>> Male Speaker: Let us pray. Almighty God,
whom our words may cradle, but never contain, we gather with the wisdom of prophets past,
echoing in our ears, least of which calls us to be devoted to one another in brotherly
love, and honor one another above ourselves. We are blessed to honor an American soldier,
whose actions bore witness to the breadth of his love, and the breadth of his honor. The Medal of Honor is bestowed upon Sergeant
Kyle White. His stories so deeply inspire our nation that
we may renew our devotion to one another, for we know, oh God, that it is the dearness
that gives everything its value. By honoring Sergeant White, we also honor the dear memories
of the men who fought that day, and those who now rest in eternal peace. Increase our faith and renew our hope, oh
God, that we may live lives worthy of honor, hope, devotion and courage that we recognize
today. We pray all this in your holy name, Amen. >> The President: Good afternoon, everybody.
Please, be seated. Welcome to the White House. It has been said that true courage is “a
perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to incur it.” For
more than 12 years, with our nation at war, the men and women of our armed forces have
known the measure of danger that comes with military service. But year after year, tour
after tour, they have displayed a selfless willingness to incur it -- by stepping forward,
by volunteering, by serving and sacrificing greatly to keep us all safe. Today, our troops are coming home. By the
end of this year, our war in Afghanistan will be over. And we’ll welcome home this generation
-- the 9/11 Generation -- that has proven itself to be one of America’s greatest. And today, we pay tribute to a soldier who
embodies the courage of his generation -- a young man who was a freshman in high school
when the Twin Towers fell, and who just five years later became an elite paratrooper with
the legendary 173rd Airborne -- the Sky Soldiers. Today, we present our nation’s highest military
decoration -- the Medal of Honor -- to Sergeant Kyle J. White. Kyle is the second Sky Soldier to be recognized
with the Medal of Honor for service above and beyond the call of duty in Afghanistan.
Today, he joins Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta, and a proud brotherhood of previous honorees,
members of the Medal of Honor Society -- some of whom are with us here today. We have a lot of VIPs here, but I’d like
to acknowledge the most important -- Kyle’s parents, Cheryl and Curt, and Kyle’s girlfriend,
Helen. I am told that back home in Bonney Lake, Washington when Kyle wanted to enlist,
at first he had his sights set on the Marines. But his dad Curt is a veteran of the Army,
Special Forces. So I’m told there was a difference of opinion. (Laughter.) And, I
suspect, a good family discussion. As Commander-in-Chief, I cannot take sides in this debate. (Laughter.)
The bottom line is Kyle joined the Army. And in doing so he carried on his family’s proud
tradition of service, which found its expression on a November day over six years ago. Across Afghanistan, base commanders were glued
to their radios, listening as American forces fought back an ambush in the rugged mountains.
One battalion commander remembered that “all of Afghanistan” was listening as a soldier
on the ground described what was happening. They knew him by his call sign -- “Charlie
One Six Romeo.” We know it was Kyle, who at the time was just 20 years old and only
21 months into his military service. Earlier that afternoon, Kyle and the 13 members
of his team, along with a squad of Afghan soldiers, left an Afghan village after a meeting
with elders. The Americans made their way back up a steep hill -- single file, along
a narrow path, a cliff face rising to their right, and a slope of rocky shale dropping
on their left. They knew not to stop, that they had to keep moving. They were headed
into an area known as “ambush alley”. And that’s when a single shot rang out.
