Army Captain Florent Groberg was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on Thursday by President Barack Obama. Captain Groberg now becomes only the tenth living recipient of America’s highest award for bravery. It is the military’s highest honor and is awarded for conduct “above and beyond the call of duty.”

With reckless disregard to for his own life, Captain Groberg had attacked a suicide bomber on an escort mission in Afghanistan and ended up saving many lives. In the process, however, his leg was nearly blown off by an explosion that cost him three years of rehabilitation, according to NBC News. President Obama placed the medal around his neck in front of family and friends as well as in front of the families of the men who didn’t make it back – men he wasn’t able to save.

On Aug. 8, 2012, Captain Groberg was assigned to an escort duty. He was to escort several officers to a meeting in the Kunar province of Afghanistan. He had worked escort duty before but something didn’t seem right to him that day. He felt that something was a way off. The Captain’s feelings took the day as more than a few motorcycles came racing around the corner from where they were and into view of their escort.

Groberg and his crew eyed the bikers warily. They seemed to move away from them but one of them began to move toward them walking backwards. Groberg immediately sensed that the man was a threatening presence. The man turned around and revealed that he was wearing a vest loaded with explosives. Grobert decided to attack the man. He hit the man and began backing him up and grabbing for the vest. He and the Sargent who was with him leaped on him and tried to drag his as far away from the escort vehicles as possible.

As he and the Sargent were dragging the bomber away, the vest exploded and killed four people in the escort vehicles. The Sargent and Groberg were blown away and Groberg’s leg was a shredded mess. He was also knocked unconscious by the blast. It took all of three years to recover from 30 surgeries to repair his leg.

Repairing his heart and his soul, he said, would take longer. He wears a bracelet with the names of the men who were killed on that day and vows to lead the rest of his life in as selfless a way as he can.