Fort Carson MOH Says Medal Opportunity to Talk of Lives Lost

Fort Carson Medal of Honor recipient: Medal belongs to those who died
The Gazette
By: Tom Roeder
Updated: October 23, 2015

Capt. Florent "Flo" Groberg says the Medal of Honor that President Barack Obama will hang around his neck Nov. 12 will never truly be his own.

Capt. Florent Groberg watches the Change of Command ceremony for the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team
Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, at the Fort Carson Special Events Center. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

The retired Fort Carson officer says the medal is really for the four men who died Aug. 8, 2012, after Groberg tackled a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.

The Army says Groberg's actions, which left him with severe wounds to his legs, saved the lives of other soldiers and set an example of valor and gallantry that will be honored through history. Groberg, in a telephone interview from the Pentagon, says he was just doing his job for Fort Carson's 4th Brigade Combat Team.

"I don't feel really comfortable with it," he said of America's highest decoration for combat valor. "But it gives me a chance to talk about the four guys that were lost and their families."

Those four are Air Force Maj. Walter D. Gray, 38, of Conyers, Ga.; Army Maj. Thomas E. Kennedy, 35, of West Point, N.Y.; Army Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin J. Griffin, 45, of Laramie, Wyo. and State Department worker Ragaei Abdelfattah, 43, of Annapolis, Md.
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