Then another. And then the entire canyon erupted, with bullets coming from what seemed like
every direction. It was as if, Kyle said, the whole valley “lit up.” The platoon returned fire. Kyle quickly emptied
a full magazine, but as he went to load a second, an enemy grenade exploded and knocked
him unconscious. He came to with his face pressed against a rock. And as he moved to
get up, enemy rounds hit a rock just inches from his head, sending shrapnel and rock shards
across his face. Most of the unit had been forced to slide
down the cliff to the valley below. But Kyle saw a teammate -- Specialist Kain Schilling
-- trying to treat his own shattered arm, using a tree as cover -- what Kain later called
“the smallest tree on Earth.” I’m sure that’s how it felt. Kyle sprinted through
enemy fire to Kain’s side and began applying a tourniquet -- shielding Kain with his own
body as gunfire shredded that tree. Then Kyle saw another man down -- Marine Sergeant
Phillip Bocks -- in the open, 30 feet behind them, but too injured to reach cover. Kyle
remembers thinking, “It’s just a matter of time before I’m dead. If that’s going
to happen, I might as well help someone while I can.” With bullets impacting all around him, Kyle
ran to Bocks and began to pull the injured Marine to cover. But worried that he’d expose
Bocks to more gunfire, Kyle retreated. The enemy rounds followed him. He ran out again,
pulling Bocks a little farther. And once more he retreated to distract the enemy fire. Once
more he went out -- over and over thinking to himself, “I’m not going to make it.”
Kyle could feel the pressure of the rounds going by him. But somehow, miraculously, they
never hit him. Not once. One of his teammates said it was as if Kyle was moving “faster
than a speeding bullet”. And finally, Kyle succeeded in pulling his
comrade to cover. Tragically, there on that cliff, Sergeant Bocks succumbed to his wounds.
But in his final moments, this American Marine surely found some solace in Kyle White -- the
American soldier who, until the very end, was there by his side. Now, that other injured soldier, Kain Shilling,
was still out there. And he had sustained another injury, this time to his knee. Kyle
ran out once more to Kain’s side. Kyle ripped off his own belt for a tourniquet, and soon
got his hands on a working radio. The voice of Charlie One Six Romeo came into base. Crouching
behind that lone tree, Kyle began calling in airstrikes to take out enemy positions. Kyle stayed with Specialist Schilling as night
fell. And Kain was too badly injured to move. Kyle was starting to feel the fog of his own
concussions set in, but he knew that he was Kain’s best chance to get out alive, so
Kyle took charge and ordered the Afghan soldiers to form a security perimeter. He called in
a MEDEVAC and made sure Kain and the other injured were safely on board. And only then
did Kyle finally allow himself to be lifted out. As the helicopter pulled away, Kyle looked
out the window, watching the darkness as they pulled away from that single tree on the cliff.
“When you’re deployed,” he later said, “those people become your family. What you
really care about is: I want to get this guy to the left and to the right home.” This family was tested that day. Not a single
one of them escaped without injury, and six brave Americans gave their lives -- their
last full measure of devotion. And we remember them today. Sergeant Phillip A. Bocks. Captain
Matthew C. Ferrara. Specialist Joseph M. Lancour. Sergeant Jeffery S. Mersman. Corporal Lester
G. Roque. And Kyle’s best friend, Corporal Sean K. A. Langevin. Some of their families
are here today. I’d ask them to please stand so we can recognize their extraordinary sacrifice.
(Applause.) The legacy of these fallen heroes endures
in the courage and strength of their unit -- 14 men, forever brothers-in-arms. We’re
proud to welcome those who fought so valiantly that day: Specialist Kain Schilling, the soldier
that Kyle saved, and members of the 2nd Battalion, Chosen Company of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.
