Washington ( CNN ) -- The first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam War says his receiving the prestigious award is bittersweet . `` All of this is great , '' U.S. Army Staff Sgt . Salvatore Giunta said during a teleconference Wednesday . `` But it does bring back a lot of memories of people that I would love to share this moment with . And I am just not going to have this opportunity because they are no longer with us . '' Giunta said the day his unit came under attack was quiet and started out like any other day in Afghanistan . `` We are all soldiers and we are all out on a mission , '' he said . Giunta , 25 , was a specialist serving with the Airborne 503 Infantry Regiment on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan when his unit was attacked on the night of October 25 , 2007 . He recalls himself as an average soldier , saying he did n't do anything that someone else would n't have done . According to Defense Department documents seen by CNN , Giunta and his fellow soldiers were walking back to base along the top of a mountain ridge when the enemy attacked from their front and their left . Taliban fighters barraged the Americans with AK-47s , rocket propelled grenades and Soviet era large machine guns . Giunta saw several of his fellow soldiers go down . He ran forward throwing grenades and returning enemy fire to help one soldier who had been shot but was still fighting . Then he noticed one of the wounded soldiers was missing . He ran over a hill where moments before Taliban fighters were shooting at him to find his wounded friend , Sgt . Josh Brennan . But now he was alone , out of sight of his fellow soldiers , in an area that the Taliban had controlled just moments before . Giunta saw two Taliban fighters dragging Brennan away . He ran after them , killing one Taliban and wounding the other , who ran away . He instantly started providing first aid to Brennan , who had been shot at least six times . Brennan was later evacuated by a helicopter to a hospital , but he died of his wounds . Giunta himself was shot twice in the incident , with one round hitting his body armor and the second destroying a weapon slung over his back . He was not seriously hurt . His quick response to the Taliban attack helped his unit repulse the enemy fighters before they could cause more casualties , the Defense Department documents note . Giunta said his actions were not something he thought about but something he was trained to do . `` After the medevac bird comes in and starts picking people up , it 's not over , you 're not out of Afghanistan , you 're not off the side of the mountain , you 're just minus some buddies and there 's no time to talk , you still have to complete the mission , '' he said . Giunta 's wife , Jenny , sat beside him during the teleconference from the base Giunta is stationed at in Vicenza , Italy . She said she is proud of her husband . The two married last November and are unsure about what the future will bring . Jenny Giunta said she hopes her husband does not deploy again . `` Having your husband ... your loved one get deployed and knowing that they 're going to be somewhere that 's dangerous ... . It 's an awful feeling , '' she said .
NEW : Staff Sgt . Giunta says he did only what anyone else would have done . People he would like to share the honor with `` are no longer with us , '' he says . The man who was killed in Afghanistan is a member of the Army's 1st Special Forces Group and had been assigned as an interpreter for U.S. Army Rangers on their mission into Pakistan.