Tale honors soldier's unselfish actions, service

Medal of Honor recipient, David Bellavia is an active Veterans of Foreign Wars member and recently spoke to fellow VFW members about the love of country. 

Bellavia earned the Medal of Honor for his actions Nov. 10, 2004, on his 29th birthday. He was a staff sergeant with 3rd Platoon, A Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division (my Division).

He was a squad leader in Fallujah, Iraq. While clearing a house, another squad became trapped in a room by intense enemy fire with no way out without getting killed. 

With no regard for his personal safety, Bellavia charged the house with his automatic weapon. He surprised the enemy and with his automatic rifle killed four enemy and wounded the fifth. His actions helped save the lives of the entire squad.  

When reading these stories, people should ask: "Could I have done, what Bellaivia did?" The answer normally is, people don't know; it is a spur-of-the-moment thing caused by adrenalin. He went on to tell  his fellow VFW members that "you served your country in uniform and that you are the last line of defense. We are not afraid to put our boots on the ground because we know of the blood that has been shed." He closed his talk by saying that  VFW members are family of war veterans and that everyone should want to serve their country. 

But from what I have read, that isn't the case now a days, all branches of service are not reaching their recruitment goals.  It appears our society is changing, but I won't get into that at this time.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran and business owner in Priest River.