Would you please stand. (Applause.) We honor Kyle White for his extraordinary
actions on that November day. But his journey from that day to this speaks to the story
of his generation. Kyle completed the rest of a 15-month deployment in Afghanistan. He
came back home and trained other young paratroopers as they prepared to deploy. When he completed
his service, Kyle decided to pursue a different dream, and with the help of the Post-9/11
GI Bill, he went to college, he graduated, and today works for a bank in Charlotte, North
Carolina. When Kyle walks into the office every day,
people see a man in a suit headed to work. And that’s how it should be -- a proud veteran
welcomed into his community, contributing his talents and skills to the progress of
our nation. But Kyle will tell you that the transition to civilian life -- and dealing
with the post-traumatic stress -- hasn’t always been easy. More than six years later,
he can still see the images and hear the sounds of that battle. Every day, he wakes up thinking
about his battle buddies. And if you look closely at that man in the
suit on his way to work, you’ll notice the piece of the war that he carries with him
tucked under his shirt sleeve -- a stainless steel bracelet around his wrist etched with
the names of his six fallen comrades who will always be with him. “Their sacrifice motivates
me,” he says, to “be the best [that] I can be. Everything I do in my life is done
to make them proud.” Kyle, members of Chosen Company, you did your
duty, and now it’s time for America to do ours: After more than a decade of war, to
welcome you home with the support and the benefits and opportunities that you’ve earned.
You make us proud, and you motivate all of us to be the best we can be as Americans,
as a nation; to uphold our sacred obligations to your generation and all who have faced
that “measure of danger” and “the willingness to incur it.” May God bless you, and may your courage inspire
and sustain us always. And may God continue to bless the United States of America. With that, I’d like to have the citation
read. >> Military Aide: The President of the United
States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of
Congress the Medal of Honor to Specialist Kyle J. White, United States Army. Specialist Kyle J. White distinguished himself
by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call
of duty while serving as a radio telephone operator with Company C, 2nd Battalion Airborne,
503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade during combat operations against an armed
enemy in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan on November 9, 2007. On that day, Specialist White and his comrades
were returning to Bella Outpost from a shura with Aranas village elders. As the soldiers
traversed a narrow path surrounded by mountainous, rocky terrain, they were ambushed by enemy
forces from elevated positions. Pinned against a steep mountain face, Specialist White and
his fellow soldiers were completely exposed to enemy fire. Specialist White returned fire
and was briefly knocked unconscious when a rocket-propelled grenade impacted near him. When he regained consciousness, another round
impacted near him, embedding small pieces of shrapnel in his face. Shaking off his wounds,
Specialist White noticed one of his comrades lying wounded nearby. Without hesitation,
Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire in order to reach the soldier and provide
medical aid. After applying a tourniquet, Specialist White
moved to an injured Marine, providing aid and comfort until the Marine succumbed to
his wounds. Specialist White then returned to the soldier and discovered that he had
been wounded again. Applying his own belt as an additional tourniquet, Specialist White
was able to stem the flow of blood and save the soldier’s life. Noticing that his and the other soldiers’
radios were inoperative, Specialist White exposed himself to enemy fire yet again in
order to secure a radio from a deceased comrade. He then provided information and updates to
friendly forces, allowing precision airstrikes to stifle the enemy’s attack and ultimately
permitting medical evacuation aircraft to rescue him, his fellow soldiers, Marines,
and Afghan army soldiers. Specialist Kyle J. White. Extraordinary heroism
and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions
of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Company C, 2nd Battalion Airborne,
503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade, and the United States Army. (Applause.) >> Male Speaker:
Let us pray. To God's greatest mercy and protection, we commit ourselves. Inspired by the actions
of Sergeant Kyle White, strengthened by divine providence, may we go our way in peace. You'll
be of good courage, we hold fast to that which is good, under to no evil, no one evil for
evil. Rather may we be strengthened in the faint-hearted. May we support the weak, help
the wounded, and honor all persons. The blessing of God be with us this day, we pray in his
holy name. Amen. >> The President: That concludes the ceremony,
but not the celebration. I hear the food here is pretty good. (Laughter.) And the drinks
are free. (Laughter.) Who gave a big shout on that? I heard somebody. (Laughter.) But
I hope all of you enjoy the hospitality of the White House. I hope we all remember once
again those who are fallen. We are grateful to the families who are here. And to Kyle
and all who serve in America’s Armed Forces, we want you to know that we will always be
grateful for your extraordinary service to our country. Thank you very much, everybody. Have a great
afternoon. (Applause)
