Staff Sgt. Matthew Ritenour awarded Silver Star

Staff sergeant receives the Silver Star at Hohenfels ceremony
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, May 29, 2008

HOHENFELS, Germany — His combat boots thumping with each step, Staff Sgt. Matthew Ritenour climbed on stage at Hohenfels’ Community Activity Center to accept a Silver Star medal on Tuesday.

Ritenour’s lumbering gait and a scar on his shaved head are reminders of the battle he and 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment fought against 180 Taliban fighters who attacked Forward Operating Base (FOB) Baylough, in southern Afghanistan on Sept. 4 last year. The 32-year-old Chicago native was shot in the head and partially paralyzed during the battle but fought on, encouraging nearby soldiers and using a radio to call in mortar fire on the enemy.

But the ceremony isn’t the end of Ritenour’s journey.

The Army has given him a year to heal, after which he will go before a board that will decide his future career. His goal is to return to the infantry.

After spending time at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Ritenour and his family returned to Hohenfels to welcome Company A back from its deployment in February.

Now, he’s headed to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., so he can receive therapy not available in Bavaria, he said.
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