![]() ![]() The battle in which Bellavia's actions won him the military's top decoration was part of Operation Phantom Fury, popularly known as the Second Battle of Fallujah. He is also the first living Iraq war veteran to receive the prestigious medal five others who also fought there were awarded theirs posthumously. ![]() "I'm glad that it was and I think it demonstrates, at least in this case, the system works."īellavia's award upgrade to the Medal of Honor is the fifth of its kind to be made under a three-year Pentagon review of valor awards involving post-9/11 conflicts. "I'm not sure why or how or what the reasoning was that it was looked at again," Walter says of the decision to boost Bellavia's battle award to the Medal of Honor. Doug Walter, says it was he who pushed since 2005 for the upgrade of Bellavia's Silver Star. "Honestly," he adds, "I always considered my award just being able to come home."īellavia's company commander, Army Col. "You focus on your family, you focus on work, and, you know, my life was 100 percent perfect without a valor award of any type." "Fifteen years goes by and you move on with your life, you put the war behind you," says the 43-year-old resident of western New York state. The medal was a turn of events Bellavia says he had no role in bringing about. "Alone in the dark, David killed four insurgents and seriously wounded the fifth," Trump declared, "saving his soldiers and facing down the enemies of civilization." Before draping the medal around Bellavia's neck, President Trump praised him for defying almost certain death to free squad members trapped by enemy fire. ![]()
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