the Silver Star he had previously received for these same actions. A few years ago, the Pentagon began a blanket review of all valor awards to see if they should be upgraded. Bellavia was unaware that his Silver Star had been chosen for the Medal of Honor until he received a phone call from the president, he said.
\"The Iraq War veteran has served and surpassed, at times, the highest standards of American warrior tradition among any generation,\" Bellavia told reporters on Monday. \"We have nothing to apologize for. We serve our country. We do what our leaders tell us to do.\"
President Trump awards the Medal of Honor to Army Staff Sgt. David G. Bellavia: \"David exemplifies the same warrior ethos that gave his grandfather and all of the heroes of Normandy the strength to defeat evil exactly 75 years ago\" https://t.co/9H2n36DvIH pic.twitter.com/h6iKwTqkei
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 25, 2019
\"The narrative on the Iraq War has long been written,\" he continued. \"I'm not here to change anyone's mind. I'm here to tell you that there are men and women who served our country in Iraq, and it has made me -- it is one of the honors of my life.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/david-ballavia-02-ht-jc-190625_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
He now wants to encourage others to serve.
\"There's a million and five reasons why we're divided in this country. I never cared what your skin color was, who you worshiped or who you loved. If you are willing to get shot at for me, for my buddies, I will follow you. I will lead you anywhere,\" Bellavia said, adding, \"I want to be of service to that Army.\"
He said that after reuniting with his battle buddies after 15 years there was \"so much love.\"
\"I never thought I'd see love on a battlefield. It's horrible, it's ghastly, it's ghoulish,\" Bellavia said. \"But you see people doing things for each other that you'd never see in any other circumstance and it is a sight to see. It will change your life forever. I think we're all better for seeing that love displayed in combat.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/david-ballavia-01-ap-jc-190625_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Bellavia grew up as the youngest of four boys in Lyndonville, New York. He enlisted in the Army as an infantryman in 1999 and would deploy to Kosovo and then Iraq just four years later in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Between February 2004 and February 2005, his task force participated in battles in Najaf, Mosul, Baqubah, Muqdadiyah and Fallujah.
After leaving the Army in 2005, Bellavia co-founded Vets for Freedom, a veteran advocacy organization with tens of thousands of members who were veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He returned to Iraq in 2006 and 2008 as an embedded reporter, covering the fighting in Ramadi, Fallujah and Diyala Province. His 2007 book, \"House to House,\" detailed his experiences in Fallujah.
Bellavia is a business owner in western New York. He has three children.
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